Neighbours say the noise coming from the new skateboard park beside Centre 2000 is a major cause for concern.
“I feel like my home has been stolen from me,” Gail Gault told Erin council on Aug. 15. She later added, “I feel my property has been de-valued.”
Gault said she can no longer sleep in her own bed and has called the police several times due to the noise, which includes banging from the park’s steel ramps, as well as some loud, and often colourful, language.
For Ron Goddard, who also lives nearby, the last week has been a “nightmare.” He said there were 20 to 30 youths using the park on Aug. 12, and several stayed well past dark.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get used to what’s happened the last five or six days,” said Goddard.
Facility manager Graham Smith said he has personally received several complaints about the park, mostly due to the noise coming from the ramps.
“I’ve assured the neighbours … I’ll do everything in my power to solve the issue, or at least remedy the noise to an acceptable level,” Smith said.
With that in mind, Smith said he ordered sound dampening equipment (a rubber layer under all ramps) from Canadian Ramp Company that he hopes will be installed by the end of this week, at a cost of $5,456.
He also asked council to approve an additional $16,215 expenditure for ramp enclosures. Together, Smith was told, the two measures should reduce noise coming from the ramps by 75 per cent.
Councillor Barb Tocher wondered if the town was still considering a sound wall to further mitigate the impact on nearby residents.
Mayor Lou Maieron said the municipality should look into whether a wall or a row of trees – possibly provided by the county’s Green Legacy program – would be a better fit for the park.
“Staff and council are reacting to an unanticipated problem as quickly as we can,” said Maieron.
He wondered if the municipality should temporarily impose restricted hours at the skateboard park until the sound dampening equipment is installed.
Several councillors suggested such a temporary measure would not be enforceable because there is not yet a fence around the park, which is located west of the Centre 2000 arena, beside the ball diamond.
Clerk Kathryn Ironmonger said OPP officials have suggested permanent hours of 9am to 9pm, indicated on a sign, so police can charge anyone using the park outside those hours.
Councillors agreed that was reasonable and also approved the purchase of the sound dampening equipment and vowed to get a fence erected around the park as soon as possible.
Gault said she hopes those measures help reduce the noise, though she questioned why the town did not include sound dampening equipment as part of the park from the beginning.
“We put the cart before the horse,” she said. “We staggered it all and made a mess.”
Several councillors apologized for the noise.
