Calgary looks to change noise rules for Scotia Place to avoid millions in extra costs

Mere days after the designs became public for Calgary’s new event centre, a city committee has given initial approval to change the noise rules around the site years before the building is set to open.

The renderings and official name of the new $926-million event centre block, Scotia Place, were released at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday.

According to documents before the city’s Community Development Committee, Scotia Place’s “full potential as a music venue would not be achieved” if restricted by the existing rules for noise in the area.

The proposal would allow events inside Scotia Place to generate noise louder than the 50 dBA currently allowed after 10 p.m., by increasing the maximum to 64 dBA, for two hours longer, until 11:59 p.m.

City officials maintain the sound from concerts would be “comparable volume to a busy restaurant” from nearby balconies.

The Calgary Stampede, meanwhile, is exempt from the noise rules during its 10-day run.

“If you think back to Cowboys tent, which is where the event centre is going to be, the sound generated from that tent will 100 per cent be louder than any concert in the new event centre,” Ward 1 Coun. and Event Centre Committee chair Sonya Sharp told reporters.

City officials said it’s believed between five and ten concerts annually would exceed the current bylaw’s threshold, with a possible 55 concerts per year at the new facility.

However, some nearby residents were surprised to learn of the proposed change.

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Serene Yew, president of the Arriva tower condo board, expressed frustration to the committee about a lack of engagement.

“At this time, without any consultation, we can neither support this bylaw change nor can we say that it’s the wrong decision for the community,” Yew said in a presentation to committee members Wednesday. “We just don’t know because we haven’t been given the opportunity to know.”

The 164-unit building is across the street from the new event centre site.

Yew said while many residents support the redevelopment of Victoria Park into an entertainment and culture district, she only learned of the proposed bylaw change last week.

“Engagement in the area for the other developments has been really good in the past few years, so I was just really surprised to see this getting pushed through so quickly,” Yew said.

However, officials behind the event centre project noted changing the noise regulations would save millions in additional costs that would be required to better sound-proof the building.

The committee heard studies on the proposed roof structure, using Edmonton’s Rogers’ Place as an example, showed the design wouldn’t be in compliance with the existing noise bylaw.

“In terms of complying with the existing bylaws in place, it’s about a $7 million to $8 million unbudgeted line item in the project,” said James McLaughlin, the city’s manager of project delivery for the event centre. “It wasn’t identified when the project was developed as project cost or project requirement.”

Sharp noted that the lack of consultation “is a miss” for the city, but said there will be consultation during the development permit process.

City officials noted the change is necessary as the development permit application for the building is currently being evaluated, and can’t be prepared if it doesn’t comply with city bylaws.

“Things are moving very quickly,” Sharp told reporters. “We’re talking about time and money and keeping things under budget and this is one of those things that needs to be moving at the speed of development.”

Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said he agreed changing the bylaw would be a better option than spending additional money to improve sound-proofing.

“It’s a lot of concrete to buffer what will sound like a pretty noisy refrigerator,” Walcott said. “That is essentially the impact it will have for the buildings that are across the street from it.”

The Community Development Committee voted 6-1 in favour of the change, with Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal as the single vote against it.

Dhaliwal said he had concerns with the lack of consultation with residents, and felt the city is “doing this to placate a bunch of millionaires because there’s deadlines.”

“Just bringing it at the 11th hour without engaging the residents is not acceptable,” he told reporters.

The proposed changes will be debated and up for final approval at a city council meeting scheduled for next week.

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