Senior home residents plead with city of Prince Rupert to deal with overnight idling issue

Residents at the Wayne Place Senior Home delivered a petition to city council on March 25 to deal with the nightly noise and fumes from commercial vehicles near the seniors home.

According to residents who signed the petition, truck drivers in the downtown core leave their commercial vehicles idling from the early evening until the early morning.

Wayne Place resident Susan Visentin said during the March 25 council meeting that the noise goes on all night, causing herself and other residents extreme discomfort.

“They come from 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. You won’t be able to sleep because you can hear the noise, you can smell the fumes so it’s hard to sleep,” Visentin said.

“We want to sleep … we want peace and every night it’s like that so how can you sleep if there’s noises from the truck.”

Former manager of Prince Rupert Senior Housing Bruce Rempel also spoke at the council meeting, reading from the residents’ petition on the issue.

“The residents of 630 Wayne Place … are concerned about the quality of life, comfort, peace, enjoyment and especially their rest at night that’s been greatly affected by the transport trucks creating an unacceptable level of noise,” Rempel said.

Rempel and the residents also identified areas along First Avenue near the Home Hardware at Ocean View Mall. This strip along First Avenue is home to many of the city’s hotels.

This issue has been brought up in council in the past, with resident Francis Veillard particularly vocal about the commercial trucks and their noise.

Coun. Barry Cunningham and city manager Rob Buchan noted at a Jan. 22 council meeting that the city’s “vague” noise pollution bylaws might not stand the test of a lawsuit — with council directing city staff to change the bylaw’s language.

Seth Forward, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Rupert Northern View