www.CallAt11.org

Noise log forms 1 2,  zoning maps 1 2 , and information on  enforcement of the Toronto noise laws 1 2 at Brunswick and Bloor after 11 p.m. .

Noise complaints can now (2012) be phoned or emailed to the City at  311 or  311@toronto.ca .  Clearly Audible Loudspeakers are Lawbreaking at 11 p.m. or later, every night of the year, where audibility is at a residential 'point of reception', such as the window of a home or a point in the yard of a home. Details are in Toronto Code Chapter 591-4 and 591-5  (updated by City) . 
 

292 Brunswick Avenue: TRANZAC

Mar 25, 2012 use in residential zone:
   
The TRANZAC clubhouse is situated in the residential zone  (1, 2)  R3Z1.0.  (Fuller official zoning Map) Office, performance and recording space is not a 'permitted use' in this zone.  A zoning dispensation for use as a social club for Australians and New Zealanders was allowed when the Toronto Australia New Zealand Club bought the property in 1971.  It has about 90 members including several residents of the immediate area. 

Australians and New Zealanders no longer attend TRANZAC, but until now there has been no move towards regularizing the building use to conform with the residential zoning.  Despite the legal status, Blocks Recording Club (see June 1, 2006)  started renting space in the clubhouse in May 2006.  Blocks has no Australia-New Zealand connection. 
 

(Town Crier Online)
Neighbours dump on club for noise, litter
(Posted Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2007)
By Karolyn Coorsh Members of a local social club in the Annex received an earful from upset residents about noise and loitering after late night concert events. The board of directors of The Toronto Australia New Zealand Club played host to an Oct. 9 community meeting attended by residents and local councillor Adam Vaughan to address the complaints of excessive noise and litter that nearby residents say has become unbearable. The Tranzac Club, located on Brunswick Ave. just north of Bloor St. West, has been the focus of many of the complaints. Residents blame the club’s late showtime starts and lack of soundproofing as the problem. One resident complained that concertgoers at the club were lingering on her lawn and causing a ruckus late into early morning hours. “It’s out there every night,” she said. “They’re using my front yard as a bathroom.” “The noise was incredible and it was jammed like you wouldn’t believe,” another resident added, after passing by one evening, seeing people spilling out of the club. Vaughan, councillor for Ward 20, went to task about the noise problem and urged Tranzac to take responsibility. “You’re not supposed to be heard outside your four walls,” he said. “You can’t impose this kind of hardship on your neighbourhood.” One resident came to the meeting sporting a sign for a concert with a starting time of 11 p.m. As a result, Vaughan advised the board of directors to rethink their showtimes, saying 11 p.m. was far too late. “It’s not a viable business model in this community,” he said.  The club has been making it a priority to change showtimes and had spoken with their booking manager, said Carol Lonero, a Tranzac board member, in a phone interview days after the meeting.  “We’ve certainly been looking at this issue very much,” she said. “The music had to go down in keeping with the bylaws at the proper times.” The board is also trying to find grants and other funds to soundproof the North wall, as it is shared with a resident. “We want to make sure that we deaden that wall,” said Lonero. The club is also looking to join the yellow-bag garbage pick-up program for businesses, as residents complained that their dumpster is always overflowing. Lonero said it’s a problem for the club as well, since they believe other restaurants and clubs in the area are illegally dumping on their property.

481 Bloor Street West: Brunswick House
Liquor license: 2005 application to expand licensed area by less than 25% (public notification not required)


March 10, 2008

For the Brunswick House (March 2006 Gleaner) relevant documents include the Land Transfer Office record and the corporate ownership records (Profile A, Profile B, Administrator ). 

The Brunswick House was successfully prosecuted February 20, 2006 under Chapter 591 at the Old City Hall courtrooms, (subpoena).  The judge fined the Brunswick House $5,000 and made a formal order about future possible noise infractions.

Over the years the Brunswick House has made various unsuccessful applications to City Hall to use the Brunswick Avenue flankage as a patio.  Sometimes there has been mention of a relatively quiet restaurant (e.g. a Mr. Greek in 1999, see case 17,  and a Rosie O'Grady's  in 2005, Eye 1 2 3 ). See also July 2006 patio.    Occasional letters have been issued by the Brunswick House, most recently in June 2009,  saying, approximately, 'let's have a free and friendly discussion with you, our neighbours' .  However, these invitations have been signed by the frequently changing hired managers rather than by the true Brunswick House owners, who have chosen anonymity.   The patio applications and accompanying promises have been skeptically assessed by a 'more-than-once-bitten' neighborhood.  There are three families with young children owning houses within 60 metres.  And three lawyers. Once a liquor license has been granted then the neighborhood has no control over the actual character of the establishment, and liquor licenses are substantially never retracted.

