There’s a shooting range in Renton, WA that’s been there since 1933. Yes, over seven decades. Over the years, people have built houses next to it. Now they’re complaining about the falling bullets and shot, and the noise. Okay, the range should do something to contain the projectiles within its property; but the noise? These people knew there was a shooting ranger there when they moved in!
It reminds me of Santa Monica Airport. Built in the '20s, it was originally called Clover Field. Wanna know why? Because it was in the middle of a huge empty field of clover! So what do people do? They build houses right up to the airport boundary, and complain about the noise and the occasional airplanes that crashes into their houses.
IMHO, if you don’t like airplane noise, shooting noise, the smell of cattle, or whatever, don’t move next to it!
Our realtor had us sign what we affectionately refer to as the stinky clause when we bought the farm. Evidently, a lot of city folk were buying these charming old farmsteads only to complain about the sweet smells of agricultural spring once they realized their neighbors were actually making a living off the land.
Now, my neighbor who grows blueberries recently installed bird cannons. And while I don’t recall signing a Holy Shite!!! WTF Is All That Bombing? clause, but we farmers tend to live and let live.
I don’t really disagree with anything you posted, Johnny L.A., but I thought I’d chime in to note the following:
Legally, in many jurisdictions the rule is that moving close to a nuisance does not remove your right to complain. To put it in more precise terms, “the fact that a person voluntarily comes to a nuisance by moving into the sphere of its injurious effect after its creation will not deprive one of the right to injunctive relief or damages” (Am Jur 2d Real Property).
Just FYI.
And, as I note on preview, in some jurisdictions the general rule is different (e.g. Farmwoman’s example).
Additionally I was a little loose with my earlier post - in Farmwoman’s example there probably is liability for the nuisancemaker if you move to the nuisance - but it’s waivable. Which is why they have homeowners buying in sign the “stinky clause.”
There’s a court case where the judge pointed out that granting too much freedom to the original nuisance would mean essentially giving a perpetual easement over all of the surrounding lands. Thus moving to the nuisance does not prevent you, necessarily, from having a legal case (though it makes it more tenuous.) Many states, however, have “right to farm” statutes (and rightly so, in my opinion) that declare that farms have the right to conduct agricultural activities without being liable as nuisances, which makes sense as very low-density residential settlement keeps popping up in farmland. Otherwise rich suburbanites would slowly conquer every bit of farmland in the nation.
My friends family has 5 farms spread across three towns. To get equipment from farm to farm means driving down the road at a whopping 10 mph if you have a full trailer. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been flipped off or yelled at by passing motorists.
My favorite story is when a lady in her new house that butts up to one of the fields started to complain about the dust during spring plowing. He’s a fifth generation farmer on that land, he looked at her and said
“Sorry Ma’am.” spit (he chews tobacco) cocks his head, looks at her and asks a question “do you eat?”
“Wha… huh… What?” she stammers.
“Do you eat? Do you put food in your mouth to survive?”
“Yes”
“Where do you think it comes from? Right here. I’m sorry about the dust, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
I thought I was going to die. I had to duck and turn away to keep from laughing in her face. After she stomped off I asked him where he came up with that. He said he’s had the same conversation so many times over the years that he uses that as his standard answer.
This is one of my pet peeves. IMHO, if the buyer doesn’t exercise due diligence before the purchase, and is bothered by a “nuisance” that was already there when he moved in, he has every right to sell the house and move elsewhere.
Shooting ranges make noise.
Airports make noise.
Amusement parks make noise.
Trains make noise.
Feed lots smell.
Turkey farms smell.
Why is this a surprise to anyone?
If you make the compromise because the property is affordable, you know in advance just why it is so affordable. If you chose to move in, you can choose to move out.
What you see in this photo (hit the + tab two times to zoom in) is a landfill that has been in operation for 30+ years.
