Montreal’s La Tulipe Concert Hall Temporarily Ceases Operations After Ruling on Noise Complaint │ Exclaim!

The Quebec Court of Appeal has ordered Montreal’s La Tulipe concert hall to prevent noise from spreading both inside and outside a neighbouring building.

UPDATE (24.09): La Tulipe has announced temporarily halting live performances at the venue following Monday’s ruling. The venue’s owners are now calling on Quebec’s Minister of Culture and Communications and Montreal’s decision-makers to “implement measures to rectify the situation, thus reaffirming the essential role of live performances, singing, music, artists in a city with an international reputation like Montreal. Because this decision ultimately forces artists to remain silent.”

Under the ruling issued Monday, the performance venue, housed in a century-old theatre on Papineau Avenue in the city’s Plateau-Mont-Royal district, can continue to operate provided the noise does not disturb neighbours living in the building or on the terrace.

CBC News reports that the legal saga began when neighbour Pierre-Yves Beaudoin, a real estate investor, filed multiple complaints to police about noise levels. After Beaudoin made “approximately 20 complaints to La Tulipe staff” between August 2017 and April 2019, an application for a court order was filed in late 2021.

The broadcaster notes that Beaudoin purchased an adjacent building in 2016 that “was mistakenly approved by the city for residential development despite being zoned commercial.” The building, where Beaudoin and 16 tenants live, is said to be “poorly soundproofed.”

In May 2023, Quebec’s Superior Court ruled that the venue should undergo soundproofing work to reduce noise. La Tulipe’s owners have warned that such a renovation, complicated by the venue’s historic landmark status, could force it to close permanently.

The Court of Appeal found that the High Court judge had erred in relying solely on Section 8 of the Neighbourhood Noise Act, which allows for a maximum noise threshold. The court held that the more stringent Section 9, which prohibits the transmission of noise from sound amplification equipment to neighbouring properties, applied.

A statement from Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante’s office said the city “will do whatever is necessary to assist La Tulipe Theatre in its efforts to improve the acoustic insulation of the concert hall” (via CBC News).

Jon Weisz, executive director of Les Scènes de Musique Alternatives du Quebec (SMAQ) — a non-profit association that works with independent performance venues in Quebec — said in a statement that the Court of Appeal’s decision “reopens Pandora’s box for the cultural sector.”

“I wake up every morning to the constant din of the unregulated Plateau. But when it comes to music, in a city whose elected officials like to brag about their cultural hustle and bustle, tolerance is reduced to zero,” Weisz said in a statement. “How is it possible for one neighbor to shut down a cultural institution? How is it possible for one complainant to make illegal an activity that is common in a cultural metropolis like Montreal? This regulation places a disproportionate burden on performance venues while ignoring the realities of urban life. Why are cultural venues the first to be blamed in all disputes?”