Quebec’s Court of Appeal has ordered a Montreal concert venue to prevent any noise from being heard both inside and outside the adjacent building.
La Tulipe, a music venue on Papineau Avenue in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough that has been open for 20 years, can continue operating as long as its noise does not disturb neighbours, whether inside their building or on their terrace, according to a ruling released Monday.
This ruling goes further than the judgment rendered by Quebec Superior Court last May, which mandated soundproofing work to reduce noise emissions from the venue.
The Court of Appeal found that the Superior Court judge erred by relying solely on Section 8 of the borough’s noise regulation, which allows for a maximum noise threshold and permits soundproofing to bring noise below that level.
Instead, the court determined that Section 9 applies, which is stricter and prohibits noise from sound equipment, such as loudspeakers, from reaching neighbouring properties, regardless of its intensity.
“The noise from loudspeakers … when heard outside an establishment, is, in the eyes of the municipal legislator, noise harmful to the urban environment, regardless of its intensity or the time of day or night,” the ruling states.
The court noted that the concert hall’s activities are not illegal, so there is no reason to prohibit them. Although adding an insulating wall might resolve the noise issue, the timing of such construction is uncertain, and in the meantime, La Tulipe must comply with Section 9 of the noise regulation.
On Monday, Ensemble Montréal’s Chantal Rossi, the Official Opposition’s culture critic, expressed concerns about La Tulipe’s future.
“We call on the Plante administration to tell us what it intends to do to ensure the sustainability of La Tulipe and how this judgment will impact its actions in implementing its future nightlife policy,” she said in a statement.
Luc Rabouin, borough mayor of Plateau-Mont-Royal, said in a statement that the administration would “do what is necessary to assist La Tulipe in its efforts to improve the soundproofing of its performance hall.”
He emphasized the importance of preserving the cultural vitality of the metropolis and addressing the coexistence challenges between cultural institutions and neighbourhood residents. He said this type of litigation should be avoided at all costs.
“The survival of our cultural institutions, which contribute to Montreal’s reputation, is at stake,” he said.
The ongoing legal saga began when Pierre-Yves Beaudoin, a neighbour and real estate investor, made multiple police complaints about noise, culminating in a request for a court injunction in late 2021.
Beaudoin purchased the adjacent building in 2016, which had been mistakenly cleared by the city for residential development, despite being zoned for commercial use.
La Tulipe’s owners have warned that costly soundproofing renovations, complicated by the building’s heritage status, could force the venue to close.
The building Beaudoin now owns, where he and 16 tenants reside, used to belong to La Tulipe and is poorly insulated against sound.
Justice Azimuddin Hussain’s written decision from May 15, 2023, noted that music from La Tulipe “makes the walls and floors vibrate” in Beaudoin’s building at least twice a week. Between August 2017 and April 2019, Beaudoin lodged about 20 complaints with La Tulipe staff.
Hussain ordered La Tulipe to lower its sound levels until it can obtain the necessary permits for soundproofing work, stating, “There are no vested rights to nuisance.”
He also ordered La Tulipe, which operates in a more than century-old theatre, to pay Beaudoin $1,250 in damages.