In our town, there is a strict noise ordinance. In fact, in the last six months, the town upheld the ordinance against vehicles such as ATVs being used within a certain distance of a neighbor.
A neighbor less than a quarter of a mile away has a hot rod. It’s VERY loud. So loud that this morning, Sunday, at 7:45 I was awakened (through closed windows) by the man tinkering with his hot rod. I had had enough, because this has happened several times before. I put on my clothes immediately and went there to let him know that I was awakened and that he is breaking noise ordinances. I happen to know a number of neighbors are also annoyed about this and we have been discussing how to approach him. He apologized but was angry, said he knew the law and denied that he was breaking it etc… We talked for about 7 minutes. I let him know that other neighbors are getting upset about this disturbance.
I told him that I have recorded his hot rod, as have other neighbors, and I have documented dates when he has been revving the car. This has been going on for about 18 months. I left an hour and a half later to run an errand. When I returned, I noticed a police car in his driveway. Clearly someone else called the police, for the first time I suspect. He is probably going to assume it was me. He also has teen sons, and they and their friends all drive noisy cars and congregate at the house when he has the hotrod out. I am now worried that I am going to be some kind of target. I don’t want to be in this position. I am thinking I should write a note to him, letting him know I didn’t call the police. I called my other neighbor and asked if she had called the police, and she hadn’t. There are at least four families that are annoyed by this, and we aren’t even the immediate neighbors. I am not sure what steps to take. Should I write the note? Get the local authorities involved?
Why can’t people just be considerate of their neighbors?
Since you’ve already talked to the person face to face, why not just stop by and explained that you weren’t the person who called the police? I’m sure that’d immediately thaw any kind of hostile feelings on his part.
I’ve been on the other side of the fence! One time, coincidentally a day after our middle son got out of the hospital with a serious issue, our neighbor came storming over to our house, waving a piece of paper in my face. “This is a letter I sent to the town. If your dog barks one more time, he will be OUT OF HERE!!” Uh, really? The guy had not ONCE complained about the dog to us. If he had let us know he was annoyed, I would have done something about the dog sooner! So I think it was nice of you to talk to the guy first, and yes, it would be smart to let him know it wasn’t you who called the police.
If it’s been going on for 18 months, have you contacted the town to have them deal with the issue if he is, indeed, on the wrong side of the noise ordinance? Most towns have easy methods to register a complaint and enforcement officers who will handle it. Generally speaking, loud cars are not usually a part of a noise ordinance because, typically, it is an intermittent noise not a constant. Most will include things like loud music, continuously barking dogs, construction noise, loud tools, etc., but most will have time parameters and are not a general prohibition.
The noise ordinance makes clear that nuisance noises are not allowed and also refers to vehicles that are not specifically for transportation, such as ATVs. A noise loud enough to wake people through closed windows on a weekend morning is certainly a nuisance.
I haven’t contacted the town. I do not want to be a jerk. I was trying to work up the courage to address the man first, and now I have. I probably will have to contact the town board now, because I am concerned about being targeted by the sons and their friends. He said that another neighbor has been leaving notes, and they are not the neighbors I have been talking to. I suspect they called police.
I think that you need to talk to your other (non-problem) neighbors, and most likely ALL of you are going to need to contact the police. This problem isn’t going to go away due to the good sense and kind nature of your one noisy neighbor, because he doesn’t have either sense nor kindness. The police are pretty much the only ones who might be able to solve this problem.
Your best bet may be to get some noise canceling headphones or wear earplugs. This is a difficult situation. If cops respond to noise complaints at all, it’s usually at the very bottom of their priorities. Then, if the neighbor isn’t still making the same noise when the police finally arrive, you can look like the boy who cried wolf. I looked up the noise ordinance in my town and it’s punishable by a fine not to exceed $100. So if you go through the effort of getting a fine, in my town, the worst that happens is a $100 fine and after that you have a neighbor that hates you. I view noise ordinances as unenforceable unless there’s other aggravating factors(ex. loud party with underage drinking) or you have a very aggressive homeowner’s association.
I tend to be a beer summit person. Before I continue, I think your neighbor is clearly in the wrong, and you and the other neighbors have every right to feel annoyed. That said, I bet the hot rod guy is feeling alienated and ganged up on.
If it were me, and relations had not been hostile aside from the noise, I might send over baked goods and / or invite the neighbor to have a beer, ask if he could show me the hot rod, etc.
If I had been grumpy or aggressive with him (and if you were, it was rightfully so), I might even take a conciliatory approach - not because you were wrong but because relationships go better when there’s a better connection and something of a rapport. If the neighbor feels more a part of the community, he’ll have more incentive to behave as part of a community.
