Have you been a bad neighbour? There's a fine for that

Repeat offenders for nuisance complaints could face harsher penalties in Kelowna, after the city passed a new good neighbour bylaw on Monday.  

The new regulation combines four previous nuisance bylaws — unsightly premise and visual nuisances, noise and disturbances, anti-litter and residential nuisance bylaws — and gives the city more power to tackle property owners who cause repeat complaints.

Bylaw services manager David Gazley said the updated regulations are worded in a way to make them more easily understood by Kelowna residents.

The new bylaw, for example, explicitly bans "overly loud or 'explosive' noise from vehicle engines and mufflers."

"One of the reasons we've presented it in that manner is just to put it in layman's terms so it makes the bylaws a little bit easier for the citizens to understand," he told CBC's host of Radio West, Sarah Penton.

Bylaw officers and RCMP can hand out fines of between $100 and $10,000 for things like graffiti, messy properties, uncovered compost bins, late-hour construction as well as loud noises. Quiet hours for construction increase by an hour to between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.; before, crews could work until 10 p.m.  

'Another tool'

Repeat offenders — those who are reported to RCMP, the fire department or bylaw services more than once in a 24-hour period or three times in year — face an additional $250 fine as a nuisance abatement fee.

"It gives us another tool," Gazley said. "With bylaw, we're a lot about compliance. The Good Neighbour bylaw is exactly what the title means. It's all about being good neighbours."

Some residents of Kelowna expressed concerns that the new bylaw might mean an increase in frivolous calls from neighbours complaining about each other without legitimate reason.

Coun. Ryan Donn brought up the issue at the Council meeting on Oct. 30 but was reassured that policies exist to deter such calls, including the potential of charges for public mischief under the Criminal Code for false complaints.  

Kelowna's Good Neighbour bylaw is similar to ones Abbotsford, Surrey, Penticton and other municipalities around the province. 

With files from Radio West.