Snow blowers & Noise Ordinances??? (Madison, Pleasant Prairie: houses, tenant, landlord)

[gold*dust1]

You didn't emphathize with someone in the OC having serious problems with neighbors but this is a big deal for you A little advice: Pick your battles. Seems hard to believe someone would blow snow at those late hours on a regular basis, but probably nothing you can do about it as it is a necessity type chore. The cops aren't going to regulate when someone needs to get out or in their home.

Regarding your screen name...Drover isn't a Mod...this forums mods are Bowie or JoshB.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by mommyntheoc

I asked Drover months back with no reply :-( I wanted to change to "madtownmommy"

I don't remember hearing from you. At any rate I'm not a moderator so there isn't anything I can do for you. You need to contact a senior moderator for a screen name change. The two senior mods are Yac and markablue.

[benice66]

That is beyond RUDE. It's cruel. It sounds like this person WANTS to wake people up. Tell him to get help (mental help).

[GraveyardShifter]

Thanks for this post, it is probably going to save me tickets and annoy my neighbors! I live in a community outside Madison and have a big corner lot (2 car driveway, over 100' of sidewalk).

Since my work/school is mornings and afternoons, and my wife's is afternoons and nights, we typically only are home midnight-6am. Both of us are the "do stuff before going to sleep/hit the snooze and wake up at the last minute or 30 minutes after the last minute" types. We commute into Madison together due to having one vehicle - and thus sleeping in the car was the norm (until getting a cheap place in Madison this school year... which was fine until New Year's, when our neighbor became a bar socialite and now stomps and has guests 2:30-4am most nights).

Unlike your neighbor, I assumed there were ordinances. Since hand shoveling would be 2-3 hours of scraping in the middle of the coldest part of the night, I figured that would still be too noisy for our neighbors. Untold warnings, a few tickets, and a couple of nasty letters from neighbors was the result of our "we can make time to be home once every week or two to mow and shovel" life.

So I guess what I am saying is this - would you be willing to do your neighbors walk if they didn't snowblow in the night, or at least willing to pay their tickets if it doesn't get done? Not everyone has the luxury of having a day job or even being home often enough to take care of these things.

Oh, just as an aside, we contacted 4 different landscaping & plowing companies for contracting work. 2 gave definite dates that they would give us a quote, 2 didn't call back. We followed up again with all 4 companies, and received no response from all of them. Essentially, they were uninterested in our business - so when you can't even hire someone to clear your walks, what do you do???

Anyway, based on this article, I am going to contact the community police department and see if they have the same attitude towards late night snow throwing. Then our neighbors can choose which they prefer to ***** about - snow throwing at night or uncleared sidewalks.

[farhadB]

Originally Posted by pinkgonegreen

Our neighbors are using their VERY LOUD snow blower at 2am, 4am, and 6am in the morning. I cannot seem to locate noise ordinance "quiet times" for the city of Madison. It is keeping our family awake at night and is just ridiculously loud (covering your head with a pillow and through triple paned glass, 2 layers of curtains, etc. doesn't help). Does anyone know if this can be enforced? I'm going to go insane if I don't get some sleep soon...it's horrible and lasts 45 minutes in the middle of the night!

That is very common around here, no matter where you live. I have to say after 27 years living here I am not used to it yet. One thing is even worse is that some properties use bobcats and the guy who operates them is out there all night and clearing snow and everytime he backs up the damn thing keeps beeping loudly...It is very irritating and very annoying sound and you can't do anything about it.

[FryGuy]

While I sympathize with the noise issue, I don't think you are going to make much headway. This is a public safety issue. The government cannot make ordinances which would make it unsafe for people to leave their homes. Putting restrictions on snow throwing would do exactly that. I've just come to accept it. Someone's gotta blow if you want your cup of coffee at 6 am or a nurse in the ER at 5 am.

[caieva]

I would get very heavy sound and cold reducing drapes and a loud air purifier. It has helped me enormously - the air purifier has three speeds - low is quiet, medium blocks a lot of noise and high is like a jet taking off, but it is white noise you get used to and it really works when the neighbor has a party/leafblows at 5 ma - even the puppy doesn't hear it and bark at that point!

[snofarmer]

I'm a noise maker
I mean, I own and run a snow removal/plowing service. We do commercial lots in residential areas, residential drives and we snow-blow sidewalks.

If your getting no where getting the police to enforce the noise ordnance try bringing it up with your city council. They may get the police to at least drop by and talk with your neighbors.

I have had the police called on me for noise on more than occasion. When they show up they pull up and say, It's you making all that noise.
I smile and say, when it snows we work. Then they say, keep the noise down if you can and drive away.

With the varying hrs are you sure it's not a service snow blowing and not the neighbors them selves? Becuse most services plan to go to work at a certen time or they plain on clearing the snow just as the storm starts to taper off.
It's easier to remove the snow if you plow with the storm that after.

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

At 6am I would not complain but at 2 and 4 I would. I would just call the cops for a noise complaint if that doesn't work I would go handle it myself.

[doctorbird]

I live adjacent to a private school and ever time it snows, the company responsible for plowing the school grounds start removing the snow at 3 am. Every time the operator push the snow to its designated area on the lot, he picks up the plow's arm and slams it on the concrete, making a loud bang which travels through my house that is 2 feet from the school's grounds. Is there a law that prohibits this kind of noise so early in the morning? How early can they start plowing on ajacent lots in a residential area?

[7G9C4J2]

Originally Posted by doctorbird

I live adjacent to a private school and ever time it snows, the company responsible for plowing the school grounds start removing the snow at 3 am. Every time the operator push the snow to its designated area on the lot, he picks up the plow's arm and slams it on the concrete, making a loud bang which travels through my house that is 2 feet from the school's grounds. Is there a law that prohibits this kind of noise so early in the morning? How early can they start plowing on ajacent lots in a residential area?

Since your user stats indicate that you live in Milwaukee, I'd suggest that you ask this question in that forum rather than in the Madison forum. Noise ordinances are generally city-based rather than state-wide, so what is true in Madison may not be true in Milwaukee.