Notable noise complaint results in charge against local Moose Jaw business

A notable noise complaint Moose Jaw residents say the racket from a dance studio is causing a disturbance. Cally Stephanow reports.

Moose Jaw once went by the nick name of The Friendly City but it’s now living up to its new title of Canada's Most Notorious City, after a spat between a business and its downtown neighbours.

"The grounds to lay these charges are basically that it's a noise that disturbs or an unnecessary noise,” said Sgt.Trish Seman with The Moose Jaw Police Service. “Once police investigated and we deemed that the noise that has been there is unnecessary, then tickets can be laid."

Charges have been laid against the owner of Dance Fitness with Kyra. The downtown work out studio hosts various fitness classes that are set to music. Residences are located nearby the gym and police say some of those residents made noise complaints about the business. The complaints resulted in six charges under section four of Moose Jaw's noise bylaw.

"Some people think that a noise complaint can only come in after a certain hour but it's actually a noise that disturbs so it could be at any specific hour of the day,” said Seman.

The owner of Dance Fitness wouldn't go on camera for an interview with CTV News, but said she has taken measures to address this problem by adding sound proofing to her business. She said she has also reached out to nearby residents to come up with solutions. She said her main focus is to work this out so all parties are satisfied."

CTV News has confirmed one of the residents who lives near Dance Fitness is Canadian musician Burton Cummings. It's alleged that Cummings has made some of the complaints to police. These complaints have caused Moose Jaw City Council to reconsider its current noise bylaw.

"Council has asked us to bring a report back that looks at the issues and gives research to what is a potential solution to this,” said Jim Puffalt, City Manager for the City of Moose Jaw.

“Certainty we don't want this to happen again in the future and if there are any holes in the bylaw which we think there is some, we want to close those up so that we prevent these types of things from happening the future."

For now, city council will decide if they are changing the noise bylaw at their next council meeting on March 25. The owner of Dance Fitness has a court date set for April.

Based on a report by CTV Regina's Cally Stephanow.