Backyard Nightmare

extrememoto

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Oct 22, 2003
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I bought 2 acres to build my house and put in Areanacross obstacles in the backyard to tune/test the bike before races. Neighbors blew it out of proportion and told the city I was going to have memberships and lights added. City told me it was illegal to operate a motocross bike or ATV on the property. I think this is a clear violation of my rights. I never wanted to operate it as a track or allow mass riders to use my facility. What am I to do? Any advice on protecting my rights? I only want to test 15-20 minutes once a week max. Think I'm more than reasonable. One of the neighbors shot my dog while she was sleeping at 2am on Aug 15.

-Dave Crapo
 

2smoke

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Sep 21, 2001
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Dave a lot of these estates with 2-5 acre blocks have restrictive biulding and land useage applied to them. Down in Oz Ive had guys complaining after buying the dream little acreage that they cant biuld a 4/5 car metal shed must be all brick...colour of roofing material is restricted, cant ride your dirtbike period!!!!. You have to look into these things before you buy.

But mate ....this guy shot your dog?????...at 2.00am.......these aren't neighbours.......move.
 

Jaybird

Apprentice Goon
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My practice track would be the least of their worries if they shot my dog.

Junkman, ever been to an arenacross?
 

Smit-Dog

Mi. Trail Riders
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Oct 28, 2001
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Did you buy the acreage, build the house, put in the track, *then* neighbors built around you? Or did you build the track after neighbors were already established. Most townships and neighborhood associations have building and land use ordinances. Are you in violation of any of them?

Based on the pics on your website of the track and nearby homes, I wouldn't want an MX track in that type of neighborhood either. It's a violation of *your* rights? What about your neighbors? I enjoy riding as much as the next guy, but I certainly wouldn't want a track next to my house.

I'd suggest buying some land in an area where zoning laws would allow a track like that.
 

XRpredator

AssClown SuperPowers
Damn Yankees
Aug 2, 2000
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My practice track would be the least of their worries if they shot my dog.

hmmm . . . If they shot the dog that lives in my yard, I'd probably buy them the ammo

just kidding :p
 

gospeedracer

Chat Mom
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Feb 8, 2000
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Okay, I just read all the articles on your site. While I’m not so sure I would want a track in that neighborhood either, I’m surprised that your neighbors weren’t even willing to compromise at all! It seems to me (assuming the articles are accurate) you did everything you could to minimize the inconveniences (if any) to your neighbors.

Repeatedly their only complaints were the noise and the dust. Even after the police confirmed the noise was “within the decibel levels set by the city ordinance and less than that of the F-16s from Hill Airforce Base that regularly fly overhead”. You were willing to limit the size of bikes on the track in the interest of noise, set a time of day on certain days (a Tuesday no less when most people aren’t even home!) but never on Sunday and water the track regularly to keep the dust down. Did you do these things? If so then you made an attempt to remedy their concerns and they still weren’t willing to compromise.

As far as “rights” go, unfortunately because of zoning and all kinds of BS you really don’t have a lot of rights when it comes to YOUR personal property. The gov’t still gets to dictate to you what you can and cannot do. My Mom is in the design stage of adding a 2nd story to her house right now and it’s nothing but “you can’t do this, you can’t do that, can’t, can’t, can’t, can’t!” It’s very frustrating. I understand there are other people to consider especially in certain types of neighborhoods but IMO a lot of the restrictions are overkill.

I also find it odd that they (your neighbors) think it’s ridiculous to connect the neighborhood disputes to the shooting of your dog! Hello!! Looks petty obvious to me! Is there a history in your neighborhood of drive by doggie shootings? Doubt it. Having a German Shephard myself, I would love nothing more than to find that individual and tear them from limb to limb! :debil:

Is your doggie going to be okay?
 

Patman

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It looks like you have decided what you need to do. Just be sure to investigate any new property you consider BEFORE purchase. It may even be VERY worthwhile to have a real estate lawyer investigate what constraints you may have prior to closing.

Looking at the pictures of the neighborhood I can see where it might be an issue with people, but if the zoning does not offer any specific indication of your usage being a restricted use, there is no reason besides people getting upset that should not be allowed to use it for personal enjoyment. Suppose you put a giant pink and yellow metal building back there, as long as it met all applicable codes all people could do is make a fuss over it.

The reason nobody was willing to make a ruling on it was most likely because there was no justification for making it illegal for you to use it for your personal enjoyment just like any other backyard attraction but they wouldn't want it to be in THEIR back yard either.

