"It sure is a lot noisier than it used to be," Dorothy Frazier says of Nine Mile in Southfield, her home for 41 years.Silence golden as tensions rise over noise
Highways, parks, outdoor concerts cut into tranquillity, even in Metro suburbs.
After the Livonia Skate Park, where James Burnett, 17, skates, opened two years ago, residents who live nearby were quick to lodge complaints about noise coming from the park.Any sound 80 decibels or louder is dangerous, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Some common noises, and their decibel levels, include:
• Firearms, air-raid siren: 140
• Jackhammer: 130
• Jet-plane takeoff: 120
• Rock music: 110
• Snowmobile, chain saw: 100
• Lawn mower: 90
• Alarm clock: 80
• Busy traffic, vacuum cleaner: 70
• Conversation, dishwasher: 60
• Moderate rainfall: 50
• Quiet room: 40
• Whisper: 30
Source: Detroit News research
Escape the din?
It's becoming an elusive commodity in ever-growing Metro Detroit: peace and quiet. Throughout the region, citizen groups and individuals are raising their voices over the right to live free of noise, protesting projects from highways to airports to skateboard parks to outdoor concert halls. How do you escape the din?
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SHELBY TOWNSHIP -- Summer is coming, and Ronald Navickas is bracing for the noise.
Navickas, a 68-year-old retired logistics analyst for the U.S. government, used to enjoy sitting on his porch during the summer, but now it just gives him a headache.
"You wouldn't believe how many people drive down the street blasting their radios," Navickas said. "I mean, it's really loud, and constant -- it gets so bad, I have to go inside and shut the door."
It's becoming an elusive commodity in ever-growing Metro Detroit: peace and quiet. Throughout the region, citizen groups and individuals are raising their voices over the right to live free of noise, protesting projects from highways to airports to skateboard parks to outdoor concert halls.
Noise is the No. 1 complaint Americans have about their neighborhoods -- more than crime, traffic or sprawl -- according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In several Metro Detroit communities, officials have passed laws to get relief from the racket.
Noise ordinances have recently been adopted in Redford Township, Detroit, Dearborn, Troy, Farmington and Livonia. Tickets for violating the ordinances are as low as $50 for a first offense to $500 and 90 days in jail for a third offense.
A proposed noise ordinance in Shelby Township, which would have made it a $100 civil infraction to play music that could be heard from beyond 60 feet, was rejected last year by the Township Board because officials felt police would be tied up with noise complaints.
"I really wish they would have passed that law," Navickas said. "Maybe it would have helped."
Loud music also drives Peter Robinson indoors during the summer months. Robinson of Sterling Heights is cautiously waiting for June 17, when Tesla, a hard-rock band, is scheduled to play at the Jerome-Duncan Ford Theatre at Freedom Hill, an outdoor amphitheater.
The stage is just a few hundred yards from the 43-year-old engineer's back door, and although theater officials took steps during the winter to mitigate the noise, Robinson is wary.
'It's unbearable'
"When they have rock concerts there, it's unbearable," Robinson said. "The music goes on until 11 at night, and I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning for work. It's kind of hard to get to sleep when all you hear is 'thump, thump, thump' -- the bass from those huge speakers."
In years past, city-dwellers often moved to the suburbs to get away from the noise. But sprawl and modern lifestyles are cutting into the tranquility of suburbia, too. Just ask Dorothy Frazier.
When Frazier, 79, moved to her Southfield home on Nine Mile 41 years ago, "you could hardly hear a truck go by," she said. But that is slowly changing, she said.
"We get a lot more traffic noise now than there used to be," said Frazier, who, along with her husband, Tony Barrios, operates the 3 DDDs fruit and vegetable stand outside their home. "It's not too bad, but it sure is a lot noisier than it used to be."
The situation could get worse, Frazier said.
"Developers have been sniffing around here for years, wanting to build," Frazier said. "I've probably gotten a dozen offers from developers to sell, but I'm not selling. If they start building a bunch of condos and houses around here, we'll never get any peace and quiet."
Traffic noise also is on the minds of Troy residents who are outraged by a proposal to build an interchange at Interstate 75 and Long Lake Road. A survey commissioned by the city of Troy and taken by the International City/County Management Association found 51 percent of residents oppose the plan and 30 percent support it. Those who oppose the plan cite increased traffic and noise as their main concerns.
Rock 'n' roll nightmare
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 138 million Americans live in areas where noise exceeds the agency's maximum recommended levels for protection from annoyance and disruption of everyday activities.
Annoyance and disruption of daily activities have plagued Robinson since Freedom Hill began hosting concerts in 1999. He was one of several neighbors who complained about the loud music coming from the amphitheater. The complaints led to a long legal battle between Sterling Heights and Hillside Productions, which runs the theater, over the theater's impact on the neighborhood.
In March 2004, the city settled out of court, agreeing to pay $31 million for hindering Hillside's progress. The settlement came after attorneys for Hillside Productions filed suit in circuit and federal courts, accusing city officials of conspiring to shutter the 7,000-seat theater because of residents' complaints of excessive noise and traffic.
After three years of legal battles, the city's settlement was one of the largest in Sterling Heights history.
As stipulated in the settlement, Hillside built a 14-foot-high sound wall and a huge roof that will cover the pavilion seating area. It will remain only partially enclosed.
