The city of St. Lambert has lost its fight to get their neighbours to turn down the music.
A number of summer music festivals take place at Parc Jean Drapeau every year. And every year, residents of St. Lambert, right across the river from the park, say the noise levels are too much to bear.
HeavyMTL, a rock festival, and Osheaga, a three-day affair with many different kinds of artists, were the noisiest, according to residents.
St. Lambert hired a sound specialist and a lawyer to negotiate with the city of Montreal about the noise. Representatives from the two cities held talks which “led nowhere,” according to St. Lambert. Eventually the South Shore city sent a legal notice to Montreal last summer and announced it was taking legal action against Montreal this past April.
The city was seeking an injunction, which would force Montreal and evenko, the concert promoter that puts on the events at Parc Jean Drapeau to limit noise levels between 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Friday, Quebec’s Superior Court ruled in favour of the city of Montreal and evenko. In the decision, the tribunal explained St. Lambert failed to establish the urgency needed to grant an injunction.
St. Lambert wasn’t able to demonstrate that not having the injunction would hurt the city, since the festivals at Parc Jean Drapeau are generally annual events. Had the city started this procedure earlier, the injunction may have been granted.
“There’s nothing new that’s come up, except that the residents’ patience has waned over time,” the judgement reads.
