A Coquitlam mother of three is furious with the city after she received a notice of bylaw violation warning because her children were creating "noise that disturbs" while playing in front of their home.
Jana D'Addabbo, who lives on Burke Mountain, said she was caught off guard when she came home from one of her son's hockey tournament Saturday night to see the notice posted on her door. The ticket stated that her kids needed to "keep yelling and screaming to a minimum."
"I am quite disappointed," she said. "It seems like they enforce something like this but they allow harsher things to go by without a ticket or a notice."
Adding to her frustration is the fact her family was not home when the ticket was received. D'Addabbo said she is still not clear when noise levels go from "kids being kids" to a bylaw infraction. She is particularly disappointed, she added, that her neighbours did not come speak with her directly about the issue before phoning the city.
"It is not very neighbourly," she said. "I don't even know half my neighbours and we have lived here eight years — eight years and you do not know anybody, which is pretty sad."
When D'Addabbo went to city hall Monday to talk about the ticket with bylaw staff, she was told video evidence had accompanied the complaint.
"I don't know what they are doing with those videos," she said. "Are they recording my kids all the time? It's not right."
This is not the first time her home has received a visit from bylaw officials.
Last year, she said, an officer knocked on her door and warned her that a neighbour had complained that her children were being too loud outside. With the warm weather returning, D'Addabbo added that her kids have started venturing out into the yard once again.
"They have only been out there three or four times this year," she said. "They play hockey. They ride scooters. This street is not busy."
'THIS WASN'T JUST ONE NEIGHBOUR WHO HAD ISSUES'
However, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart countered some of D'Addabbo's claims in a Facebook message he posted Tuesday morning.
He said there has been numerous complaints over multiple years and that "rocks and other objects" were "thrown at a neighbour's yard toward [the] neighbour's toddler."
"This wasn't just one neighbour who had issues," he wrote. "And I know that at least one of the neighbours had tried talking to the parents."
Stewart also defended the actions of the bylaw enforcement officer, noting that the city cannot release all of the reasons for issuing a notice of violation. He added that in his more than 10 years on council he had never seen a case like this.
"This notice, though, wasn't about children playing," he said. "It was about behaviours that were significantly disrupting the neighbourhood and placing themselves and others at risk."
Andrea MacDonald, Coquitlam's manager of bylaws, said the violation notice is a warning and that bylaw officers only wanted to speak with D'Addabbo. She noted had the family been home at the time, it is unlikely anything would have been written down.
"Everyone appreciates there are always two sides to a story," MacDonald told The Tri-City News Monday afternoon. "We don't take any action until we have both sides of the story."
The city's noise bylaw does not specify a decibel level or a time of day, simply stating that the noise cannot disturb the neighbourhood. MacDonald said staff are investigating the complaint to see if the volume at the D'Addabbo residence was in violation of the rules.
"In order to prove an offence, we have to prove that it is disturbing the neighbourhood," she said.
MacDonald added that the city encourages children to play outside but residents need to be respectful of one another. She also said bylaw officials try to avoid issuing tickets and prefer to work with neighbours to find solutions.
"We encourage neighbourly conversations," she said. "Usually, we can mediate and have a useful conversation to gain voluntary compliance if there is an issue. Ticketing is always the last resort."
Meanwhile, D'Addabbo is leaving her Avondale Street home for another residence further down the hill.
She cited the recent noise complaint as an example of why she decided to sell the property and head to a different neighbourhood, a move she expects to take place in June.
"It is more kid-friendly," she said.
gmckenna@tricitynews.com
@gmckennaTC
