MONTREAL – Across the river from parc Jean Drapeau is the town of St. Lambert. Some of its homes are a mere few hundred meters from the site where Osheaga will be held starting Friday.
Over the years, the city of St. Lambert has received an increasing number of complaints about the noise generated from the festival.
City councillor, Hugues Letourneau, says St. Lambert had opened dialog with the Ville Marie borough some years back to try to fix the problem.
Although they saw an initial improvement, the past two years have brought back the complaints.
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A local group, Silence St-Lambert, have been very vocal about their opposition to the noise carrying over from Parc Jean-Drapeau’s activities.
They are asking for city officials to step up and ensure regulations are being respected.
The city of St. Lambert sets a maximum of 50 decibels as the permitted noise limit. The problem is that the houses closest to the park hit levels above that.
“Last year, I could hear the concert as if it were in my own backyard,” says Letourneau.
During the three-day event, music blares from one p.m. until around eleven.
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Festival officials say they do take the comfort of nearby residents into consideration.
“We’re very conscious about the surroundings so we made sure that it’s pleasant for them, it’s not too loud for them,” says Patrick Fortaich, Osheaga’s production director.
“We are trying to concentrate the sound inside Parc Jean-Drapeau.”
And that’s what the city and some residents hope they will achieve this year. Still, not everyone is bothered by the noise.
“Osheaga for me it’s ok,” says St. Lambert resident Marc Biotteau. “I can hear the music from my swimming pool, but I like it. It’s not too loud for me.”
He says other summer events, like the F1 or heavy rock festival Heavy MTL, are much worse.
The city hopes that more dialog with the city of Montreal and Parc Jean-Drapeau will improve the situation. If it doesn’t, they say they will look to further measures.
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