City solicitor rejects Downtown Saskatoon's pitch to ban buskers with amps

The intersection of 21st Street and 1st Avenue in downtown Saskatoon, March 31, 2024. (Rory MacLean / CTV News)

Saskatoon’s city solicitor has politely rejected a proposal from the downtown business improvement district to draft a bylaw banning the use of amps by street performers and preachers.

The reason? The city already has a noise bylaw for that.

Downtown Saskatoon Executive Director Brent Penner first turned to the city’s environment and utilities committee on April 2 with the proposal, which was modeled after one considered by councillors in Edmonton.

In a letter to the mayor and council just over one month before the meeting, Penner said the number of people using loud speakers for microphones or instruments had “significantly increased” in the last few years.

“This amplified sound takes the form of ‘music’ and ‘street preaching’ and is often concentrated on the corners of 21st Street and 1st Avenue,” he wrote.

“The sounds emanating from these speakers or amplifiers are often extremely loud and sometimes last for hours.”

Penner said his organization has received complaints from both ground level businesses and office tenants of adjacent buildings.

“At times, office tenants must vacate offices and board rooms closest to the street due to the loudness of the noise and the disruption it causes for their work.”

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To be clear, Downtown Saskatoon supports busking, said Penner. Their concern only centred around the use of amplification.

“Someone strumming an acoustic guitar or playing a musical instrument without amplification has not been an issue, nor something we receive complaints about.”

In Edmonton’s proposed bylaw, Penner said amplification systems would be restricted in public spaces “except when being used by a person who has been granted permission to use a space,” or by the owners and operators of a public space.

Penner argued the city’s current noise bylaw was broad and didn’t specifically address the use of loudspeakers in public.

In a report back to the city’s environment and utilities committee, which meets Tuesday, city solicitor Cindy Yelland disagreed. Ditto, Saskatoon police.

“The city solicitor’s office has discussed the provisions of the bylaw with the Saskatoon Police Service,” Yelland writes in the report.

“Both parties agree that there are currently provisions in the bylaw that could be used to address this situation.”

In both its breadth and specificity, the noise bylaw does seem to address Penner’s issue perfectly.

The current noise bylaw was established in 2003 to protect the “health, welfare, peace and quiet” of citizens by controlling and preventing any noise which “unreasonably disturbs” the comfort of “reasonable persons of ordinary sensitivity.”

Of course, what we consider reasonable and ordinary are open for debate.

Section six of the bylaw fleshes out those lofty goals with an actual list of prohibited activities — admittedly not an exhaustive one, but it does reference the use of a stereo, musical instrument “or similar device,” and includes specified hours for using them outside.

Oddly, one of the devices included in the city’s list is a “ghetto blaster.”

Essentially, if someone’s use of such a device “unreasonably disturbs the peace, quiet and comfort of persons residing in the vicinity,” it’s a violation of the bylaw.

According to Yelland, Saskatoon police are prepared to enforce the bylaw as written.

“The Saskatoon Police Service has determined that they are prepared to use the existing provisions to address any issues that arise and will advise if they determine that amendments to the Bylaw would be preferred to deal with these situations in the future,” Yelland said.

A first offence under the noise bylaw carries a minimum $100 fine, $200 for a second offence, and a range from $400 to $10,000 in fines for a third or subsequent offence.