MX Noise Levels? Private Track!

that's too bad. No one want's to fight with their neighbor. Question, who was there first? Did he know you had a track or did you just put it in?

Hey you live in America, just shoot him. Isn't that how you guys fix things? haha.

Get a DB reader. Get readings when he mows the lawn.


Also ask everyone to bring over pitbikes. When the cops show up all of you start riding pitbikes. Have them DB that all they want.

And when he says that's not the bikes you were on, tell him to PROVE IT.


Then when cops leave take the fuckin baffles out. And rip up and down the property line until dark. Let him know you can be civil and you can be a dick about it. See which one he prefers....

What are your local laws. You live in a township in the county I presume ?


Or make sure your DB are as low as you can get them, and call the sheriff Everytime before you're going to ride. "Hello, im letting you know we are about to ride some offroad motorcycles on my private property. Letting you know in advance in case anyone calls us in."

Here are two ways you could deal with him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_F_e4Bznzk

http://poopsenders.com/

The lawn mower DB I'm serious about. My dad took care of our old neighbor with that one.

The guy called and bitched about our dog. So we muzzled him. Then he called and bitched about my xr50 that was quiet. Yet my neighbor thought it was fine to mow the grass at 630am every other day.


Dad DBd the lawn mower. Counter-complained and basically they told the jerk to drop it about noise because he created more noise at 630am. Took the baffles out when cops left and had me go to town. Neighbor stopped complaining. And he moved a year later. Good riddance!!! I never rode my pitbike anymore at the house after that. Lol

They just upgraded the law. Who voted for that ? Not a lot of farming goes on in your county eh? Because farm equipment is loud and nobody complains about that. And even if you do they say he's a farmer, been here forever, you don't like it, move.

Whose your neighbor know ? Is a trustee or a county board member or some stupid part of local government that he has pull??

For sure get the DB Reading you are currently running at and maybe look into running quitter exhausts when you practice and run what you have when you go to the races.

Also look to see if you can modify the track to be as far away from his house as possible as a sign of good will towards him when or if the cops come out to measure to sound.

Have you tried actually talking to the guy? I know first hand that some people can just be real ass holes but maybe their is a simple solution. On the defensive side, I'd buy a decible meter and take some reading of your own, on video. Hopefully he makes some noise too. Does he mow his grass or use power equipment? I'd get some db readings of that from the property line as well as traffic and your bikes. For instance, we had a old ass hole complaining of the noise from a nearby construction site. Our chief bought a db meter and took some readings. Low and behold, tractor trailers on the adjacent US highway registered a much higher reading than the construction noise. When he was confronted with scientific facts, he shut up!

We dealt with noise issues for years here at GPF, as well as MTF next door, before winning some court cases. Just make sure they sound test from complainants property and not on your property. Change your track if possible to get a little further away. You could also help redirect the sound a little by building a wall or planting a bunch of pine trees next to that section of track. Will make a difference on DBs when testing from complainants property and show the county that you're being proactive.

Here is my thought on this, and I have put much thought into it for myself when I buy property to build a house and have a track.


First thing first, if the bikes/track is out of sight its out of mind (other than the noise). Second, is the noise issue, one way to cut down on this is to plant trees between the track and any neighbors, realistically the track should be as far from the neighbors as possible to cut down on noise, every inch could make a difference. I realize that not everyone has a bunch of land, nor does everyone want hemlock or pine trees on their property or around their track, but once I go to buy land I know that is what I am doing. YOu have a couple rows of trees and enough land people will either never know or barely know.


More people complain just because they see it and don't want to.

Also, I don't encourage messing with your neighbor, be civil about it and take actions to reduce the noise and they will appreciate your efforts, so long as they are civil people. Talking to them, as someone above posted, would be a good place to start.

duplicate

40 yards isn't very far away and depending on how hard you're on the gas at that section I could see where he has a legitimate complaint. I am on your side but just saying that seems pretty close to me. I agree with JWoods, put some white pines up or something to baffle the noise and it would probably go a long way in helping out

Could you re-route the track by the section that is close to his property? Here is an ordeal a person not far from me had to go thru for his track after another private track complained!


