B.C. mom fuming after kids warned to play quietly outside

By Dani-Elle Dubé

A Coquitlam, B.C., mother is fuming after her family was issued a bylaw violation warning that her children were being too noisy when they played outside.

It was Saturday and Jana D’Addabbo came home to find the notice posted to her front door telling her to control her kids — a six-year-old boy and eight-year-old twins — as they played on their property.

“Please speak to children re: being considerate to neighbors when outside playing,” the note read. “Also, being safe while riding scooters and skateboards on street. Please have them keep yelling and screaming to a minimum.”

D’Addabbo, whose family has lived on the property for four years, was shocked. She says her children have every right to be playing outside enjoying the spring weather rather than being cooped up in their home.

“Seriously we have the worst people living on our street,” the mother wrote on her Facebook page, which has since been deleted. “How do you complain about kids playing outside and being noisy during the day? I rather my kids be outside (than) inside sitting on iPads and not being active.”

She added, “People are disgusting and have nothing better to do.”

“Oh and we don’t own a skateboard. I’m ashamed and disgusted to be #cityofcoquitlam resident and these things should not even be a thing to waste tax payer money on.”

But this has been an ongoing issue for years, said Andrea McDonald, manager of bylaw licensing for the City of Coquitlam.

“This was not typical children playing [kind of] noise,” McDonald said. “This was a situation that was unduly disturbing to the neighbours and there was also behaviour that caused a concern for other neighbours and wanted it to be addressed.”

And although McDonald can’t speak too much on specifics about the situation due to an ongoing investigation, she did say that city staff had spoken to D’Addabbo twice before issuing the notice. D’Addabbo was contacted by Yahoo Canada News.

“The notice was a warning that we wanted to discuss and remind the parents of the issues that we had discussed with them previously, which were being aware of your neighbours and being respectful of your neighbours and being safe when playing on the roadways,” said McDonald.

McDonald also says that these types of noise complaints are an anomaly and the city has only dealt with three similar cases in the last six years.

This isn’t the first time such incidents have taken place in cities across Canada.

Back in January, an Abbotsford, B.C., family members were forced out of their townhouse by the complex’s strata council after complaints that the children were too noisy when they played, CBC News reported.

Kathryn Mackenzie, her husband and two sons, were also issued two $50 fines for the excessive noise.

Last August, a Surrey, B.C., mother was issued a warning after a neighbour claimed that her kids were playing basketball too loudly in their backyard.

Karamjit Toor, a mother of three, shared the home with her cousin who also had two kids. The complaint said that the noise was “creating a disturbance in the neighbourhood,” the National Post reported. Toor did not receive a fine, however her warning did say that she could be fined anywhere between $100 to $2,000 for each offence.

During that same month, a Pickering, Ont., neighbour filed noise complaints against a family with three children, who the neighbour claimed created too much noise when they swam in their backyard pool.

The children’s mother Danielle Honsberger was visited by a city worker notifying her of the complaint. A month later, another city worker came by and then a written notice was delivered, the Toronto Star reported.

No fine was given, but she was told that the bylaw carries a maximum penalty of $5,000.