***Story first aired on September 17, 2013***
A group of condo residents is in a battle with the Steve Nash Sports Club over loud noises they say are coming from the gym and disrupting their lives.
Rodney Hall and Ricardo de Guzman live in The Hudson condo building above the Steve Nash Sports Club in downtown Vancouver. Residents have filed several noise complaints over the years.
“All day long you’re just hearing this non-stop thud, which basically sounds like somebody moving above you even though they’re below, the sound travels up the walls,” said Rodney Hall, "we live downtown, we'll deal with the outside noise. That's part of life downtown. Listening to people dropping weights below us and all day long, is not part of living downtown."
“We're not talking a few thuds and bangs. It's consistent throughout the entire day,” said Ricardo de Guzman.
The commercial strata hired an acoustics consultant, who spent time in affected suites and concluded, "Based on the measured data, impact noise from the Steve Nash Sports Club is in the ‘clearly audible’ range."
Pav Manchanda's South Surrey condo also shares building space with a Steve Nash gym. He says he hears constant banging every day from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m.
"We've compromised our way of living. I mean we make sure we sleep early, because we know we're going to wake up early, and I don't think the gym or the developer has had to do anything," said Manchanda.
Company officials refused to do an interview with CTV News about the noise concerns,but in an email said they were trying to mitigate the sound issue. The company says it has moved equipment, laid new flooring and even hired floor monitors to make sure staff and members aren't dropping heavy equipment.
"We have had no more than one or two tenants express concern about the noise levels," said president and CEO Don Harbich in an email statement, "As with any fitness facility, there will be a certain amount of noise from people working out on equipment."
But the residents are not satisfied.
"Something has to give. There has to be some agreements in place to handle situations like this and as of right now, it doesn't seem like there are,” said de Guzman.
When it comes to bylaws, the residential strata and the commercial strata are two separate entities, so even though the condo strata has noise bylaws, they only apply to owners and tenants. The strata has no authority over the fitness centre's operations, and the gym sounds recorded by the acoustic consultant were a few decibels below what the city considers to be an unacceptable limit.
