Disturbance of the peace?

[MissCuriosity]

I am from Wisconsin and I, as well as at least one other neighbour that I'm aware of, have had to "put up with" noisy neighbors. They own a demo car and rev it on a pretty much daily basis, anywhere from as early as 5:00 in the morning until as late as 10:30 at night. They have been renting that house since about March or April. We do not live out in the countryside; we live right on a main highway just 1/4 of a mile from town. There is a chiropractor office and a veterinary clinic to their right, a small department store to their left as well as a small hotel a short distance down the road, and they have neighbors close-by behind them. On my side of the road, there is one neighbor to either side of my house. There are 4 people living in my house and two pets. The lady who has also complained lives alone with a few pets but is visited regularly by her boyfriend and grandchildren. The noise bothers us all; it frightens our pets, it disturbs her grandchildren when she puts them down for a nap, it wakes us all up at funny hours, and we cannot have our windows open or do things in our yards without having to wear earplugs because it is so loud. The people who live in my house are especially beginning to worry now that the noise will drive people away when we hold our annual garage sale in August. On one occasion they had been pulling donuts in their small front lawn in the middle of the day, dangerously close to the highway, and in doing so they had been stirring up a thick cloud of dirt that spanned the highway making it hard for drivers to see where they were going and who was coming from the other direction.

My mother and I had gone across the street and spoken to the vet who said they couldn't hear anything because their building is concrete and blocks out most of the noise, she was more concerned about their dogs, one of which is a pitbull that had gotten loose from their yard and almost attacked one of the dogs at the clinic when the vet took it out back so it could relieve itself. Not only that but their dogs had been living in inadequate conditions. We also asked the chiropractor and he said that they definitely heard the noise and it was a nuissance. We haven't spoken to anyone else about the ruckus but I have a feeling we're not the only ones.

Both I and the other neighbor have called in to our local police station to file a complaint, she has even called in more than once. The police told us there is nothing they can do about it because that little strip on their side of the road is a different district, they also told us that they had run-ins with that family before and knew them very well. The police suggested we call the township and see if they would put a stop to it... well the neighbor-lady was the first one to do so and she basically got hung up on, nothing was ever done about the problem.

It's an outrage and we can't believe that no one will put a stop to this, we have no idea what else we can do.

 

[justalayman]

you need to investigate the existance of a noise control law or if this would be considered "disturbing the peace". Even if he is allowed to make all the noise on the world on his side of the road, it would still be illegal if he exceeded the allowable noise level on your side of the road if it is different.


Have you been to a township meeting and made a complaint at the meeting. This way it is recorded in their records and they are urged to give an answer.

Lastly, you might try filing a nuisance suit for the noise. If it does affect your use of your property, then it may be an actionable situation. Consult an attorney to determine if an action of such would get anywhere in your area.