Noisy vehicles and loud, late-night beach parties are becoming a nuisance for some White Rock residents, and White Rock’s top cop agrees that the issue is “problematic” during the warmer, summer months.
According to one waterfront-area resident who contacted Peace Arch News this week, “the party on the pier starts usually after 8 p.m.” and lasts until the wee hours of the morning.
“When you live on the water, sound reverberates and the loud banter, laughing and (general) hell-raising is ridiculous,” the resident said. “I don’t think I am the only one who leaves their windows open during the summer in the evening for heat respite, but this ongoing noise problem has to stop.”
The resident suggested that the city close the pier at 11 p.m. as one way to curtail the excessive noise and late-night gatherings and beach bonfires.
“Considering the taxes we pay I don’t feel it’s too much to ask to expect a peaceful night’s sleep. If this was occurring in your front yard every summer evening it would not be tolerated.”
White Rock RCMP Staff Sgt. Kale Pauls acknowledged that noise – from both beachgoers and from vehicles – is problematic every summer, and also noted enforcement has its challenges.
“We continue to enforce the illegally loud exhausts and have additional officers out during the evenings on our seasonal beach-patrol shift. Enforcement is problematic as just being in a group that is loud does not qualify a person for a ticket, and determining individually who is loud in low-lighting conditions as police approach is a challenge,” he told PAN.
“Some of these interactions result in enforcement of liquor laws based on physical evidence or being intoxicated in a public place,” he added.
Instead of closing the pier itself late at night, Pauls suggested that “the solution to the noise may be to close the parking lots with gates at a certain time to deter the less respectful atmosphere that can happen late at night.”
However, he noted, such closures would “unfortunately deter many people that use the moonlit beach for tranquil purposes.”
editorial@peacearchnews.com
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