But Robinson is skeptical whether the noise-abatement measures will work. He will find out in a few weeks, when Tesla kicks off the concert season.
"I'm hoping it will help," Robinson said. "But I doubt it."
Freedom Hill officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
George Parker, who also lives near the theater, is cautiously optimistic.
"All we can do is hope the sound wall and the roof work to lessen the sound," Parker said. "If they work, I'll be a happy camper. But if they don't work, I really don't know what we'll do."
Parker said he encounters loud music when he leaves home, too.
"You get these kids blasting their radios at the stoplight, with the thumping bass -- that's really annoying," Parker said. "Of course, you can drive away from that. But with Freedom Hill, we're stuck with the noise."
Culture clash
As communities grow more diverse, there often is a conflict over what constitutes annoying noise. In Hamtramck, for instance, tensions flared last year in an issue that gained national attention involving Islamic calls to prayer.
Some Hamtramck residents were upset that the Al-Islah Islamic Center on Caniff broadcast calls to prayer five times a day, an Islamic tradition for 1,400 years. The issue was put on the ballot last year, and residents voted to repeal a city ordinance banning the call to prayer, 1,462-1,200.
Although the matter was settled legally, the issue still divides the community.
"A lot of people are still upset about it," said Hamtramck resident Marisa Rahdar. "Personally, it doesn't bother me as much as what I call the international doorbell -- people honking their horns instead of getting out of their cars and ringing the doorbell."
Hamtramck resident Karen Sanders says she can hardly hear the calls to prayer "because of all the other noise around here."
"You have people yelling at each other -- not that they're angry, they're just loud -- and traffic noise," she said. "All that noise masks the call to prayer."
In Livonia, a skate park -- and the noise coming from it -- has some residents threatening to take legal action.
Livonia Skate Park opened two years ago, after young skateboarders clamored for the city to build them a skate park because residents complained about the youths skating in other areas that were not designed for skaters. After the park was built, residents who live nearby were quick to lodge their complaints.
"The skate park opened on June 14, 2003," said resident Paul Bourlier. "By June 20th, we had a petition before the Parks and Recreation Department. That's how bad the noise is."
Bourlier, who lives on Jamison Court next to the park, said there is a constant clanging sound that comes from skateboarders riding over metal ramps and barriers. "It's just an aggravating, jarring noise -- just terrible," said Bourlier, 67. "When we saw this thing being built, we didn't think it would be that bad. We had no idea what a skateboard park was. Well, now we know."
Finding a balance
Livonia officials have struggled to appease both residents and skateboarders who wanted the park in the first place, said Karen Kapchonick, superintendent of Livonia's Parks and Recreation Department.
"It's a balancing act -- you have to come to some sort of compromise, taking everyone's concerns into consideration," Kapchonick said.
Kapchonick believes officials have figured out a way to make both residents and skateboarders happy: The city is planting 23 evergreen trees, 16 to 18 feet tall, to buffer the noise.
"We'll stagger the trees, which should alleviate the noise," Kapchonick said. "The question is: to whose expectations? Some people seem to want to totally eliminate all the noise coming from the park, but the only way to do that would be to have an indoor facility, which isn't feasible."
But Bourlier said he and other members of his group, Concerned Citizens of Jamison Court and Environs, will file a lawsuit seeking monetary damages if the trees do not lessen the noise to their satisfaction.
"We're trying to be patient, but this fight has been going on for two years," Bourlier said. "To be fair, the city has been working with us. But our patience is running out. This park is a major hindrance to our lifestyle. When I first moved here 10 years ago, it was like living in the country. It's not so rustic now."
In Ray Township, some residents and officials are concerned because the owners of a small airstrip recently applied to become the township's third public airport.
The owners of the Kunstman Airstrip at 29 Mile and Kunstman roads have applied to the Michigan Department of Transportation's Bureau of Aeronautics for a basic utility license that would designate the site as a public airport.
Airstrip concerns
Township Supervisor Charles Bohm has voiced concerns about the application, including the possibility of more noise from an increase in takeoffs and landings.
"I've gotten a lot of calls from people who complain there's too much noise around there," Bohm said. "There are two public airports in Ray Township already, and we don't need another one adding to the noise."
Kunstman Airstrip manager Laurie Diener said the noise generated from takeoffs and landings of the small aircraft that use her airstrip is minimal.
"I guess it's a matter of choice," Diener said. "Would you rather have an occasional plane taking off over a nice, green field, where there's corn growing, or would you rather have another subdivision, or an industrial development on this property? That would lead to all kinds of noise problems."
The airport noise problem has been an issue in Oakland County as well.
Officials at Oakland International Airport in Waterford Township have recently spent $3 million to install acoustically treated windows and doors in 75 to 100 homes near the airport in Waterford Township. Neighbors for many years have complained about the loud noise generated by jet engines at the airport.
The spending is part of a larger $48 million plan to cut back sound from the airport, which is the second busiest in the state.
Waterford resident James Fowler, who has lived about a mile from the airport for 47 years, said in a March interview that he has a strategy for living with the noise from jet engines.
"When a big plane comes over, you just don't talk then," he said.
You can reach George Hunter at (586) 468-7396 or ghunter@detnews.com.
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