A Letter to Delta Council

Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 4:03 PM
To: mayor-council@corp.delta.bc.ca
Subject: Agricultural Bylaws, related to Propane Cannons

Dear Mayor Jackson & Councillors,
my name is "aaaaa", of Abbotsford, and I belong to a group who are opposed to the use of propane cannons and other noise producing bird scare devices.

In Abbotsford, our council also understands the impact that propane cannons have on the majority of residents, and they have NOT adopted the new Ministry of Agriculture guidelines related to audible bird scare devices. Also in early September they passed a motion to work with a group of residents, the blueberry industry and the Ministry of Agriculture to come up with a strategy for eliminating the use of propane cannons.

As council stated, the blueberry industry has proven that netting is a viable silent alternative because so many farms, large and small have moved to netting in recent years. Also, another councillor pointed out that it has proven to be impossible to enforce cannon regulations, and the industry has brought this upon themselves with continued flagrant violation of cannon use. After a lengthy debate, council in Abbotsford was virtually unanimous in proposing a propane cannon ban.

I bring this to your attention because a member of our group from Delta informed us that you are planning to incorporate the new Ministry of Agriculture noisemaker guidelines into your updated agricultural bylaws. The particular bylaw titled "Noisemakers for crop protection" is your bylaw# 516A.

I realize that Delta has much more pressing agricultural issues such as the use of ALR land and the expansion of the greenhouse industry, and likely the noisemaker issue was included as just one more small item to tackle while the agriculture bylaws are being updated.

However I urge you to give the noise bylaw further thought, and maybe speak to your counterparts in Abbotsford to get an understanding of their thoughts on this issue. Then hopefully you will not just include and approve these changes when they do nothing to address the real issue, and that is one of extreme noise pollution produced by propane cannons when so many other quiet alternatives are available.

Thank you for taking the time to read my note.

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