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A small water company is located in our housing tract.
Operating at their residential home location providing water to about 75-80 residential homes
Their heavy equipment is very noisy and now they are operating daily.
I work graveyard shift
His lot is about a half acre, maybe a little more.
The owner is the most hated man, by far, in this tiny town. He's really dirty in his business dealings.
Is constantly being sued.
They are making noise all day now. Constantly. Also the dust is getting annoying
Thank you all for any help. Wasn't sure where to start this thread.
Last edited by BagelLover; 08-12-2018 at 08:11 PM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Who has jurisdiction over your community, county? A single complaint from you is not likely to make much difference, but if there are others being affected, written complaints to the zoning authority could result in some action. The problem is that most municipal noise ordinances are for the nighttime hours when most people sleep, so in your case moving might be the best option.
Who has jurisdiction over your community, county? A single complaint from you is not likely to make much difference, but if there are others being affected, written complaints to the zoning authority could result in some action. The problem is that most municipal noise ordinances are for the nighttime hours when most people sleep, so in your case moving might be the best option.
And, if his operation is legal and compliant there isn't going to be much to bolster complaints. Just because he's hated and sued doesn't mean he is doing anything improper. You just don't like it.
You could spend about $20 down at Walmart for a noise/decibel meter: https://www.walmart.com/ip/HT-80A-Mi...&wl13=&veh=sem. The reason I say this is because you make a better case when you go to a zoning officer and tell them specifics like: On the 23rd of June at 2:00 PM I used a decimal meter and recorded 96 decibels and I live 300 feet away from his business. It beats going to them and saying the guy is too loud. Of course it might not work. Most people feel companies should make noise during the day (when you want to sleep) and stay quite at night (when they want to sleep). But; nothing ventured nothing gained.
On the other hand; what have you done to shield yourself from the noise. I worked nights for almost fifty years; I had a man cave to retreat for a decent day's sleep. I had wooden shutters as well as blinds on my windows. For sound I would either turn on the TV on a boring station, use earplugs, or even ear protectors over the ear plugs. Nothing was going to disturb my sleep other than my family and my alarm clock.
Is this a treatment facility for supplying water to the sub-division or a staging yard for a business?
If the first, there isn't much you can do because the facility has to process and deliver water to the customers. Although it really shouldn't be that noisy, water production isn't that loud except maybe the pumps.
If the second I can only mention what others have, is it an allowed use for the zoning?
Is this a treatment facility for supplying water to the sub-division or a staging yard for a business?
If the first, there isn't much you can do because the facility has to process and deliver water to the customers. Although it really shouldn't be that noisy, water production isn't that loud except maybe the pumps.
If the second I can only mention what others have, is it an allowed use for the zoning?
The OP said 'water company'. To me the only reason that a water company would be noisy would be to drill additional wells. Even though companies drill very deep wells; it is a temporary noise until the job is done. The rotary drills the drillers use today do drill fairly quick and the noise should stop within a week or two at the most. The drills can be noisy when in operation.
It would be interesting to hear if that is the case.
A small water company is located in our housing tract.
Operating at their residential home location providing water to about 75-80 residential homes
What do you mean by "water company"? Is this a water treatment plant for a municipal water system, a bottling plant, or a distribution center for bottled water?
None of the three would use noisy equipment or raise a significant amount of dust during the normal course of operations. Is it under construction? If so, as someone else said, be patient, it won't last forever.
If it's a treatment plant there will be some pumps that kick on periodically throughout the day, but it won't be constant and the noise from those isn't invasive at all.
The other two types of business would likely have trucks leaving in the morning and returning in the afternoon and some forklifts operating throughout the day. Again, not what most folks would consider an obnoxious amount of noise.
This is a water company. We have no treatment plants. The owner just hires amateurs to pour chemicals into the water. We live where there is plenty of clean water which runs off the mountains
They just dug a culvert and now the county isn't allowing them to fill it up. There is caution tape tied from the tree to the tree. It looks awful. They cannot drive over it and had just put in another driveway in the back. No doubt this is happening because the County dislikes him immensely. Not that it isn't typical but if this area was commercial, like it should be, it wouldn't look so bad.
It got this way AFTER we bought the house. It was just a crummy house across the street which looked fine or good enough. No signs out stating it was a water company though I did see one large tractor.
There has to be some laws somewhere about just setting up shop on a small lot in a residential area. Dragging in sand and gravel, piling it up alongside large equipment on a small 1/2 acre lot. It's so jam packed there. I'll try to talk to an Attorney friend of ours when he comes up to get his tent trailer we've allowed him to keep on the property. Not to cause trouble but if he can somehow at least park this stuff not near the road in front of our house, so close, that would help.
The guy who works for him is very nice, he told my husband this info. I am sure it is correct. Most folks do not get along with him or avoid him but we haven't done that. We still wave and make light conversation.
The noise is from a grant. His pipes need to be replaced so the noise is going to last a long while. He received a grant to do this.
This is a water company. We have no treatment plants. The owner just hires amateurs to pour chemicals into the water. We live where there is plenty of clean water which runs off the mountains
They just dug a culvert and now the county isn't allowing them to fill it up. There is caution tape tied from the tree to the tree. It looks awful. They cannot drive over it and had just put in another driveway in the back. No doubt this is happening because the County dislikes him immensely. Not that it isn't typical but if this area was commercial, like it should be, it wouldn't look so bad.
It got this way AFTER we bought the house. It was just a crummy house across the street which looked fine or good enough. No signs out stating it was a water company though I did see one large tractor.
There has to be some laws somewhere about just setting up shop on a small lot in a residential area. Dragging in sand and gravel, piling it up alongside large equipment on a small 1/2 acre lot. It's so jam packed there. I'll try to talk to an Attorney friend of ours when he comes up to get his tent trailer we've allowed him to keep on the property. Not to cause trouble but if he can somehow at least park this stuff not near the road in front of our house, so close, that would help.
The guy who works for him is very nice, he told my husband this info. I am sure it is correct. Most folks do not get along with him or avoid him but we haven't done that. We still wave and make light conversation.
The noise is from a grant. His pipes need to be replaced so the noise is going to last a long while. He received a grant to do this.
IMHO you know basically nothing about what this person can do with this property. You are making all sorts of assumptions based on your opinions, but have no facts to back it up. Your comment about commercial versus residential property doesn't make sense.
Your attorney friend would first have to research what the property is zoned for, and what permits/licenses the neighbor has gotten in order to operate. He probably has permits...probably wouldn't have been able to get the grants without them. There are probably plans for the facility on record with the city or county you could look at that would give you the true information. Just not liking how everything looks isn't enough. Sounds as if you didn't research what uses were being proposed or permitted for neighboring properties before buying yours.
Last edited by Parnassia; 08-14-2018 at 08:54 PM..
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