Here is the story of what happened with The Berms between September 2015 and May 2016.
It only takes one person who wants to shut you down to ignite a neighborhood who had no voice before and give them one. I want to get this story out there so that I can put it behind me and I know there is a lot of other tracks around here that are at risk of this same problem I had. I have also heard rumors going around that I am guessing on who called the county to give false information on the Berms. I would never guess without facts so I want to get them out there so everybody understands.
In September 2015 I got a letter from the county saying that it is illegal for me to be having races and being open to the public and I would have to change my zoning, amend the county plan and get a conditional use permit. I called the county zoning office and asked where she got that false information from and if a neighbor had complained. She said no neighbors had ever complained and another track like mine north of Cecil had called to notify them. I explained that I wasn’t like his and I have never had or never will have races. Then she went on to explain that it didn’t matter because language in my zoning had been changed in 2011 which prohibits any tracks. She said I would be grandfathered in because she could see my track has been here since 2002. But I am not allowed to have anybody besides me on it unless I go through the whole process. I was pissed but obviously I needed to get through it and succeed.
A place to build a track is why we bought 50 acres in 2002, it was the very 1st thing I did, even before our driveway or house was built. Purchasing the land really stretched out our finances and so every year I would stick a few thousand into the track to make improvements. Over the years I have moved around a thousand dump truck loads of dirt, dug 2 ponds, ripped out hundreds of trees and adjusted it to perfection. I had nightmares about the county making me level my track. When I went to the zoning office to sign up and pay for all these meetings and permits, I had a conversation with the zoning administer who felt bad for me because I have been riding here for 13 years and have never had any complaints. He was familiar with the track that called and had also mentioned how ironic it was being that he never got permits until he started having races, I figured instead of arguing the facts I better go through the process so nobody could shut ever shut me down.
At first I was freaking out about the whole neighborhood who tolerated me before now has to be convinced to give me permission. Since the subdivision was built on the top of the hill a few years ago, I now have 17 different neighbors contacting my property. I had to contact all of them and try to get their approval and notify them of the 1st meeting with the planning commission. Surprisingly the job of talking to all the neighbors went really well and it was a big help being able to tell the neighbors that nobody has ever complained and that this other track called the county on me. People seemed more eager to sign my paper because of the nature of the story. I got 16 of the 17 to sign my paper saying they don’t mind the track. I was very proud of the work me and my wife did with that.
Our biggest challenge at the first couple meetings was not people coming up to speak against it, in fact, only one couple came, and they were only there to find out more about what I was requesting. The biggest challenge was convincing them that I would abide by my permit, this didn’t make much sense to me at first because I haven’t ever given them any reason to think this, I had to go thru a similar process to allow my Auto Repair Shop here, and have abided by all of those restrictions to a tee. They then shared with me that they felt the permit they had granted for another track by Cecil is not being followed, and they are getting complaints, which they told me they planned to address this coming year. After that track set a bad precedent it was a challenge and I had to make it very clear that I would abide by my permit. They liked the idea of restricted # of days, and restricted # of hours on those days, which is what I brought to the table as my request. I was able to successfully navigate through the 3 town meetings and a public hearing with no opposition.
Next was the county board track tour with the 5 members that would be making the county level decision on my request. Since they didn’t understand why I had to go through all of this after riding here since 2002 with no complaints I was constantly forced to bring up the Schneider track as being the reason. I had to keep explaining that I just want to keep doing what I have been doing and the only reason I am doing this is because of zoning language change which nobody cared about until this other track contacted the county zoning enforcer.
Until now, things had gone really smooth and I was optimistic. I have achieved unanimous approval at every vote to date, no opposition from residents, I was feeling great. The night before our public county meeting for April 6, I got a call from a neighbor. She was concerned because she thought I hadn’t been honest, and a lot of the neighbors had heard and told her that I was starting a new racing business here, going to have races, and put up lights with night riding! She said that she would have never signed my paper if that's what I was planning on doing. I told her that it is complete BS and I have never said anything like that to anybody ever. She said apparently this is what the town board said when they called about it. I was shocked hearing about this at 830 pm the night before the big public county meeting. I couldn't sleep that night wondering what was going to happen at the meeting and who was spreading around misinformation. Nobody else had contacted me about anything so I was baffled on where this misinformation was coming from.
The next day at the county court house the place was packed all about my case. I couldn’t believe what was happening, nobody showed up to the town meetings during the evening hours but everybody takes off of work for this daytime meeting at the courthouse? It was open mic setting so everybody can voice their concerns in front of the County Board before they make their decision. It started off with a lawyer somebody hired who took 40 minutes on the mic talking trash about motocross and all the tracks that are getting shut down everywhere. He went on and on and on about studies that I need to do about noise, traffic, buffer zones, also mixing in little lies about the situation. Even though its not a race track you know people will be racing each other and blah blah. He rounded up all these letters from people that live beyond the state mandated notification distance. Then he sat up there and read off all these letters from people that couldn’t make it that don’t want the track. He even went on to lie and say the police have been called here for noise complaints. Luckily that person was at the meeting and called that lie. Then comes up the real estate agents to the mic. They were saying how everybody’s property values will be going down because of the track. They said they will have to disclose this track to everybody in the selling process and they wont be able to sell the lots in the new subdivision. After that, one person after another came up to the mic saying the track is a nuisance for various reasons and they don’t want it. Even several people that signed my paper had changed their mind and came to speak against it. 3 hours of trash talking from a room full of people, peoples kids cant sleep, its so noisy that they cant even think, the animals are disturbed saying everything you could imagine was said. It sounded like I was running bikes 24/7 right next to all these people, I thought my dream was over. For three hours I was scribbling down notes of the topics brought up that I need to rebutt. When I finally had a chance to speak again at the end I was so nervous and didn’t even know where to start. There was a million things to say to everybody and it seemed impossible.
The county board was shocked, they were not expecting hardly anybody to show up because this stuff is normally hashed out at the town level meetings. Luckily they did ask some good questions especially to the lawyer and real estate agents. They learned the lawyer was hired by someone who owns land nearby, but has not heard the noise. They learned the real estate agent wasn’t disclosing the track so far and its been here for 14 years. I waited past the end of the meeting to listen to their decision making process. 2 of the 5 county board people felt like I should start the whole thing over again at the town level. 3 of the 5 felt like it was similar to people moving in next to a farm and complaining about the shit smell. They knew that all these people were rounded up by the lawyer, I had later learned that somebody was going door to door harassing neighbors to sign a paper objecting to the track. Luckily the board had recognized the scheming and they voted in my favor. I was amazed but terrified. We didn’t make a peep until the 30 day appeal date had passed. There was one more meeting after that with the county board of supervisors where 27 members had to vote. I was terrified about that too and this time was totally prepared for battle. Luckily nobody showed up to that meeting and it was over. Unanimously approved!
I have never had anything bad to say about the Schneider's, it is a great track for beginners and being open all the time is amazing. When I met Jim he seemed real nice. He enjoyed showing me his bar and talking about his family. In fact, a couple years ago I told him about The Berms thinking maybe his sons would want another place to ride nearby. He wasn’t aware of it and the first thing he said was ooooooooh competition, and he has never been here so apparently he wasn’t interested.
In the end I must say I am thankful for them forcing me to go through this process because now nobody should be able to shut me down, as long as I abide by my permit rules. I am not bitter anymore, that phone call forced me get my permits so the growing amount of neighbors around me will also have to get used to The Berms MX because its back for good!

