Montreal Gazette: The absurd saga of La Tulipe continues. The historic Montreal concert hall announced Tuesday it will have to close its doors following the Quebec Court of Appeal’s decision that the venue must ensure no “audible sound” coming from its loudspeakers be perceptible in the neighbouring building, or even from its balcony.
2 comments:
It’s sad to see an artistic institution close, no matter what the circumstances are. It’s crazy that La Tulipe is being forced out of business by a noise complaint that came about through a zoning error. It seems especially strange considering that the building behind the concert hall was turned into an apartment block while the venue was active, so surely the owner must’ve known what he was getting into. The most obvious solution seems for the city to change the zoning back to commercial as to stop future complaints, but it’s probably difficult to do that now that people are moved into the apartment block. In any case, I hope the local government is able to rectify the situation somehow, even if it means just paying for the soundproofing. It would be a shame to lose a historic arts institution like this one to a noise complaint that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.
I can see both sides of this argument, no one wants a historic site of arts to be shut down for any reason, but if I had to live next to a venue that I could hear every night I would be frustrated with the noise coming from events. This is ultimately the city’s fault because of the zoning issue. This is why it is important to research zoning laws before requesting changes. The city should work with both parties to repair the damage their mistake has caused. The proposed solution to the issue is a hard one for La Tulipe, after dealing with fines stemming from the noise complaints they are also being forced to accommodate the renovations to soundproof the venue costing even more money. I think that the city should be the one to pay for the renovations and also compensate the workers for the revenue they are missing out on while this situation is ongoing.
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