Residents around Sentinel Hill in West Vancouver are hoping the province will step in and fix a deafening problem in Burley Park.
When the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure expanded the Upper Levels Highway in the 1970s, it never installed sound barriers. Since then, the park has been largely unusable, nearby residents say.
“This park was given to the community for the use and enjoyment by the community and (the noise barriers) should have been done back then. It was not. Now we’re left with an ever increasing noise factor. It’s so bad,” said Jacquie Semple, who lives near the park. “There’s a low, pathetic wood fencing that’s always blowing out. It’s just not adequate.”
John Wilcockson, who grew up next to the park and now raises his family in his childhood home, said visitors in the park can’t even carry on a conversation there.
“We had to yell at each other in order to really hear each other. It’s just an unpleasant place to be. It’s kind of a forgotten park,” he said.
Residents worry the sound may be more than unpleasant, possibly dangerous. The District of West Vancouver sent a bylaw officer to measure the noise coming from the highway and noted volumes of about 67 decibels on the north side of the park.
Following numerous requests to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, neighbours were told installing noise barriers after highway expansion projects only became official policy in 2014.
The 2014 policy states: “Passive parks and other land uses … for which tranquillity is a desirable, if not essential attribute, will be considered for mitigation on a case-by-case basis.”
The ministry did not provide anyone to be interviewed but instead sent a statement.
“The ministry has reviewed its sound mitigation policy that states the requirement for sound mitigation, if warranted, would have been provided at the time of highway widening. The policy, like others the ministry relies on, is not retroactive as standards for measuring and conducting acoustic analysis change over time,” it read.
But that date is arbitrary, and the park certainly would have been a candidate for sound barriers had the policy been in place sooner, the neighbours argue.
The ministry is willing to work with the District of West Vancouver to permit installation of a noise wall on their right of way, but the district has shown no interest in taking on the cost. According to the ministry, the cost of installing a new sound wall can run between $600,000 and $1.2 million per kilometre.
“The ministry will continue to meet with area residents to discuss their concerns and look into what solutions may be possible for Burley Park,” the province’s statement concluded.
The park, meanwhile, continues to be maintained, cleaned and occasionally even upgraded at district taxpayers’ expense while being used for little more than a place for dogs to relieve themselves, Wilcockson said.
“(My kids) call it pooh-pooh park,” he said.
West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Ralph Sultan has gone to bat for the residents in the area on the sound barrier issue in the past but didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The neighbours are hoping to get a sit-down with Transportation Minister Todd Stone the next time he’s in town, but so far, their request has gone unanswered.