Offering to water and fence it and limit it's use on both time and for personal usage was being very fair but most people are not usually fair once they decide they don't like something so no matter what you did I doubt it would be enough. Sure they could have their pool with screaming kids and whatever else is considered "normal" but if your outside the box then it's bad no matter what.

I'd be more than happy to have you as my neighbor (as long as I could come over and ride ;)
 

RM_guy

Moderator
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Originally posted by Patman
...Sure they could have their pool with screaming kids and whatever else is considered "normal" but if your outside the box then it's bad no matter what...
Boy, you really hit that one on the head! I don't like it when my neighbor rides his bike around his house for an hour during dinner but I'd rather have that than the screaming kids all freaking day long :|
 

DougRoost

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May 3, 2001
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Yep, deed restrictions, homeowner's associations, city ordinances, and all kinds of things must be looked at. As was noted above, sometimes you can't even add a second story to your home or add a new deck w/o getting a variance, which entails your neighbors getting to weigh in.
 

jboomer

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Jan 5, 2002
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As much as it upsets me that people are that way, I'd have to agree with all of the above. Patman: I couldn't have said it any better myself.
 

TheJunkMan

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Jul 9, 2003
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That is what you get for building in a Yuppie neighborhood. I am fortuneate that I Farm and have (mostly) all the land I want to ride on I have one piece of ground that buts up against a small towns city limits and I have trouble with Weekends rideing their utililty quads in my wheat. I solved that problem by calling the cops, but that did not work as well as when I sprayed with T4D, lets just say they got really sick for a while.
 

Bodge

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Oct 4, 2003
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He shot your dog? Id have to give that neighbors cars the potato and ping pong ball treatment. Is your dog ok? And have they said EXACTLY what laws you are breaking? Other than the lazy cop dosnt feel like listening to a toll complain over a noise ordanince(sp?) that doesnt exist?(thats the case here)
 
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extrememoto

Member
Oct 22, 2003
54
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Luckily the bullet hit her in the right "arm" and after major reconstructive surgery, her cast will come off on Nov 1st at "Why'd U Shoot My Dog Concert" in Layton in my Backyard. This is approved by the city and local bands, tv, and radio stations are having a concert to pay the vet who donated over 4 hours of surgery time to fix her arm.

Before purchasing the land we checked with the zoning dept and it is within my rights to "landscape" my yard as a track and operate OHV and Bikes on it. The ordinance the could give me a citation on is a Construction Ordinance to prevent Dust, Noise, or offensive fumes during construction of houses. It is a strange coincidence that my opposing neighbor is friends with the Mayor and Zoning Manager that came up with this violation.

The Police have come over and a few have given me their home telephone numbers and will not issue any tickets, because they feel I have a right to use the land. The State of Utah would get involved and PUT the city in its place, but I have to get a ticket first.

I have 20+ neighbors that support me, just the few that don't. And many of the supporting neighbors live on the fence line and beg me to ride. The reason the ones oppose me is the impact I'm having on the "ecosystem" of the once vacant field. Noise- F-16 Jets fly over my house all day and are way louder. Dust- I don't want dust on my house either.

I have since gained much support in the city government and the mayor is up for re-election. He has gone on public record quote "I tell my neighborhood kids to ride on my land as long as they wear a helmet", so what gives him the right to say 50cc bikes(that is what the neighbors last complaint was) can't be in my yard. They are not louder than most lawn mowers.

Thank you for your support
-dc
 

Patman

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Now let me ask a stupid question.

There is a concert being held to pay the vet bill of like$1800 from what I read. How is it that you have a $260,000 house plus $60,000 for the land, plus $6,000 in dirt, PLUS all the coolio pro-rider guy stuff on your site but you can't pay the vet bill? :think:
 

extrememoto

Member
Oct 22, 2003
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Vet bills were $3194.61 plus $300 per follow-up visit. If you have ever raced motocross on the local level, you would know that most of us live pay-check to paycheck and don't rake in the millions like the top national guys. Most sponsors don't pay us, we get free product, which helps a ton, but doesn't pay my $2176 house payment or my $603 Chevy Avalanche Payment. Entering the real world, you will realize that Houses, Cars and Bikes cost money and when something like an a__hole shots my dog it can cause financial problems, then to top it off I was selling bikes at a dealership to make ends meet, but due to a stupid manager it is going out of business. I can understand after reading the articles it looks like I'm made of $$$, but unfortunately I'm in debt like 99% of America.
 

