General News

Mono’s updated noise bylaw gets another reading

November 6, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Mono’s proposed bylaw to regulate noise aims to ensure that the interests of event organizers and residents are considered.

One of the recommended exceptions to the town’s proposed new noise bylaw is the annual fall fair at the Orangeville Agricultural Society (OAS) Event Centre.

However, Deputy Mayor Fred Nix said he’s heard from residents who don’t want the fall fair to be exempted from the rules that will regulate noise.

“They want us to be able to write conditions,” he said. “I’m prepared to sort of say the fall fair should have an exception, but I’m wondering if we should put a timeline on that exception.”

He suggested a window like 9 a.m. to midnight.

“So that things don’t get unreasonable,” Nix reasoned.

Councillor Melinda Davie said she raised that point at the previous meeting, but the rest of council shot down the idea. There was word about an OAS fall fair after-party that extended past midnight. And the monster truck event, which is often at the event centre, was broached.

Davie said bylaws should not itemize or label certain groups or events.

“It puts you in a bind and it makes for difficult discussion,” she said.

Most events are held once a year, and there’s a process in place for groups or individuals to present a case for an exemption.

“We do meet every two weeks so I don’t think it’s that big of a deal for every year to have the Orangeville Fall Fair on our list,” Davie said.

She suggested the OAS and the Credit Valley Conservation Authority be entities that need to send representatives to offer an explanation when they plan “something that’s outside of our bylaw.”

Mayor John Creelman agreed that the “cleaner” solution is to remove the fall fair from exemptions.

“The event centre has to come to us as a process and they’ll be required to flag such things as after-parties which came as a complete blindside to me and probably to other members of this council and certainly the community surrounding,” Creelman said.

Fred Simpson, the town’s clerk, said the proposed bylaw dictates that an event that was so loud it created noise that was likely to disturb residents would be a violation.

The monster truck event appears to meet that threshold, he said.

“The policy is to provide guidance to bylaw enforcement to define what is likely to disturb the inhabitants of the community,” Simpson said. “It has to be able to address something as simple as a barking dog or a one-off party to something as significant as the monster truck event.”

Coun. Elaine Capes said council should support a fall fair, but there needs to be a definition of what a fall fair can include.

“And it doesn’t include monster trucks,” she said. “And it doesn’t include an after-party.”

Creelman suggested that Cape’s desired definition would be addressed when the group holding a fall fair approaches council to explain what their event entails.

“We can’t build into this bylaw a definition of what a fall fair constitutes,” he said.

The proposed updated bylaw has a section that pertains to large outdoor events.

The provisions for amplified noise doesn’t prohibit a picnic with a radio at Island Lake or anywhere else. Rather, amplified noise is allowed only within a defined timeframe.

Davie said there’s been discussion about a band playing inside the OAS Event Centre. And, because it was inside, though outside the timeframe, it was thought that the music didn’t contravene the regulations.

“Noise that affects you, it doesn’t matter where the noise is coming from,” Davie said.

Given that, Davie asked if the town is also concerned about large indoor events.

“The more detail we add into it, the trickier it gets,” she said. “I would argue maybe we should take out the outdoor phrase there and just say events in general.”

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