City staff prefer “grass-roots solution” to noisy parties
Fraternity and sorority houses at the University of Toronto won’t have to deal with any new regulations. A city staff report says the houses can’t legitimately be labelled rooming houses or businesses, so they can’t be regulated under current laws. Local councillor Adam Vaughan had asked staff for to look into a licences scheme after complaints about late-night parties from neighbours of the two-dozen Greek system houses in the city’s expensive Annex neighbourhood.
The report also noted that there was “promise of a grass-roots solution,” something with which Vaughan says he agrees. Complaints are “way down” in the past year, from six problematic houses out of 24 to just “one or two,” he told the Toronto Star.
David Harrison, chair of the Annex Residents’ Association sounded less enthusiastic about the report, though he said he would consult with neighbours before releasing a full statement. He told The Star that the situation had improved only because they had “spent hours and hours and hours” working on it. He questioned what might happen if “self-regulation” were to fail in the future.