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Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
 Posted: 21-10-2003 14:02 Post subject: Nasty neighbours |
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| Quote: | A feud costing thousands
2003-10-20
by David A. Grant
Journal Reporter
BELLEVUE -- He lives in a purple and pink house with a flaming yellow ``flying boat'' tied down in his front yard a few steps from Lake Sammamish.
He's spent ,000 and counting on lawyers to fight his neighbors over issues such as noise, storm water runoff, easements and construction permitting.
By his own count, he's been visited by King County sheriff's deputies more than 100 times over a variety of complaints -- his and neighbors' -- since he built and moved into his tiny house in 1992.
Like the beat up Nomad trailer overgrown by blackberries at the head of his driveway, Ralph Guditz just doesn't seem to fit into this quiet, wooded lane of million-dollar homes.
Some neighbors disparagingly refer to his 400-square-foot home as the ``tool shed.'' They say his plane's too loud, his house is too loud and -- most of all -- Guditz is too loud.
It's Bellevue's version of a neighborhood feud.
After more than three years of trying, Guditz is on the verge of gaining the approval he needs to build six condominiums on his roughly one-third acre lot.
But his neighbors, led by several members of the Kelleran family, who own two of the five homes on the little road, have vowed to block the project. Lawyers, money and accusations are in motion.
Neighbors say Guditz's Widgeon Condominium project would detract from the character of their five-house neighborhood, increase traffic and disrupt the environment.
Guditz, in turn, points out that a 52-unit condominium complex lies just a few feet away from his property, on the other side of the neighborhood's only road.
Today the neighbors are scheduled to file an appeal with a state hearings board of recent decisions by King County and the City of Bellevue saying the project can move forward.
Their appeal will argue, among other things, that the condo project should never have been vested three years ago, just before the neighborhood was annexed into the City of Bellevue. They claim Guditz's application was incomplete and that there are problems related to widening the access road, as would be required of the project.
Michael Paine, an environmental issues planner with the city of Bellevue, said Guditz has a right to develop his property based upon the rules under which it was proposed three years ago. But that doesn't mean much to his neighbors.
``Most single-family residents want to see homes similar to what they have,'' Paine said. ``All these neighborhoods are evolving. You see Mediterranean-style mansions next to older ranch-style homes. You see those contrasts on Lake Sammamish. So this is not unusual.
``But the circumstances and personalities have driven this to a whole new dimension.''
One complicating circumstance is the fact that Guditz submitted his applications for his Widgeon Condominium project to King County planners in late 2000, shortly before the West Lake Sammamish neighborhood was annexed into the city of Bellevue in March 2001.
The same project would not be allowed today under Bellevue's zoning laws, Paine said, and that fact galls the Kellerans. The neighbors have spent ,000 fighting the plan and, as Brad Kelleran, said, ``It's just started.''
Linda Kelleran, who lives at the top of a sloping, wooded 2.3-acre property with her husband Brad just uphill from Guditz, is incensed that the 10-foot wide road would need to be widened to 22 feet and that several mature fir trees would need to be cut in order to build the condos.
The neighbors say a bigger road could affect a small stream running nearby and disrupt possible eagle nesting along the easement.
``We're all incensed about this,'' said Linda Kelleran, whose brother-in-law, Bruce Kelleran, lives on a waterfront lot below her. ``We don't want the development, don't want the road to change, don't want the trees cut.
``We think it should be a single-family neighborhood. That's the primary thing that all the neighbors feel.''
Ironically, Brad and Linda Kelleran are developers and own Kelleran Custom Homes, a builder of single-family houses mostly in Kirkland.
Guditz, meanwhile, calls the stream a drainage ditch and says he's never seen an eagle nest in the 11 years he's lived there. Furthermore, it's not his idea to widen the road -- it's a requirement.
He said he has played by all the rules and is proposing nothing prohibited by the King County zoning regulations under which he applied for his permits.
``I've been trying to leave for five years,'' Guditz said. ``It's my right to build the condominium project. I pay higher property taxes because of the multi-family zoning.
``I knew the zoning when I bought (the property), so shouldn't I be able to recover my investment?''
The neighbors have long since stopped talking with each other, leaving the battle of the condos to their lawyers.
But the condo project is just one of many clashes over the years. Guditz has complained about noise at a nearby bible camp, water runoff from an adjacent property and neighbors making improvements without proper permits.
His neighbors aren't too happy with him, either. They say his house is an eyesore, his plane is too loud and he is unfriendly.
Guditz's former next door neighbor from 1994 to 1998, Char Peacey, said she and her husband, Bob, moved out of their lakefront house because of ongoing run-ins.
``He was totally out of control,'' Peacey said. ``I know we spent at least ,000 in attorneys' fees for restraining orders (against him.)''
She accuses him of nearly running over her daughter, dumping trash in her driveway and running his plane out on the lake in the early morning hours.
When their home was up for sale, Peacey said, Guditz put up a sign facing her house saying that if his plane was tampered with, the transgression would be punishable by death.
For his part, Guditz denies trying to run over Peacey's daughter or dumping trash. He did post a sign concerning his airplane and admits he occasionally ran his plane early in the morning. He went to court to get a no-contact order of his own against the Peaceys.
Guditz also levels allegations of his own, saying Bob Peacey pointed a pistol at him in 1998.
Soon after that incident, Guditz painted his house purple and pink, which, according to Guditz, caused the Peaceys to lower the asking price on the home they were trying to sell by 0,000.
Char Peacey denies both accounts.
