Montreal to change bylaw to protect venues from noise complaints [Video]

Montreal’s administration announced on Wednesday it is going to immediately modify a borough’s noise bylaw to protect entertainment venues and bars from noise complaints, after a court this week ordered a historic music hall in the city’s Plateau neighbourhood to pipe down.

In a decision released Monday, the Quebec Court of Appeal ordered La Tulipe — which opened its doors more than a century ago — to ensure no noise from its sound equipment is audible in a neighbouring building. After losing the court case brought by that neighbouring building’s owner, La Tulipe announced Tuesday it was closing.

“It really calls into question the survival of concert halls in the Plateau, no doubt, but also elsewhere in Montreal in relation to other bylaws,” Plateau-Mont-Royal borough Mayor Luc Rabouin told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.

“There is one person who hears noise from a concert hall and who succeeds …