Use the down arrow to see a golf course and the community (now largely complete) going up around it. The golf course is a Troon Golf course (high end public, $75 a round) and the homes in the development start at $275K and go up to $1M. These poor folks are finding out that they don’t really like paper flying through the streets when the wind blows, nor are they fans of the noisy scavenger birds that like to hang out around dumps. Now the landfill (the towns largest tax producer) is going to triple in size. See article
I grew up in Chesterfield Township, MI. My parents’ house was the first on our block, and was built almost a decade before any of the others, in 1980. My parents knew that their house was directly on the landing path for Selfridge Air National Guard Base, and they didn’t (and still don’t) mind. In fact, my dad’s a bit of an aviation buff, so he kind of likes it.
Fast forward to 1988, when the rest of our neighborhood was built. These idiots all bitched for years about the noise. Now, some want the base closed, but it won’t happen, as it’s in a strategic spot in case someone tries to attack from the north. Also, the Coast Guard flies out of there, and has to have a place to fly out of to save these idiots when they crash their snowmobiles through the ice on Lake St. Clair.
Now, said idiots want to build a mall in the crash field that runs up to the fence. Yup, a shopping mall. In the field that’s open in case a plane goes down. Flippin idiots!
Also, I’ll admit that the planes in the early 80’s were loud as shit, with A-8s, F-4s, C-130s, and KC-135s flying out. The latter two planes are still there, but the A-8s and F-4s have been retired and replaced by the relatively quiet F-16s.
Many landfills are turned into golf courses or housing tracts. I wonder how many people live over former landfills and don’t even know it?
I remember (sorry, no cite) that there were people in the Bay Area who wanted to close down a municipal airport. After the Loma Prieta quake, wanna guess where Search & Rescue teams landed? Wanna guess were a buttload of emergency supplies were brought in? Suddenly, residents were less willing to close the airport.
I used to get quite a laugh when I flew over the Antelope Valley. In the desert, it’s very easy to see where the water flows (flash floods, and all that). New housing developments were built smack in the middle of the flood plains/channels.
My company is just waiting for us to be forced out of where we are due to a huge number of homes being built right next to us. We work with dangerous chemicals and radioactive materials and we are sure that eventually these people will find out, raise a fuss and chase us out. Its probably a few years down the line, but still, every new house that goes up is just one step closer. Why the fuck the city would let these houses be built right up against an industrial park is beyond me. Money, I guess.
I’m still amused by the people who bought condos next to a high school in Hawaii and then complained about the noise from the band practicing on the football field right next to their condos. As I recall, the local newspaper wasn’t real sympathetic. :rolleyes:
I live in an apartment near a high school and yesterday when I was driving into my complex (in my NEW car), a baseball landed right behind me as I was pulling in. It just narrowly missed hitting the car.
I didn’t think about the baseball players as a liability until right then. Now I will be much more watchful when I drive past them, and I will also hurry my ass.
This all reminds me of the neighborhood where my parents live. They live in one of those self-sufficient neighborhoods (with grocery stores, gas, doctors, etc. so you never have to leave) that was developed about 10 years ago in Frederick, MD. The neighborhood borders a wildlife sanctuary and then a shooting range and beyond that is the airport. These facilities existed long before the development. My parents’ house is very close to the shooting range and airport so they constantly hear shots and planes flying overhead. Not to mention there is an interstate overpass through the neighborhood, so needless to say it is one noisy place to live. They are used to the noise and don’t complain because they bought the house with an understanding of the surrounding environment. Many of their neighbors complain though and there is a movement to try and shut down the shooting range. For all I know, the range may have been shut down by now.
In my opinion, if you intentionally move next to a shooting range, learn to live with it or move away!
Back in college, I lived in a fraternity in a brownstone in Boston’s Back Bay. The fraternity owned the building since at least the 1920’s. Pretty much every month we’d get a phone call from a Yuppie neighbor selling his condo, demanding that we take down the fraternity flag when he was showing the place. Our response as good citizens of course was to keep the flag up and get as many members as possible to sit out on the front steps wearing fraternity shirts.
Suddenly, residents were less willing to close the airport.