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Reefer madness!

Residents of a Trout Lake Road subdivision have had it with noisy refrigeration trucks left idling through the night
sleeping person
Residents of a Connaught Avenue residential area have had trouble sleeping with loud refrigeration trucks idling in an adjacent commercially zoned property. File photo.

"I honestly believe that people have a right to a half-decent sleep without being bothered, and those types of vehicles shouldn't be anywhere near a residential area. These are highway tractor trailers that are running with straight exhaust," says Coun. Mark King.

King continued, saying that he is representing his neighbours by bringing forth their concerns to North Bay City Council about excessively loud refrigeration or "reefer" delivery trucks parking along the Connaught Avenue access point south of Trout Lake Road. 

King was polishing his motion Monday by examining solutions that other municipalities have reached with similar issues. He will table his motion at the August 8 meeting. King indicated that the solution he is presenting would establish a "quiet zone," in that part of the city. King suggested that the trucks could park in other areas of the city that do not interfere with "residential life," while waiting for the businesses to open and receive their goods.

King says that several neighbours have approached him about the trucks that continue to line up behind a Trout Lake Road grocery store that abuts several residential homes, causing late-night noise concerns. King, who lives in the area, pointed out that he was up at 4:30 Monday morning due to a nearby idling reefer truck. "I'm not sure why the driver was there at that time of the morning. What these drivers should be doing is showing up when the businesses are open so they can unload them, rather than the middle of the night, sitting there idling," stated King.

King wants to be clear that, despite some internal questions of a conflict surrounding the issue, he is simply performing his civic duty. "Quite frankly, if we were in a ward system and that was my particular ward, I'd be asked by my neighbours to bring that forward. I've been around the neighbourhood, explaining what I'm doing and they are fully supportive."

Car hauling trucks that service a nearby dealership have also resulted in traffic and noise complaints with residents and King says that he has called the by-law enforcement and North Bay Police Service multiple times. Those two entities have little recourse within the existing noise by-law provisions, so King says he is tabling his motion to change that while seeking an amicable middle ground for both the commercial operators and residents who live in the surrounding area.

"They seem to have decided that Connaught Avenue is an unloading spot for auto haulers. These auto haulers have been pulling right down into the residential area to unload. I was witness to it a number of times. The noise by-law seems to have been written to support the truckers. As long as it's a commercial area, they seem to be able to do whatever they want." King added that there have been similar noise complaints made about delivery trucks in the Lakeshore Drive and Mulligan Street area, as well as along Main Street West.

"You've got to be able to let the business do their business," said King, "but the fact that all of these trucks are from out-of-town, that they are moving that stuff in the middle of the night and sitting in parking lots adjacent to residential areas, is just not what I would consider the right thing to do."

King relayed that residents in the area have taken to parking their vehicles so that they block the late-night entrance point of the offending trucks. The truck drivers arrive in North Bay and begin to line up behind the grocery store, as the first in line when the store opens gets unloaded first. Drivers must leave their units idling for refrigeration of the goods inside. It is said that drivers arrive in the middle of the night and sleep in their trucks, waiting to unload. King said that some of the trucks are parked within 50 feet of homes.

"My first thought was to create a quiet zone. We have a number of quiet zones in the city already, but the quiet zone would be on Connaught Avenue, between Trout Lake Road and Romeo and Tiffany," said King. "It would be a no-loading area on Connaught. It's not to interfere with any movement of goods between these businesses, but it would stipulate that there would be no overnight parking anywhere adjacent to that street."


Stu Campaigne

About the Author: Stu Campaigne

Stu Campaigne is a full-time news reporter for BayToday.ca, focusing on local politics and sharing our community's compelling human interest stories.
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