Quebec’s Court of Appeal has ordered La Tulipe to prevent any noise from being heard both inside and outside an adjacent building, prompting the Montreal music venue to shut down activities for the time being.
La Tulipe, which is located on Papineau Avenue in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough in a more than century-old theatre, can continue operating as long as noise from sound equipment does not disturb neighbours, whether inside their building or on their terrace, according to a ruling released Monday.
But with the noise complaints coming from the other side of a shared wall, the venue’s management says it is “with sadness, disappointment and disbelief” that it has no choice but to cancel all upcoming events.
“This constraining situation that we’ve been going through for eight years has cost us greatly in terms of revenue, legal fees and all sorts of other prejudices,” says a statement from La Tribu, the Quebec entertainment company that runs La Tulipe.
This ruling goes further than a judgment rendered by Quebec Superior Court last May, which mandated soundproofing work to reduce noise 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.
Dispute comes from permit error
The venue’s management says it didn’t have any issues with neighbours for “more than 15 years,” and that its problems began when a real estate investor purchased the neighbouring building.
Pierre-Yves Beaudoin bought the adjacent building in 2016, which had been mistakenly cleared by the city for residential development, despite being zoned for commercial use.
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.
On Monday, following the ruling, 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.
A statement from the mayor’s cabinet says the city will “do what is necessary to assist La Tulipe in its efforts to improve the soundproofing of its performance hall.”
Quebec’s Superior Court had already ordered Montreal’s La Tulipe venue to improve its soundproofing. Now, the Court of Appeal is taking things a step further. People in the industry say the ruling will have a ripple effect.
The statement emphasizes the importance of preserving the cultural vitality of the metropolis and addressing the coexistence challenges between cultural institutions and neighbourhood residents. It says 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,” it says.