The noise caused by ball hockey games on the roof of the Center Sports JMD continues to disturb residents of the neighborhood. (File photo)
Citizens who live near the Center Sports JMD, located on rue Tessier in Rimouski, are calling for concrete measures to alleviate the inconvenience caused by the holding ball hockey games on the roof of the company during the summer period.
A dozen of them showed up at the municipal council meeting on Tuesday evening to ask the City to act.
Last April, the x27;the municipal administration had made an about-face by authorizing the holding of these ball hockey games on the roof, almost a year after announcing that they would be banned.
The mayor of Rimouski, Guy Caron, said at the time that he wanted to continue discussions with the owners of the sports center to find solutions. These talks are continuing, he said.
The problem will be solved by a medium or long-term solution which involves, among other things, a move, so we are currently working with the company, reiterated the mayor.
Tuesday evening, the citizens present at the council meeting notably denounced the fact that the matches which are played on the roof of the center end too late. Was there a scenario or hours of play that was offered to the company? asked one of them, Pierre Joly.
Mayor Caron replied that various measures had been proposed, but that he could not; there was no conclusion in this file for the moment. It invites citizens to file a complaint under the noise by-law if they feel the noise level is too high.
Mr. Joly, however, deplored the fact that discussions have been going on for more than two months without concrete action being taken.
I expected at least to have an answer on scenarios for reducing games. I don't know where we're going here. We're still heading for a hellish summer, he says.
The latest sound study conducted at the JMD Sports Center has established that the continuous noise level rises to about 46 decibels in the neighborhood, while the peaks of distinctive noise related to the practice of ball hockey amount to about 52 decibels.
In recent years , the company Center Sports JMD was forced to pay a fine five times for violating the noise by-law of the City of Rimouski.
D' after information from Marie-Christine Rioux
Noise and ball hockey: Rimouski hardens the tone, citizens express their dissatisfaction
