Court Order to Halt Riding - ON PRIVATE PROPERTY

[Okiewan]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060524/METRO04/605240396/1003/rss

Howell Twp. aims to muzzle dirt bikes

Neighbor complaints prompt trustees to seek court order to halt riding at Fisher Road track.

Kevin Shopshire / Special to The Detroit News



HOWELL TOWNSHIP --Township resident Pat Norwood will no longer be allowed to ride motocross motorcycles on his 6 acres on Fisher Road in the northeast corner of the township after the Township Board found him in violation of three township ordinances.

The board unanimously voted to ask the township attorney to seek an immediate injunction to stop operation of the dirt track.

During a show-cause hearing Monday, the board ruled motorcycle racing is not a permitted use in a residential area and operation of a track is a public nuisance. Neighbors began complaining to the township in spring 1995 about the noise, dust and traffic from dirt bikes racing on the property. During winter neighbors complained about snowmobile racing.

Norwood says he only built the track when he bought the property in 2003 for his two sons, then 4 and 6, to ride dirt bikes in a rural setting, and he allows a few friends to also ride with them.

"We ride only on our own property," he said. "I have two other kids and their dads who also come out to ride."

Mike Morrone, who also rides on the property, said the noise from his neighbor's lawn tractor is louder than the motorcycles.

"These motorcycles are about as loud as a horse walking by," he said. "You're telling me if I have a silent motorcycle I can't ride it."

Neighbors disagree, and they have supplied the township with videos of the activity and have retained an attorney.

"It's not just the noise; it's an eyesore and a nuisance," said Fisher Road resident Roman Michalowski. "I like to see the animals, and they have driven the critters away."

Kevin Shopshire is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.

 

[gardner154]

I hate people who complain! I own 6 acres of land and have my own track where i live in Texas and I get complaints everytime i go out to ride on my track. Its my land and I paid for it, I should be able to do whatever I want on it.

 

[Okiewan]

Its my land and I paid for it, I should be able to do whatever I want on it.

Until our bikes are quieter... doing whatever you want on your own land won't last.

 

[jefpel_1213]

Thats brutal

 

[ellandoh]

thats 15 minutes from my house :bang:

howell is in livingston county, which has really boomed in the last ten years. one of the fastest transformations ive ever seen. it used to be a place where i'd imagine not much resistance to bikes. now , there are more strip malls , home depots and wal marts than you can stomach. if i was able to get a piece of property to ride on , i wouldnt expect to look in howell. 10-15 years ago it was rural, barns and all. now its suburbanites wall to wall. not surprising

 

[bigol3]

Until our bikes are quieter... doing whatever you want on your own land won't last.

That depends on WHERE you live and the local govt there. I live in the country, and there are no Parish(La.) ordinances to riding on your own property. Of course, anything can change.

 

[RS1441]

A friend of mine would ride on his land next to his house he lived in a valley and the sound traveled but he would only use it after 2pm so he wouldnt wake up people who lived around but some people complained took him to court and he won so now he can use his bike aslong as he wants and they cant complain :)

 

[bsmith]

It's not just bikes. Had a friend with a old Farm House, and a Barn. Only had a couple horses. Town moved around her and all the new Million dollar homes did not like the little farm any more. So did all the could to change the zoning to no livestock.
I've even been turned into the EPA for manure run off into the wet land, even though I also own the wet land. Then turned in for a well going bad, again not my fault.Then I was turned into the county because my dogs barking broke the noise ordinance. I lock my dogs up at 10pm so I can sleep, so I proved it wasn't my dogs, and that the loon just was after me.

People just don't want you to do anything, and I guess I'm no exception. The guy I currently hate is the Ultralight guy. He just bought 10 acres and put up a shop. No house, just a place to come and fly his little 2 stroke ultralight.

I can put up with the Commando who shoots for 8 hours a day once a month to the east, or the Airman and his buddies skeat shooting to the north, or the neighbor kid on a KTM 65 going round and around for hours to the west, and even my mother-in-law to the south, but I feel my privacy is violated every time he flys over. I got 2 ponds, and about 10 acre steptoe that sticks up between them, I do beleive he thinks it's cool to circle the hill, and come out right above the house!
I swear the next time he flys right over my house we are both going to end up in the ER, me for a stuck foot and him due to a severe impaction :ohmy:

Last year I was out cutting wood, on anther farm down the road, about 2000 acres and I'm in the middle of it, this SOB found me, and circled, I felt like a dying man in the desert being circled by a buzzard. All this area and he hunted me down!

 

[The_good_ol'e_boy]

yea i heard about that howell guy having to close his track from some of my buddies in school. i live in southlyon witch is about 40mins away from that. seems like there is a new sub being built every other month. someone should complain about all the new houses constantly being built.

 

[cujet]

Ya know, I have a 30 foot by 175 foot drainage easement on my 2 acres. The liberal govt here has ruled that it is a public easement. As such the public is allowed to use it for whatever they want! 3AM noisy 4 wheelers is what I get.

Funny how the law goes! Cannot ride on your own prop, yet others can use your prop to do whatever they want!

I am all for stealth bikes!

Chris

 

[islandrider125]

i dont get people i mean ive rode my 4 stroke and people dont even notice im ridin and with my two stroke they cry about it people today just need to tough it out

 

[FruDaddy]

I hate people who complain! I own 6 acres of land and have my own track where i live in Texas and I get complaints everytime i go out to ride on my track. Its my land and I paid for it, I should be able to do whatever I want on it.