If you have a permit, technically there is nothing they should be able to do about it. This problem will most likely never end for you. Growing up I was a member of a motocross club which leased property from the owners (also club members) to have open riding and hold races. The track and club were formed in 1971 when there was only one house in sight. The neighbors that have built around the track since then have done nothing but complain and try to close the track down. I actually became vice president of this club in hopes of keeping it going longer back around '08. We ultimately had to fold the club because we couldn't make enough money to get by and not many members were willing to lend a hand anymore preparing for or working on race day. Fast forward two or three years and a local harescramble series promoter which I've known for about 20 years decided to make a deal with the original land owners and buy them out of their shares, allowing the zoning to remain in tact since the owners were grandfathered in. The track has been there since before there were any rules or neighbors. So there I was last night, standing at a town board meeting ready to once again fight to keep this track open that has been a significant part of my life and constantly under fire from people who knowingly built their house next to a MX track. Two of the township board members just so happen to live right next to the track. They actually used to be my neighbors also since we built a house across the street. Just my example of how this will never end. If you can close down a motorcross track that's been holding races there for 45 years, that's a special kind of bullshit.

It really is sad what we have to go through to be able to enjoy the sport we love.If you can close down a motorcross track that's been holding races there for 45 years, that's a special kind of bullshit.

If the neighbor has a reputation of being unreasonable, I think the only option is to do what you do until someone important tells you to cut it out.

Decibelling the place and making sure he runs comparable noise levels when he mows would be a good idea, but just from experience, I think a dirt bike is louder than a lawn mower or tractor.

ok, guess when I pictured it in my head I didn't put trees in between, still might help to put up a wooden fence along that section then. I'm on your side, I don't want anyone to not be able to ride on their own property. a wooden fence would be a small price to pay to be able to keep riding.

How did the meeting go? I'm assuming not too good if a board member lives across from the track.
Miss riding there...

I think it went better than it would have if Rick didn't bring 50 of his friends to speak on his behalf. I honestly don't think that he was even notified by the township that the meeting would be discussing action on his track. Seems as though they are going to make him apply for a conditional use permit which has never been needed in the past. Nothing has changed as far as ownership goes since when the club was running things so there should be no need for these changes either. The track is grandfathered in under the same corporation it always has been. They are just taking a new operator as their opportunity to try and change things. I have faith that it will all work out, but it's just more hoops to jump through that are unnecessary. I rode out there quite a few times last year. It's as roached out as it ever was, but it's still Denmark.

Edit: The board member that complains about dust is the same one that has lived there for the past 30 something years on the east side of the track. He is the reason why we used to cut that section up by the road off on practice days. One of the other neighbors who complained at the last meeting about noise was also there, but he did not dare complain again in front of all those people.

His property is where ? Past the trees on the right ?

If there is that large of trees for noise suppression...you can't really get much better than that. Outside of getting something that absorbs sound...he just sounds like someone who isn't going to reason at all.

How close is his actual structure?



Also...your bikes have correct maintenance of the exhaust systems right? Replacing the packing really can make a big difference.