Edmonton looks to beef up bylaws on nuisance odours, air quality

Edmontonians tired of breathing in dust and dirt from construction, fumes from idling vehicles and smoke from cigarettes or cannabis may look forward to cleaner air in the future.

City council's community and public services committee agreed Wednesday to sharpen the teeth of the city's bylaws governing air quality complaints.

After hearing from constituents over the past two years, Coun. Mike Nickel is adamant the city take more action.

"Up to this point, we haven't really done a lot," Nickel said.

Nickel says he's been getting a "pile of complaints" from people living in his southeast ward about dust from construction.

"Around infill projects that were going on, people — seniors — were having a tough time breathing," he said. "Just telling constituents that we can't do anything, I don't think was a good answer."

Nickel asked administration to "put some tools together" to measure air quality issues and then find a way to encourage people, including builders, to comply with the bylaws.

"It's got to be fixed, and it's got to be mitigated."

He said the city used to wash the roads to keep the dust at bay.

Now, he wants the city to be able to tell a contractor, "wash that road or you're going to get a fine — we need a tool to do that."

The City of Edmonton receives an average of 114 complaints a year about odours and air quality, according to a report presented at the community and public services meeting.

The most common complaint related to odour is garbage or compost, making up an average of 82 per cent of the total odour complaints over the past four years.

Coun. Ben Henderson questions how much authority the city has over certain areas.

"I'm still not convinced we have the tools to do what we need to do."

The city can enforce complaints about garbage and compost odours, smoking, firepits and exhaust fumes under the Community Standards bylaw and the Public Places bylaw.

But complaints related to construction, animal odours and industrial air quality issues are considered public health issues and typically dealt with under provincial law.

David Aitkin, branch manager of Community Standards and Neighbourhoods, said his department is looking at amending the bylaw.

"I'm not satisfied that the legislation is adequate enough and may need a little bit of tweaking to ensure that we have that covered off for the future."

Aitkin said the city would look at amending the bylaw to move from the property-based nuisance complaint to "nuisance to an individual," emphasizing the impact on people.

Nickel has also heard from at least one constituent complaining about a neighbour smoking cannabis on their porch.

"And it was outside their child's window, and they said 'well, Councillor Nickel, don't we have a right to clean air?' "

Nickel also wants administration to reevaluate fines.

The fine for violating the city's bylaws governing air quality is $250.

"I would argue if you have a repeat offender going over and over, we should have an escalating fine."

Aitkin said his team will report back to the city's community and public services committee, but didn't give a timeline.

@natashariebe