The City of Montreal and the City of Saint-Lambert have announced new sound monitoring measures ahead of this summer's major music festivals at Jean-Drapeau Park.
They set up a website ahead of this weekend’s Heavy MTL festival, the first of three consecutive weekends of music festivals in the park.
The website will provide real-time monitoring and post sound levels from the previous hours and recent days.
It will include data from monitoring devices installed at the concert site in the park as well as at Habitat 67 and in St-Lambert's old town.
The cooperation between the cities, as well as the park, comes after years of bitter standoffs and finger-pointing about events there.
Some South Shore residents have complained they can't leave their windows open and have to live with the constant roar of noise just across the water.
Monitoring the sound is the start of a process the park hopes will help reach a solution, said Jean-Drapeau Park spokesperson Genevieve Boyer.
“The committee, composed of the three instances, is actually trying to find the best way to cohabitate with the park's neighbours so we can improve the quality of life during the major events. Where there is sound coming from the events, this is a starting point to analyze the situation,” she said.
The data and the public's comments will be collected all summer and starting this fall the information will be analyzed.
The goal is to try to sort out how local car traffic and wind contribute to the recorded soundscape.
At that point they may consider solutions.
Many have called for sound barriers and re-orienting the stages, but all agree at this point it's too early to determine what, if anything, will happen.
