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As you can see on the map, across Kings Drive, there is a multi-level retail building with Target upstairs and BJ's downstairs, and a parking garage serving both. My apartment faces this garage.
A few months ago, they began hiring a crew to clean the parking garage with a leaf blower late at night. They're not there every night, but I haven't noticed if there is a pattern. I have heard them anywhere between 11:30 and 1:30. I can peek through my bedroom blinds and see a guy out there using a leaf blower on the entryway to Target and the parking garage. It's not super-loud, but it's intrusive enough to prevent me from falling asleep, or wake me up if I'm already asleep. Two nights ago I had gone to bed and fallen asleep, and then was awakened at 1:30AM by the sound of a leaf blower. I realize there are certain drawbacks to urban living and thus I do have a white noise machine, so I can set the timer on that if I need to use it when I'm going to bed. However, I can't predict when someone might start making noise in the middle of the night, and I think it's a bit much to be awakened at 1:30AM by a leaf blower.
So I googled the Charlotte noise ordinance, and found that "It shall be unlawful to carry on the following activities in any residentially zoned area of the city or within 300 feet of any residentially occupied structure in any zone of the city:
...
The operation of lawn mowers and other domestic tools out-of-doors between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m."
I'm thinking a leaf blower would count as an "other domestic tool" if lawn mowers were mentioned. Also, the website states that on weeknights, the acceptable Decibel level after 9pm at the property line of the commercial property in which the sound is generated is 60 dB. Some quick Googling seems to suggest that leaf blowers typically produce a noise level over 60 dB.
Does anybody know if I'd stand any chance of getting them to stop if I started filing complaints? I'm just trying to get a sense of whether this kind of thing is just the price you pay for living in a city. Anyone know what is the best way to file a complaint about chronic noise? I.e., call 311 and tell them about the problem in general, would I have to call 911 as it's happening? Seems like a ridiculous thing to call 911 for, but I read in previous threads that if you call 311 about noise issues they tell you to call 911.
I'd call the police non-emergency number, 704-336-7600. And if I didn't get an appropriate response, I'd start calling/emailing the city manager's office and the city council member that represents your area. I'd also try to determine who owns or manages the parking deck and contact them. And talk to your apartment management about it. They may have gotten other complaints, and may know who manages the deck.
I'd call the police non-emergency number, 704-336-7600. And if I didn't get an appropriate response, I'd start calling/emailing the city manager's office and the city council member that represents your area. I'd also try to determine who owns or manages the parking deck and contact them. And talk to your apartment management about it. They may have gotten other complaints, and may know who manages the deck.
I called this number and they transferred me over to the particular police division which handles my neighborhood, and the person there told me I should call 911 when it was happening, which, as I mentioned, I had read in a thread I found from a few years back. So I guess that's what I'll do.
There is also another noise problem in the same vicinity I'm trying to get handled at the same time, which is that there's construction going on on a small commercial building (again, my apartment overlooks it) where a trash container truck is coming around at 4-5AM every morning and spending 20 minutes delivering a new container, shuffling the ones that are already there around, and carting the old one away, and the whole time its backup beeper alarm is sounding, along with an even more annoying one that kind of trills whenever it's pulling a container up or down its ramp.
I called this number and they transferred me over to the particular police division which handles my neighborhood, and the person there told me I should call 911 when it was happening, which, as I mentioned, I had read in a thread I found from a few years back. So I guess that's what I'll do.
There is also another noise problem in the same vicinity I'm trying to get handled at the same time, which is that there's construction going on on a small commercial building (again, my apartment overlooks it) where a trash container truck is coming around at 4-5AM every morning and spending 20 minutes delivering a new container, shuffling the ones that are already there around, and carting the old one away, and the whole time its backup beeper alarm is sounding, along with an even more annoying one that kind of trills whenever it's pulling a container up or down its ramp.
I used to live downtown, and the dumpster of the business across the street used to get emptied very early in the morning. I called the trash company directly and asked them nicely if they could rearrange the route to pick it u later, and they did so.
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