Saskatoon downtown pushes to ban street performers from using amps

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

The director of Saskatoon’s downtown business district wants to see new restrictions on who gets to use an amplifier in public spaces.

Downtown Saskatoon Executive Director Brent Penner is calling on the city’s environment and utilities committee to consider a bylaw currently being debated in Edmonton that would restrict the use of amps in all public spaces, except with permission.

In a letter before Tuesday’s committee meeting, Penner says the number of people using loud speakers for microphones or instruments has “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 writes.

“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.”

To be clear, Downtown Saskatoon supports busking, says Penner. Their concern only centres 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.”

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He says the city’s current noise bylaw is broad and doesn’t specifically address the use of loudspeakers in public.

In the bylaw currently being considered in Edmonton, 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.

“Restricting the use of amplification systems can improve the vibrancy of public spaces by ensuring that all users can express themselves equally without excessive noise interfering with the use of the space by others,” the proposed Edmonton bylaw says.

Penner is calling on the committee to support his proposed update to the noise bylaw to include similar wording.

The committee meets on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in the city council chamber.