The case of the mystery beeping noise of downtown Salmon Arm has been solved and is being resolved.
On April 16, an employee of a downtown firm emailed the Observer and city staff regarding an electronic beeping noise they said had been going continuously for about two weeks.
“Most may not be hearing it, going about their business in the din of downtown, but for those of us who are staying working downtown all day, it’s incredibly frustrating and concerning,” wrote Dani Gratto of Acuity Advisors LLP. “Not only is this noise (if not causing) at least aggravating headaches and ringing ears, but it is, again, incredibly frustrating in general – to the point of being disruptive to our work and living environments.”
Speaking with the Observer on April 17, Gratto said when she and co-workers first began hearing the noise, some were uncertain if they were just imagining it.
“Then, a couple of days in, we started actually asking each other, ‘do you hear that?’”
The same day she sent the email, Gratto shared a post about the noise on social media. She found others who were familiar with and frustrated by it, including one commenter who noted it had been going on much longer than two weeks and was especially noisy in the evenings.
Gratto said a co-worker wound up calling the City of Salmon Arm’s bylaw enforcement on the 16th to make a noise complaint.
“I guess they went and tracked it down and had them turn it off,” said Gratto. “However, it was going again this morning, but then promptly turned off. We still don’t know what it is.”
City planning and community services director Gary Buxton said on April 18 that the mystery beep was found to be an alert emanating from a downtown rooftop in response to a backup power supply that had failed. He said the owner had been contacted and the issue had been corrected.
Gratto noted the beeping had returned briefly after being addressed. In a follow-up email, Buxton said the same occurred on the 18th.
“Apparently the beeping started up again this morning, and we’ve already (re)contacted the owner to remedy it again, so we are continuing to keep on this,” wrote Buxton.
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