Feb. 11, 2006:  Ad: College Wars
Dec. 2006        Ad: Reverse Cover
March 8, 2007 Varsity: 'Brawlin''

296 Brunswick Avenue: Green Room and Annex Live
Liquor license: A liquor license at 296 Brunswick was surrendered November 2005. A new license was granted in 2007.

                          
Plan presented to Committee of Adjustment  June 28, 2006 (One main floor south side window)

Plans (1, 2, 3, 4) for a conversion of the main floor have attracted coverage:
June 2006 Annex Gleaner  (1, 2) and the
July 6, 2006 Toronto Star
December 2006 versions presented at meeting of residents at Trinity St Pauls:  'one south facing window' and 'no patio'
January 8, 2007 Letter to Committee of Adjustment about proposed south-facing window (singular)
January 15, 2007 Decision of Comm. of Adjustment  (1  2  3)


Dec 14, 2007


Feb 23, 2008:  Three south-facing windows


May 6, 2009:  Request for patio
 

        
The Annex Live  application to run a patio on the City-owned land in front of the building received a strongly negative reaction from residents at a meeting at 296 Brunswick Avenue on June 8, 2009 attended by Mr Marchese and chaired by Councillor Vaughan. The application has been withdrawn with the recommendation that it not be resubmitted in 2009.

Councillor Vaughan's Bloor-Brunswick Meeting June 16, 2008:  Advice on Contacting the Authorities

Please note that in 2011, Councillor Vaughan's office notified us that for noise complaints the appropriate number is no longer 416-338-0800 but is now 311 or 311@toronto.ca


                                                          


From 2011 the standard noise complaint line is 311.  At Councillor Vaughan's public meeting on Bloor-Brunswick issues held on June 16, 2008, it was mentioned by police and City authorities that noise problems can be reported at 416-808-1500, which is set up so that a file can be built about a recurring problem.   At the meeting, City authorities confirmed that a liquor license, once granted, is very rarely permanently withdrawn. 


Useful pointers we've learned over the years:

An investigator  may be sound-shielded by buildings. So it's usual to indicate where the noise law infraction is most serious.

The law's use of the term 'clearly audible' is intended to mean that we don't need to use our decibel meters, but they can sometimes be useful.   The needle analogue versions rather than the digital versions have proved most effective, producing a night-time LCD-projected image which is clearly visible on the wall of a law-breaking establishment.  City staff have indicated that residential reception of a bass thump is more than enough to constitute a crime.   Photographs, video and audio recordings of violations of noise and other regulations can be useful in court.

Newspaper coverage at 1, 2, 3, 4.

Noise log forms 1 2 in the format requested by the authorities, with exact times, dates and some walk-by confirmations of music source, are an effective tool.  They should be sent to Inspections, City of Toronto, 2238 Dundas Street West, M6R 2A9.
 

Possible Countermeasures if Conventional Enforcement Ineffective

1. Photography and videotaping of infractions
2. Web-posting of video of drunks' activities when 'no reasonable expectation of privacy', e.g. if on sidewalk
3. Spotlight arrays on street to encourage dispersal (used by police in Toronto Entertainment District in 2007)
4. Flyers/bedroom decibel readings/copies of bar ads delivered to residents of home streets of bar-owners.
5. If establishment is used by responsible people, sidewalk protests by residents, especially parents, 'please dine elsewhere and let us sleep'
6. For other establishments, hiring of security guards by residents, with prompt re-hiring when problems recur
7. High-tech methods are becoming practical:
        a) street noise microphones with live relay to police - experiments in UK
        b) video cameras with recording accessible to police/AGCO (842 Bloor W, Annex Gleaner Apr 2008)

Countermeasures 3. and 5. are clearly legal.  A  lawyer (not one of the three lawyers living  within 60 metres, as it happens) confirmed informally that Countermeasures 1 and  2  above are also legal.  Countermeasure 4 can be done legally, though public identification of bar owners/operators/investors/board members, if not already public knowledge, would need to be done carefully.   Occasional 11:15pm  live transmission of illegal noise received in our homes to a loudspeaker van parked outside  their homes would require legal research and could be worthwhile for publicity ('so only kids in Rosedale have a right to sleep in their beds?').   

Other ideas, comments on this site, or requests to be added to the email list  to Keith Sharp please (sharp@utstat.utoronto.ca)