Currently our local WalMart is expanding to become (everyone gasp) a Super WalMart. This current prospect of theirs would not be so appalling, if they weren’t trying to put the parking lot in my backyard!
The house that I live in (with my dad) is the one that I have lived in my whole life. My dad built the whole house by himself. The house holds incredible sentimental value to both of us. Then, about eight years ago, those bastards decided that 200 yards from the back of our house would be a great place to open a new monument to consumerism. BANG property value goes down $20,000. The lights from the store are enough to light up the whole house when the power is out (this really happened. Who needs a flashlight when you have Wal*Mart!). The light is especially bad in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees. Their parking-lot cleaners, also, decided that it would be really convenient to clean the parking-lot at three or four in the morning.
Now they have decided to expand! But of course, just to the edge of our property line, so they don’t have to pay us any money. There parking lot will now end 5 yards from the edge of our creek, and then follow along the creek on through the neighborhood. Now, the lights will be brighter, the noise will be louder, and the property is likely to go down another $20,000 or so.
OK, reading between the lines (and correct me if I’m wrong here) but your dad WAS compensated for the original development? Yes? I say this because of your…
Look, ‘compulsory acquisitions’ and all sorts of bummer things happen to people all the time. I suggest you get a copy of ‘The Castle’, an Australian movie about a bloke who arked up when the airport wanted to buy his land to make another runway. Might give you a few ideas…
If I were you, I’d sell out now and get what you can before it gets that much more crowded. I’ve worked in several supers and I would think that the way of life anywhere near them would truly suck.
There’s a guy who refused to sell out right around here whose house is now in the middle. He’s got a Supercenter to his left, a Burger King in his back yard, and a spectacular view of the back forty of the parking lot , a KFC, and a McDonalds. Not to mention that his driveway is right by a four-way stop that’s the busiest intersection in the whole outparcel.
You’re right, they clean the parking lots in the wee hours. How anyone could sleep anywhere near that is beyond me.
That does suck. I lived twenty feet from a Food Lion lot and endured bright lights twenty-four hours and trash pickups at 4 AM for a couple of years. (Thank God for earplugs.) I was in an apartment and while it was annoying, it wasn’t bad enough to move.
If a Super Wal*Mart were moving in next to me, I’d move. Egad.
IANAL, but wouldn’t putting up lights bright enough to light a neighboring property as the OP descibes be considered a nuisance? Perhaps a nuisance sufficient to warrant legal action, especially when coupled with the inevitable noise and commensurate loss of property value? This is worth a consult with an attorney IMHO.
Question: Has the property where your house is been rezoned as commercial? If so, there is probably little you can do as far as nuisance noise/light is concerned.
That was a big problem in the town where I used to live. Several beautiful old homes were rezoned into a commercial district and grocery stores/restaurants/etc went up just across the street. Most of the owners sold out, so many are just empty now. I think they made a couple into antique stores and daycares for the elderly (they take field trips to the grocery store at the end of the day to buy their groceries. No lie. We were thinking about having my great-grandmother stay during the day.)
Anyway, after all the usless info I have just given, I would have to agree with the folks who have said ‘Get out now, before the property value drops any lower’…OR wait another few years until someone wants to build a restaurant near Wal*Mart and sell for big bucks! It does happen, you know!
Nothing of substance to add, but I did want to mention that I saw this movie on cable late one night and it was hilarious! I was just surprised that someone mentioned it here. Even if it doesn’t give the OP any legal ideas, it’s well worth the rent just for the laughs. I know I’ve seen it at video stores in the U.S.
“Five dollars for a (insert classified ad item here)? He’s dreamin’!”
They built a Super Wal-Mart about 6 blocks from my house (close enough to be convenient, far enough not to bother me), and you should see all the businesses the sprung up around it. There was a McDonald’s and a Burger King a mile down the road. As soon as 'ol Sam moved in, they both closed their restaurants and moved them to be next to Wal-Mart. Two gas stations opened. A Dollar General was built. Also a check cashing place. One of those little strip malls that always pops up right next to big stores popped up. Even now, a couple years after the store opened, they’ve got something else half-built not far from the edge of Wal-Mart’s parking lot.
No we were not. Since they were “so far” away originally they didn’t have to pay us a dime, and still don’t.
I will plan on seeing this in the very near future.
We were thinking about this, but there are two reasons why we can’t really do this:
1.As posted in the OP, the house holds sentimental value to our family.
2.Since we already know that Wal*Mart is planning on expanding, for us to sell the house without informing the consumer of this could in turn lead to a lawsuit against us.
Now you know why I am an insomniac. Thanks for the earplugs tip WhiteRabbit
Trust me, we will be seeing one soon.
This might have worked, but the street we live on is currently a cul-de-sac; which allows no through traffic. So even though the Wal*Mart is right behind us, we still couldn’t drive there.
I didn’t think so either, until I heard the god awful noise at 3:30 that morning.
If it makes you feel better, I’ll yell at the next Laurie or Kroenke that I see. I’d probably do it anyways, but for a fellow hater of Walmart, I can do a dedication
Can the house itself be moved? I know this is expensive and probably not do-able if the house is relatively large. I know it probably wouldn’t be quite the same having the house in a new yard and on a different property.
Ugh!!! I have property in such an area, right up until I moved out, (I’m renting it out) noise from neighborhood teens hanging out at the Mcdonalds was awful, we (the neighbors) finally managed to get that pretty much under control.
Now, as to the street cleaners? I don’t know the noise ordinances in your town, but in ours, they have to have special permits to operate at any hours past 10pm and prior to 7am, if they don’t, a call to the local police will put the kibitz on their noisy machinery.
As to the parking lot being right up to your property line? Don’t they have to apply to the city assembly? Or whatever the equivalent is in your town? Go to the meetings, be a pain, campaign door to door, get your neighbors in on it.
You may not be able to make them stop, but in our neck of the woods, there have to be sound/privacy barriers between residential and commercial.
