For Wendy McHaffie, the chiming bells of Our Lady of Assumption Church on Shaughnessy Street are a blaring nuisance that wake her up and keep her from enjoying her property.
For Paul Dufault, a member of the Catholic parish's building committee, the bells are a part of the church's tradition and mark important events, including masses, funerals and weddings.
It is an issue that has divided the neighbourhood and if the two sides cannot find a compromise on volume and frequency of ringing bells by the end of the summer, the city may have to intervene.
Dan Scoones, the city's manager of bylaws, said more than 50 people from both sides of the bell battle packed a community safety committee meeting to express their concerns.
The committee has not taken any formal action but has asked the church to reduce its bell volume to the 69- to 70-decibel range and stick with a schedule that would eliminate hourly ringing.
"The committee has said that we don't think there has been enough back-and-forth," Scoones said. "There hasn't been enough of an effort to find a workable compromise."
Dufault acknowledged that the church has not followed the bell schedule it gave to the city in 2009 when it sought a variance from the municipality to build its bell tower.
That schedule included ringing for mass on Sundays, weddings, funerals and other special occasions, not the hourly ringing between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. currently taking place.
But he said the church should have no problem conforming to what the city has asked and expects to have its bell schedule reprogrammed in the next few days. He added that steps have already been taken to reduce the volume to the desired level.
"We have done everything the city has asked," he said. "Getting rid of the hourly ringing should give [neighbours] a sense of long periods of quiet. We have the schedule and volume down."
McHaffie is not convinced.
She said she measured a volume rating of 71.8 decibels on Monday and that even if the church can achieve a level of 70 decibels, that's still too loud.
She is also frustrated that the church has not been quicker with reprogramming its bell schedule and that she still hears bells ringing every hour between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
"It is sad that a Catholic church is being so disrespectful to the neighbourhood," she told The Tri-City News. "What happened to love thy neighbour?"
PoCo's community safety committee is expected to reconvene in the fall to determine what action might be necessary once the current trial period is over.
