A couple of years ago I made some neighbors mad when I put in a bee hive and they took up a petition to get my bees banned, which by law, they could not - nevertheless, in an effort to bring peace in the neighborhood I went to mediation and brought local beekeeping profesionals to try to explain why bees are nice and not dangerous and all that.
After a couple of mediation sessions it was painfully obvious that what really made most of them mad was my landscaping. I am going for the English garden effect, with lots of rose beds and peony beds and trees. They are into lawns, pristine lawns, and no trees. In other words, the argument was really about aesthetics.
It was a shock to me that they would be that angry about rose bushes, etc. I did respond in kind by ridiculing their landscaping, which I thought and think is pathetic.
Some people are just very weird about their yards. It's not at all a pleasant experience, and I sympathize.