A southern Ontario city is considering cracking down on residents who party on their roofs.
City staff in London, Ont., are recommending an addition to the municipality’s public nuisance bylaw to target the so-called practice of “brewfing” – sitting on a roof and drinking beer – and other social gatherings on roofs.
In a report to be considered by the city’s community and protective services committee on Wednesday evening, city staff explain that the bylaw was originally passed in May 2012 to address the issue of “nuisance parties.”
That year, several St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the city erupted into street riots in a neighbourhood heavily populated with students.
READ MORE: Ontario university tries to tame unruly St. Patrick’s Day party
The proposed amendment to the bylaw wants to add the practice of social gatherings on roofs to the elements that make up a nuisance party.
“This has become a trend in near campus neighbourhoods not only in Canada but also in the U.S.,” the report said, noting that the slang term “brewfing” originated as a result of a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at a California university where a roof collapsed while dozens of people were partying on it.
London is home to Western University and Fanshawe College.
Last year, during annual “homecoming” events around Western – when student neighbourhoods see large celebrations – police and municipal law enforcement officers responded to 15 rooftop parties, according to the report prepared by the city’s chief municipal law enforcement officer.
“Social gatherings on roofs (slanted or flat) create a potentially dangerous condition of roof collapse as the roofs are designed for a certain snow load and not for public assembly,” the report said. “With slanted roofs and flat roofs with no guard rail systems, there is always the potential of a slip and fall causing bodily harm.”
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The report said “brewfing” will be assessed alongside other activities like disorderly conduct and public drunkenness to determine if a gathering is a nuisance party, at which point a warning, a shut-down order or a fine can be issued.
One city councillor, whose ward includes Western and a lot of student housing, said the update to the bylaw is needed and emphasized that it would target parties in particular.
“What we’re trying to do is have the ability to say look, you’re up there, you’ve had a lot to drink, we’d rather you weren’t foolish and hurt yourself so please get off the roof,” said Coun. Phil Squire.
“It’s a public protection issue.”
Squire explained that police and bylaw enforcement teams had raised concerns about rooftop parties to the city, prompting the report on the issue.
He noted that the parties the city sees around certain university and college events can draw huge crowds to certain streets.
“They’re also partying on roofs, they can jump from one roof to another, some of them can get on roofs where they don’t even own the property,” he said. “You really have to understand the context. It’s not something that’s rampant in London, but during particular periods of time it does get out of control.”
A member of the Western’s student executive said the proposed amendment to the bylaw had good intentions but needed to be enforced fairly.
“Rooftop partying is becoming a staple. So it’s more of how are we enforcing (the bylaw) but also educating students on the fact that they shouldn’t be on roofs,” said Jamie Cleary, vice president with the University Students’ Council.
“I don’t want to see students being charged for something they didn’t know was wrong.”
The proposed amendment will be voted on by city’s community and protective services committee and, if it passes, will proceed to city council.
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