CaptainObvious

Formally known as RV6Junkie
Damn Yankees
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Amen brother. Sounds like you have a lot of people around you who care. It will all work out.

Something else to give some thought to...

Looks like you might get hosed again when you sell your house because your $60,000 piece of extra property looks like it may be land locked (unbuildable). No one will want to pay $60,000 more for the house just for the extra property size. At best it will bring $10,000 or so.

You might find that financially it makes more sense to hold on to the house while the property value of the entire neighborhood increases.
 

Chief

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Damn Yankees
Aug 17, 2001
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Rich Or Poor,

 

     I think it's a real hoot that they put on the 'Why'd ya shoot my dog?' concert. Both because it shows public support and because it's just a plain funny name for a benefit concert. :laugh:  Hope the dog is recovering well. She sure looked sad in the pic. Did you ask her to pose that way?

 

    I moved recently from rural to suburb where space is quite a bit tighter. I have an acre, rip around the lot occasionally, have parties and campfires, fireworks, (occasionally), but man it still sucks having to consider the neighbors. They are generally a good bunch of people (so far), but where I used to live NOTHING was ever an issue. I really miss the way of life in the country. We had one cop where I came from and he was pretty cool, so were the people. Then again 99 % of them weren't affected by any of my actions. If you level off the land and plant grass, it might be worth a lot more than it is now.

 

Maybe it's best you just move on like you are doing. I hope you find some freedom and piece of mind. Tough to beat public opinion even when you are in the right and have support.

 

Anyway, too bad people get funny, but they do. I guess sometimes they get territorial because they fear the worst. Sometimes neighbors just don't seem to have a clue as far as how to act. I've noticed that the ones that cause the most heartache are usually the ones with the most time on their hands.

 

Joe Chief 
 

Patman

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Originally posted by extrememoto
Vet bills were $3194.61 plus $300 per follow-up visit. If you have ever raced motocross on the local level, you would know that most of us live pay-check to paycheck and don't rake in the millions like the top national guys. Most sponsors don't pay us, we get free product, which helps a ton, but doesn't pay my $2176 house payment or my $603 Chevy Avalanche Payment. Entering the real world, you will realize that Houses, Cars and Bikes cost money and when something like an a__hole shots my dog it can cause financial problems, then to top it off I was selling bikes at a dealership to make ends meet, but due to a stupid manager it is going out of business. I can understand after reading the articles it looks like I'm made of $$$, but unfortunately I'm in debt like 99% of America.
I do live in the real world. I've got a house payment similar to yours but being a little more realistic I plan for the bad things that happen by having some funds saved up. AC goes out and it's got to be fixed. Car goes in to the shop and they are going to want paid. Yes even unexpected dog bills have come up before as all these thing are part of living in the reality of living on your own. Hence I don't try to blame everyone else for my spending the grocery money on a cool ride or a new bike or piece of gear. I also realize that businesses go under every day in the real world and that while I may not have control over how the business is run my bottom line is effected by the business so again having a little padding is part of reality.

I think it was a nice thing that was done by putting on the concert but I also seemed to read in some of the information and then it was confirmed by your post that there seems to be an attitude that it's everyone else causing your problems. In the real world checking about the appropriate use of land before purchase ESPECIALLY in an environment as the pictures and articles show would have cost a little money up front but would have saved you A LOT down the road. Talking to the neighbors prior to pulling the trigger would have only cost time and may have even created support and new friends.

Welcome to the real world.
 

truespode

Moderator / Wheelie King
Jun 30, 1999
7,978
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I agree with Patman. I'm real sorry to hear about your dog and think what is going on with your land sux.

However, I disagree with the concert. It is really nice of those that helped but in reality if your luxuries prevent you from affording your responsibilities then you need to cut back on some things.

Ivan
 

extrememoto

Member
Oct 22, 2003
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Originally posted by Patman

In the real world checking about the appropriate use of land before purchase ESPECIALLY in an environment as the pictures and articles show would have cost a little money up front but would have saved you A LOT down the road. Talking to the neighbors prior to pulling the trigger would have only cost time and may have even created support and new friends.

Welcome to the real world.


Maybe when I originally posted the first thread of the forum, I should have given more background information from the first time I looked at the Land and checked into "Covenants and Restrictions" on the land which there are none.

