Dear Editor,
It's time for Okotoks to adopt clearer bylaws. I recently read online that a dayhome operator received a verbal warning from a peace officer for having children playing "loudly" outside in the middle of the day after a neighbour complained.
After looking into the specific noise bylaws (31-23), I've found they're incredibly vague. In short: "No person shall cause or permit noise that annoys or disturbs the peace of any other person."
Such a law leaves much too much to an officer's discretion. Our neighbouring friends in Calgary have clearly defined activities allowed during certain loud and quiet hours. They have further backed this up with decibel levels defined in law.
That is a common sense approach to law.
To give another example of an unclear bylaw, 17-07 requires that the length of one's lawn must be comparable to their neighbour’s. Our friends in Calgary have clear length measurements spelled out in law. I must question if our vaguely worded bylaws would even hold up in court?
I've written Town council about this issue and would encourage like-minded citizens to do the same.
Michael Metcalf
Okotoks