Posted on 10/25/2016 11:39:45 AM PDT by heartwood
My brother lives on a residential block zoned commercial. On the next block is a gas station that has just installed tvs next to the pumps and started playing music 6 am to 10 pm "to attract customers." It's cranked up LOUD about 150 ft from his house. He works at home and spends a lot of time working on his house and yard and the noise is making him miserable.
He's spoken to the gas station owners, no luck, and to the town - no noise ordinances in commercial zones.
Any suggestions?
I've never seen gas pump TVs. Is it a southern thing? Do they really attract customers or does the TV company pay the station, to get advertising revenue?
The TVs at supermarket cash registers already annoy me - who thinks, hey let's go to Bill's Pump N Snack and we can catch up on the News N Ads? I
Start playing music(or talk radio) back to them.
Check County ordinances
If there is no noise ordinance to violate, he should be in good shape.
I’ve seen them. They are annoying for customers, too.
I would consider a few different options.
1. See if he can get a reporter on the local paper to write a negative article about it.
2. Talk to his local representative about a noise ordinance. (If he refers to it as noise pollution or if he can show that it affects some sort of wild animal the environmentalists will swarm in and take care of the problem for him. Maybe it interferes with the mating calls of birds?)
3. March outside the station with a sign encouraging people to go elsewhere for gas. If he can affect the owner’s profit, that might make the owner think twice.
Honestly sounds like he is going to have to move.
WOW All I can say is that he has my most sincere sympathy. I believe I am hyper sensitive to noises, and experience extremely high irritability when I cannot escape most “noisy” environments, which includes the sound of typing in the office. Has he talked to the gas station at all? Can they adjust the speakers in a way that will be more favorable to him?
Possibly the TVs and all will be vandalized soon enough (description of the perps: “wearing black hooded sweatshirts up over their faces”...), and it will no longer be an issue.
Or he could protest with a sign saying that gas prices are higher due to the TV access....
People are supposed to hear this music in their cars, and be “attracted” to the station?
Your brother should see a lawyer. There may not be a specific noise ordinance, but there are probably applicable laws they are violating, simply by annoying, harassing, and injuring your brother’s ability to work, etc.
He needs to stress to the city he does not live in a commercial zone.
If they sell hot food, report them to the health department. Report them to the EPA for whatever reason. Keep reporting them to as many agencies as he can think of. Or move.
Record the music. Then take a big boom box loaded with that music and crank it up in front of the owner’s house. See how he likes it.
He could purchase noise cancelling speakers, he could wear ear plugs, he could sound proof his fence, walls, windows etc...
City and state?
My condolences to your brother, he’s screwed.
I’m in the same situation. The city council are paid whores, and the cops are just itching for trouble.
When the deck is stacked, the first step is to not walk into an ambush. Tell him to be very careful.
Hire Harry the Hobo.
Give him a ratty old lawn chair.
Have him sit in front of the pumps to listen to some tunes.
Hire another hobo every day.
Tell them it’s OK to pee in the bushes.
sabotage them...over and over again....Unfortunately, the good guys are gonna start having to resort to vigilantism....
Talk to a lawyer about a possible trespass lawsuit. Ask if noise is trespass in your state. Also ask about a private nuisance suit.
Oh I’ve seen em...they have them on the pumps at some stations in my town, and they are invariably tuned to NBC...I turn away and look at something else on the rare occasions I have to get gas there
There are TVs at at least some of the Sunoco stations in Virginia and they are quite loud. If this is a commercial zone, he is going to have difficulty trying to get the station to quiet down. What about a more personal solution like noise cancelling headphones or the type that allow conversations, but block loud noises?
Talk to city or county zoning people. This technology likely doesn’t fit perfectly in the zoning code. While permitted uses in commercial may specifically include gas stations, other zoning categories may include ‘drive in theaters’...and if that is defined in the zoning code, but not specifically listed as a permitted use in commercial, there may be some traction.
If that doesn’t work - approach a council member about proposing a revised noise ordinance.
Sell and move....if it’s zoned commercial, he’s got no recourse
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