BEFORE I PURCHASED THE LAND I did check into zoning and was given the go ahead by the Zoning and Planning Commission to build the track and as long as it was not ran as a business. Unfortunately, one neighbor opposing me is has a "business" and "friendship" with the Mayor. BEFORE I even purchased the land I did talk to the Neighbors and they thought it sounded "neat," and I learned about 60% of the neighbors have ATV's and motorcycles, then before I brought in any equiptment to construct the track, I knocked door to door and wanted to make sure it would not inconvience anyone. It was at that time that one older couple and a street not directly close to my property, started the whole neighborhood uproar. I did everything to be polite and not inconvience anyone in the neighborhood, but as in life you cannot please everyone. I did do my homework before spending $60,000. The opposing neighbor started a petition and had only 41 total signatures, mostly from retirement community 3 miles from my house. I have have over 700+ signatures from: neighbors on the fenceline, neighbors that ride and other Layton City residents that frequent my house now to visit. The Mayor says petitions are not VALID. The problem in this situation, is not what you know it is Who you know and I don't know the Mayor and he does. That is what it boils down too.

Even the City Council members that now support me agree that I have bent over backwards to accomodate everyone in the neighborhood, but the "smart" mayor took the decision for me to be able to ride out of their hands. Asking for 15-20 minutes to ride once a week is not rediculous considering 60% of the neighborhood rides ATV's or Bikes and I don't let them use the track, they have rode on the road as they put it "for Years" and no one calls the Police on them Drag Racing on the Roads every saturday.

The Mayor tells his neighborhood kids to ride on his property in West Layton, what gives him the right to let people ride on his land, but I can't use mine once a week for less than a 1/2 hour???

Patman, I was not attacking you in my remarks about the real world, but want to put accross the point that as in life you make decisions, some good & some bad. Unfortunately, I made some bad career decisions by listening to "motorcycle shop owners" that blew smoke up my tailend about the money I would be compensated for work. He told me it would be rough for a few months, so I lived on my "backup $$" in the bank so when the grass became greener, I would have a killer job. I stuck it out until, I could not afford to work there anymore. I usually do have a "pad" to fall back on, but everything in the turn of events has put me in a bind. Sometimes it happens to all of us, everything hits at once so to speak. I respect your opinion, but I have done everything you said I should have done, It is hard to explain that in just one posting on the forum to explain the complete history from the begining. You sound like you do know a lot, so my question to you is HOW DO I PROTECT MY RIGHTS? I have asked many of the officer to cite me so I can fight it in court with the Support from the Utah State Government. The State Omsbudsman has told me "If the city issues a citation, it will be a violation of your private property rights and the State can come down on the City with the Wrath of G--!", but none of the police officers will give me a ticket. How do I fight that war? The Salt Lake City Police Dept has had their District Attorney giving me advice along with many other police officers and attorneys tell me to ride and forget the neighbor. This is coming from the Police.

Many neighbors that live on the fenceline, have come over asking me to ride so they can sit in there yard and watch with their friends and relatives. I have the support of most the neighborhood, just not the ones that have friends in "high" places.

The neighbor is complaining about people riding BMX bikes in the yard also. Now maybe you will understand that it is not anything I have or have not done it is just I'm dealing with people that are unreasonable and have connections in the city. We are putting together a DVD with the City Council Meetings, building of the track, all the TV news reports and articles, neighbors complaining about Bicycles on the "track" and after you see this maybe you will understand the issue is really about they used the land before I bought it.

Are we on the same team now Patman? I don't think everyone is against me, just a few. I have far more public support than the neighbor does or ever will. One of the neighbors is selling their house, if you want to join the battle!!!

-dc
Crapo@extrememotosports.com
 

extrememoto

Member
Oct 22, 2003
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Originally posted by Truespode
I'm real sorry to hear about your dog and think what is going on with your land sux.

However, I disagree with the concert. It is really nice of those that helped but in reality if your luxuries prevent you from affording your responsibilities then you need to cut back on some things.

Ivan

Ivan,

Local Bands came up with the idea for a fundraiser in the backyard. The concert is not costing me a dime to hold. TV & Radio Stations are donating the air time to promote it along with a local printing company producing the flyers. Local Bands are donating their time to play. Just want to clear the air about if people think is this something that is costing me to hold. You are definately right about cutting back on things.

-dc
 

DougRoost

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May 3, 2001
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How about this to get back at the mayor? Get a petition signed to have this additional property you bought turned into a city park and playground. Sell them the land for a lot more than you paid for it. Once it's done sell your house at a nice profit due to its proximity to this wonderful new park. Then move to a more rural area where you have ~10 acres to do with as you please.
 
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