Small Victory for Residents of Westbury Crescent

Residents of Westbury Crescent were awarded a small victory on March 27th when Etobicoke/York Councillors unanimously decided to defer the exemption to the fence by-law as requested by GB Scrap at 96 Hyde Avenue.

GB wanted to erect a 25 foot metal fence on the south and northeast sides. Although a 25 foot fence seems like a good idea, residents were oppose as they feared this is a band aid solution and that the noise might be even worse. Also, there were fears that this fence would do nothing to block out the bright lights that shine in some homes. Residents argued that noise absorbent and fire retardant material be used and council agreed. GB now must consult engineers to propose an absorbent material that could be used and to discuss fire retardant material as well.

Vince spoke with the owners of GB Scrap Metal afterwards and they claim to want to work with residents, but that remains to be seen.

Below is a summary of our position on the matter

Although the residents in our community would love to see a high fence constructed around this entire scrap yard, we believe that the current proposal for a 25 foot metal fence on two sides will not solve our noise and fire concerns, and might make the situation worse.
We believe that the only way an exemption should be granted is with the stipulations that the fence be at least 40 feet high, consist of sound absorbing and fire retardant material, and include the entire north side of the yard if not the entire perimeter of the property

Still Being Woken up by Noise from Scrap Yards

I continue to be woken up frequently by both Scrap yards at 96 and 75 Hyde Avenue.
Here is the latest incident:
I was woken up at 6:45 AM on Saturday March 10th by Waxman's Recycling at 75 Hyde. A crane was tossing scrap (this was north of the 25 foot high fence). I proceeded to leave two angry phone messages. One to Alan Waxman and the other to the Municipal Licensing and Standards Supervisor Joe Luzi.
Alan Waxman called me back later in the day. After initially trying to question whether it might have been GB making the noise ( I informed him that I can clearly see both and that GB didn't join in the fun until 7:30 AM), he said that he will speak to his foreman about it and apologized. I basically told him that it has been the same c.r.a.p for the last 40 years and I was sick and tired of it. It was nice to vent!
I spoke to Joe Luzi - Supervisor at Municipal Licensing and Standards this morning. He informed me that we should be receiving a notice this week regarding a meeting on March 27th regarding GB at 96 Hyde wanting to put up a 25 foot fence. Each resident will have a chance to speak for 5 minutes if they want. I mentioned to Joe that I'm not sure a 25 foot fence will solve the problem but it might be a start - although my worry is that a steel fence might just make the noise reverberate and I would argue for a fence that consists of sound absorbing material be used (if such a thing is possible).
We are trying to proceed to meet with GB Scrap Metal on March 17th
With regards to the ongoing noise complaints that I've been filing, Joe said that unless they receive noise complaints from a few more people, they will not lay charges against either yard.