I disagree with those who say to go over and let him know you didn’t call the police.
1. He's likely thinking you're lying.
2. He'll likely be annoyed/angry at the fact you're pestering him again after a short interval after complaining to him.
Also, not sure being conciliatory will work after you’ve already went over to complain about the issue not too long before. It likely would have worked much better if you had been conciliatory(bringing baked goods and asking to see the hotrod) before bringing up the complaint.
Doesn’t work as well vice-versa and both may come across as “fake” to him. Especially if he’s of the mind that if one loves/are interested in hot rods, one shouldn’t mind the noise.
This can be mitigated by recording the noise. However, even if the neighbor is still making the noise and its legit, some LEOs regard noise complaints as a “waste of their time”.
A reason why LEOs tend to get very upset and go so far as to read the riot act and threaten arrest of the complainer for filing an invalid complaint when they find the noise complaint they responded to clearly wasn’t legit as I’ve witnessed twice in my life.
Granted, both of those cases were clearly not in violation of my hometown noise ordinances as they took place outside of noise ordinance hours during the day AND the noise itself was what one would expect of people/children going about their normal lives such as coming home from school at 3:30 - 4 pm or playing baseball in a local park on an early saturday afternoon.
Well, like I said, I would have assumed our angry neighbor was he one who called the police, and I would have appreciated his letting me know he wasn’t the one who did.
I should also add that depending on the individual, going over in person to complain/telling them you didn’t call the police may not be prudent from a personal safety standpoint.
Especially if said neighbor is already feeling angered/annoyed and alienated from other neighbors.
@cobrat , I read your other post with interest and would far rather hear Mr. Softee.
Myself and at least one other neighbor have recorded the noise on several occasions. The other neighbor had already spoken to Hotrod Guy last year when he made a racket on July 4. He responded by being a jerk. So it has obviously taken a while for me to work up the courage to say anything. Yes, it would have been good if I had invited him for a beer, but truthfully, that never occured to me. As far as baked goods, I just would never do that. I would think it was VERY weird if someone who has lived in my neighborhood for 13 years suddenly brought over baked goods along with a request to keep the hotrod noise to a minimum. I thought about mailing a formal letter, but decided that would be passive-aggressive, so I didn’t. I guess my thinking this morning was “now is the time.” I was very calm and non-confrontational and even asked him quietly to stop shouting at me. The guy is a jerk, plain and simple, but I was polite and even wished him a good morning as I left. He is now aware that at least three of his seven immediate neighbors are fed up with the noise.
My concern is how do I proceed? I have another neighbor who asked us to take down a dead tree. He knocked on the door, we then went over with our survey, which clearly showed that the dead tree was on his property. He thanked us and took down the tree. There are no hard feelings. I get that it would be nice if I had thought of a conciliatory gesture, but I didn’t, and Hotrod Guy is clearly not a nice neighbor who can be reasonable. So I guess I am wondering how to deal with a jerk neighbor who probably thinks I am a jerk for calling the cops.
I have a decibel measuring app on my phone. I’ve recorded things that exceed the noise ordinance and it lets you take a photo, so there will be a picture of my front porch, looking towards a building 40 feet away and a measurement of 80 dB or whatever. I haven’t used them yet but I’m compiling them to send along with a letter to the offending party (a nursing home and it’s crappy generator).
I can’t believe that car is so loud from 1/4 mile away. That’s crazy!
Not everyone has no hard feelings from someone calling in a complaint about them, especially if it turned out to be false and it caused serious annoyances.
My parents are still angry about a neighbor for complaining in an accusatory tone about water leaking because they were supposedly taking a shower carelessly. 'Cept my parents weren’t home on the day(s) in question because they were away visiting relatives and the leak turned out to have been caused by a pipe in a wall in their apartment which couldn’t have been affected by anything my parents did…and that incident took place nearly 15 years ago.
No surprise, they no longer greet the neighbor and regard them as busybodies who have nothing better to do than call in false complaints.
@cobrat , I haven’t made a formal complaint. It wasn’t me who called the police. What point are you making? Do you think the neighbor has a right to wake people up before 8 on a weekend morning? Are you saying that the complaint isn’t legitimate, so I should have said nothing? Just curious.
My point is that if one calls in a complaint, one will likely be regarded as the “bad guy/gal” by the one being complained against and be prepared to be regarded/treated as such. It may not be right, but that tends to be the reality more often than not with inconsiderate folks.
And it is doubly so if the complaint turns out to have been without foundation as was with my parents’ neighbors’ case.
And regarding your not making the phone call, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone so inconsiderate as that hot rodder will not believe you when you said you didn’t make the phone call considering the police arrived a short time after you complained to him in person if he is as you’ve described.