So if I were to buy the property next door and have loud parties all night every night, it would be OK since I would be doing it on my porperty. Perhaps, I could open up a race car shop and tune the cars at 3 AM on work days. Maybe I could even build a drag strip and use it all night to test the cars that I work on. There is a drag strip and circle track about a half mile from me, and I frequently hear the cars practicing, and I can even hear the announcers when it's race night. My point is this, it is your property, but you need to be sure to show a little respect for your neighbors. It actually helps to get to know them. I have a house in GA on a half acre, and my neighbors don't mind if I ride in the backyard, but I have gotten to know the nearest neighbors, only ride during mid afternoons, and not for more than about an hour at a time.

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

So if I were to buy the property next door and have loud parties all night every night, it would be OK since I would be doing it on my porperty. Perhaps, I could open up a race car shop and tune the cars at 3 AM on work days. Maybe I could even build a drag strip and use it all night to test the cars that I work on. There is a drag strip and circle track about a half mile from me, and I frequently hear the cars practicing, and I can even hear the announcers when it's race night. My point is this, it is your property, but you need to be sure to show a little respect for your neighbors. It actually helps to get to know them. I have a house in GA on a half acre, and my neighbors don't mind if I ride in the backyard, but I have gotten to know the nearest neighbors, only ride during mid afternoons, and not for more than about an hour at a time.

you forgot to mention the crack business you'd be running to pay for all your habits :yikes:

 

[FruDaddy]

you forgot to mention the crack business you'd be running to pay for all your habits :yikes:

Yeah, I left that out for legal reasons ;)

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

Just a thought

I was taught that people in general are @##holes, you can't satisfy all the people all of the time, and my favorite , opinions are like #$$holes everybody has one, and since being around local politics .some have two and they can talk out of both of them! No matter what you do to appease the local snivelers they will find something else to snivel about! Communication is a wonderful thing,.

 

[Wrekt-1]

Money makes the world go round. Betcha if he was turnin a profit and a nice piece was going to the local townspeople, they'd shut the ....up real kwik. I live about a mile away from one of those damned RC car tracks. Talk about annoying sound. Like a friggin giant ass fly is hoverin around, and like I said, it's a MILE AWAY! But he is makin some serious bucks and kicks out to the town...Also, you can do w/e the hell you want on your property...As long as it's within the law. **** I used to work on cars and bikes all the time...up til 10. then it was time to shut down. If you wanna dig a hole to china in your back yard, go for it, just don't make noise or be a public disturbance past 10pm.

 

[ur730im911]

it doesnt matter its your property if its country theres no noise laws at all they cant do much

 

[Mully]

it doesnt matter its your property if its country theres no noise laws at all they cant do much

Really?? Please post a link showing this S.W.A.G. statement you just made.

Mully

 

[BBking25]

i can't believe this.... and this isn't good for my grandpa's 175 acre farm where we ride during hte holidays (its outta town) but my cousins ride their often...they hunt their, but i'm sure its fine, though their is a neighborhood leading up to it there is only one house thats near it and they ride their ATVs on it (and they made jumps :) )

so i'm guessing we'll be okay - but it was annoying that people dumped trash on there, but we allow others to ride to help form trails

 

[countryrider]

I have the same problem, city people are moving in all around us, me and my buddies are getting hounded for riding our quads and in the winter our sleds. We have been ridin here for a while and now people are moving into the area and telling us what we can and cant do, it just sucks.

 

[vintxrgr]

well i have neighbors on 3 sides (front left and right). one i just picked up 5 carona long necks they threw in our back yard(could have shred my tires :O) and do multiple thing to our house and property that we could easyly take themto court for, the others are just about the same and the ones across the street cant hear mybike!

i usealy ride in the middle of the day on weekends and after football or off season at 5;30 6 ish, and no one has had a problem accept one of them and i tryed to work it out with them but it ended with it could be a lot worse so i wont ride after it gets dark or befor noone. so if you have neighbors its worth talkin to them.

also we are getting ready to move is there any one who has checked out the track in florence TX? if it works out as planned i will live only about 2-5 miles from it i just have never gotten a chance to go out there

 

[Halfast816]

My complaint is with the people that move in or build next to an existing track then take action to try to close it down. The instance which I describe is factual. Our track was up and we practice three times a week. There wasn't a house within eyesight. Progress and urban encroachment ended this. Still a few years without hassle until the neighbor across the street sold his land and house. The new owner talked to us before he bought to find out how often we would ride. No more than 3 times a week to which he seemed fine with. I don't think the ink in his signiture dried on the deed before he went to the town board and began circulating a petition to stop the enviromental blight on the landscape and noise polution. You all know the ending, well maybe not. He now lives across the road from a pig farm........I'm still zoned agricultural. When my pigs need to keep cool I point the barn fans to blow across the road. Oh yes and they sleep much better listening to a little 'Sabbath' which I can legally do until 10pm everynight. Maybe he will yearn for the peace and quiet of the track back......or I'l be stuck with these d@m pigs.

 

[mdkuder]

Have a bunch of people over to shoot your guns if that is allowed, as I don't know if you are in the city limits.

 

[wardy]

you know whats really funny. how many people PAY ATTENTION to our government when it comes to personal property rights? I am sure that people in this thread do for sure, but generally most people dont' think about it. THey ASSUME, it's their place they can do what they want, so so mis-informed. We fought zoning of all things big time here, and won for 5 years until the county board put it in place anyway, against the will of the voters.

Next time you vote for a commissioner, alderman, any of those kind of clowns, find out thier stand on you property rights, it is the second most important rights you have. Local government matters more then federal any day of the week.

wardy

 

[ZeCatfish]

I'm 38 and growing up grandma always said this is america, you can do what you want and no one can make you do anything. Well Grandma is long long gone now.
She'd be rolling over in her grave to see AmeriKa today.
People have entirely to much time on thier hands if they have time for this stupid kinda lawsuits.