Noise issue - Residence vs. Commercial

[rf062063]

the backyard of our new home in nj overlooks the truck and equipment yard of a large demolition company, less than 100 feet from our back door. the noise is very disturbing and occurs all day and sometimes into the night/early morning. this includes weekends, saturday & sunday, plus they power wash their trucks constantly, especially on weekends, which is extremely noisy. the hours are unpredictable, day and night. this demolition company is a 24/7 operation, which I guess was grandfathered as a non-conforming use, but this fact was never specifically disclosed to us.

according to the town, our development was built solely to prevent the opening of a strip club in a nearby vacant bar.

upon winning the contract, one of the conditions required the builder to disclose the exact nature of the business to every buyer in the development by having them sign a written waiver or disclosure. we never got any such specific disclosure by the builder.

the mayor is pointing out a clause in the buyer's contract as the disclosure instrument. The language in the contract reads: "purchasers are encouraged to exercise all due diligence in order to obtain any additional or more recent information that they believe may be relevant to their decision to purchase the residential real estate. purchasers are also encouraged to undertake an independent examination of the general area within which the residential real estate is located in order to become familiar with any and all conditions which may affect the value of the residential real estate." this sounds like standard language normally included in new construction contracts rather than a specific disclosure.

how should we proceed at this point?

 

[HomeGuru]

What do you want to do?

 

[rf062063]

Thank you for replying.

As much as I dislike the demolition company personally, I don't blame them for running their business. They were there first. I do object to the 24/7 deal, grandfathering or not; the game has changed. I think the builder avoided a specific disclosure as to the nature of the business. I think the town was reckless and irresponsible for the way they allowed a residential community to be built next to a commercial industrial zone, which they admitted knowing there would be problems (hence their insistence on the builder to disclose as a precondition to development. I also don't get the warm fuzzies that the town is enthusiastic about butting heads with the demolition company, which has deep pockets and has been a fixture in the town for years.

What I want to know is, does this clearly warrant an attorney's involvement? Or are we on shaky legal ground?

 

[rf062063]

Hoping for a response. Thanks.

 

[HomeGuru]

There are some complex issues here that require the services of a local attorney.
He/she would need to review the approval process and the zoning ordinances. Maybe the demo contractor has political clout.