POWER STRUGGLE: Shelter’s giant generator brings the noise

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Call it a powerful noise.

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The homeless shelter at Bathurst Street and Lake Shore Boulevard has been open since mid-October. was disconnected from the network and was powered by a generator. A generator the size of a truck trailer, surrounded by apartment buildings and just steps from Little Norway Park, dominates the Queens Quay parking lot.

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Ingrid Budaj told Toronto Sun that when she cycled past the site one morning last week, there was no mistaking the noise emanating from the intersection.

“I drove by there this morning at 8 a.m. and everything was buzzing,” Budaj said. “It's huge.”

Budey's organization No More Noise Toronto advocates for people suffering from the worst urban noise, such as apartment dwellers around Bathurst and Queens Quay. Some Little Norway residents took to a nearby Facebook group to share news from City Hall, worry about exhaust fumes and, of course, complain about the noise.

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Constant low frequency hum

Although it's in a busy corner of downtown Toronto and close to Billy Bishop Airport, Buday said the generator's constant low-frequency hum will be “different” from traffic and airplane noise.

“Low-frequency noise comes through glass, through concrete… it's literally like vibration. We can't ignore vibrations, right?” – Budai said.

“Even if it's not that loud, if it's clearly audible, it means that our brain and our attention is being diverted from what we're doing. And the fact of the matter is, it was clearly audible, and so there's a lot of other noise going on during the day, but I bet at night that hum just goes away.”

Toronto Hydro reported Sun power in the sheltert 545 Lake Shore Blvd. was shut down due to an “issue” with city-owned equipment that is being repaired. The spokesman said he hoped power would be restored early this week.

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In a statement for SunThe mayor's office said it recognizes the “impact of generator shutdown and use on shelter residents and the surrounding community.”

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“In the meantime, staff are working to mitigate the impact of this temporary emergency measure, including installing sound-absorbing devices during critical shelter operations. We thank Torontonians for their patience while repairs are made,” the statement said.

Chest-high sound barriers installed

City officials have installed chest-high sound barriers around the massive generator, which makes a strong, low humming noise, similar to a bus-sized air conditioner. Buday said it was clear “very little” had been done to reduce the noise, given that those most affected by the generator live above it.

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“If you're in line of sight of something that's making noise,” Budaj said, “then you need a barrier in that line of sight… It would actually be like a blanket, and because of all the vents and stuff that I see going into it, it would probably generate heat, so they'd have to actually build a sound barrier.”

Of course, people are worried about more than just the generator.

Little Norway, like many Toronto parks, has been used as a campground since COVID. and some residents in one Facebook group complain that homeless people have brought drugs and vandalism to the area.

But the temporary shelter at 545 Lake Shore is in keeping with the mayor's philosophy of housing the homeless. To meet the urgent need, the city is rolling out shelters throughout Toronto and deep into residential areas. The idea is to open them where there is a need, as, according to municipal shelter design document“People are experiencing homelessness in all areas of Toronto, not just downtown.”

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This change in approach means Torontonians live very close to buildings that have been converted to house dozens or even, in this case, a couple hundred people. The shelter at 545 Lake Shore had long been a television station, and in addition to electrical problems reportedly went a week without water in May. (The developer intends to replace the building with apartments when the shelter closes.)

Budaj is also advocating for a solution to the noise problem at the nearby shelter on Adelaide Street, near Bathurst. Diane Chester of the group Niagara Neighbors for Public Safety lives so close that she can hear the shelter's new HVAC system working most of the day.

“It's driving me crazy,” she said Sun in the text.

She said it was so loud that she couldn't open the windows anymore. Sun saw dozens of emails she sent to City Hall officials and said the city's shelter services department responded only after she got the bylaws department involved.

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