Also in 1998, Guditz said, he decided to built his condominium project, eventually naming it after his vintage 1944 Grumman Widgeon, a rare and unusual airplane in some ways a reflection of its owner.
After graduating with a masters degree in electrical engineering from MIT, Guditz, now 51, traveled west from Boston and in 1978 founded Fugu Ltd, a company that made computer-aided design software, in Palo Alto, Calif.
At its high point, Fugu had annual revenues of million and several offices worldwide, Guditz said. He moved the company to the Eastside in 1989, but in 2000 he quietly shut it down to pursue his passion for flying.
Along the way, Guditz has shown he is not afraid to take on foes large and small, in and out of court. In 1995, he created a stir when he challenged Microsoft Corp. over telephone calls meant for the software giant that were flooding the offices of Fugu. The problem: the unrelated companies' main phone numbers were one digit apart, resulting in countless misdirected calls.
After trying to resolve the problem for years, Guditz said, he began redirecting the errant calls to one of Microsoft's in-house attorneys. Microsoft threatened to sue, but never did and the issue was resolved quietly.
Today Guditz spends most of his time in Anchorage, where he owns a townhouse and is trying to build an airplane charter business.
All he wants to do now, he said, is build his condominiums and move on.
Michael Paine, the Bellevue planner, said the condo project annoys neighbors who expected that annexation into the city would protect their neighborhood from such a development.
``It's really different parties trying to protect their economic interests,'' Paine said. ``That's what it boils down to.
``It's more than a garden-variety development dispute. It's exacerbated by the characters involved. The degree of vehemence and persistence is unusual.''
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http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/146551
to get a better idea of this you do nee to see the picture:
http://img.horvitznewspapers.net/pict/kcj/main_pict/20nralphguditz_plane.jpg
Emps |
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| TheOriginalCujo Mean Mother Joined: 27 Jul 2001 Total posts: 1894 Location: Aberdeen Age: 42 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 21-10-2003 19:08 Post subject: |
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It's difficult to be sure from such a small image but I think the house/plane combo looks great. I'd love to live near something like that.
Though I think I'd be farely unhappy if he ran the plane in the early hours more than once.
Cujo |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-05-2006 17:23 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Noisy neighbours drive 500,000 from their homes
Dipesh Gadher
ABOUT half-a-million people in Britain have been forced to move home in the past year because of noisy neighbours, researchers have found.
More than a third of people (36%) claim that noise made by those around them had a detrimental impact on their lives, with those living in London and those in rented council accommodation suffering the most.
Children, noisy cars, car alarms, motorbikes and neighbours arguing are the most annoying, according to an Ipsos Mori poll commissioned by the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection (NSCA).
The poll of just under 2,000 people aged 15 and above shows that 14% of the public have been woken up at night by noisy neighbours. Women are more likely than men to be kept awake.
About 5% of those who responded to the survey said they had argued with their neighbours in the past year over noise issues, while 1% claimed they had been forced to move because things had got so bad.
If reflected nationally, that would mean almost 500,000 people have taken such drastic action, according to the NSCA.
Last year Richard Oluwadare, 41, was served with an antisocial behaviour order that prevents him returning to his east London home for two years after a six-year campaign of loud DIY banging, stamping and playing loud music to torment his neighbours.
Ethel Preston, 104, who is hard of hearing, was served with a noise abatement order after she upset neighbours in Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire, by turning her television up to to full volume. One neighbour said he was forced to sleep in his car to escape the noise. 
Ben Bradshaw, an environment minister, said: “Noise can make people’s lives a misery and damage health. We all have a responsibility to be considerate.”
Almost a quarter of respondents said that teenagers made the most noise in their area. In Wales, 12% claimed students were the noisiest. Nationally, 4% agreed.
Scottish residents are affected the most by noise from pubs and clubs, with 14% also claiming that their neighbours’ footsteps were a nuisance, compared with 7% of people nationally. This might be explained by the large number of shared tenement blocks in cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh in which many flats have stripped wooden floorboards.
Almost half of all Londoners (48%) — the highest proportion in the country — said their quality of life was affected by noise pollution.
Cars with throbbing engines and loud stereos are among the most commonly cited sources of unwanted noise.
Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: “We would encourage decibel-loving drivers to resist the temptation to pump up the volume.
“Not only is loud music a nuisance to others, it could also be a cause of accidents on the roads.
“Although the decrease in reaction time from playing loud music translates into mere fractions of a second, on the UK’s busy roads, this reduction could mean the difference between a hit or a miss.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2190147,00.html
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| graylien Great Old One Location: Norwich - home of the Puppet Man! Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-05-2006 21:35 Post subject: |
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Too true. I moved out of my old flat (which I was really rather fond of) simply because I had a rave music fan who never seemed to sleep on one side of me, a wailing baby on the other, and a noisy Rottweiler together with a restless fat man overhead.
Building flats with some kind of noise insulation fitted as standard would be a step in the right direction. |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-05-2006 21:59 Post subject: |
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| I'm trying to move from here for mobility reasons, but it would be heaven to also escape the noise and potential threat from certain neighbours... |
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| WhistlingJack Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Total posts: 4298 Location: The Sewers of The Strand Age: 9 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 22-05-2006 10:37 Post subject: |
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| rynner wrote: | | Quote: | | Ethel Preston, 104, who is hard of hearing, was served with a noise abatement order after she upset neighbours in Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire, by turning her television up to to full volume. One neighbour said he was forced to sleep in his car to escape the noise. |
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It may seem harsh, but I can understand that. My former next-door neighbour was a lovely gentleman, but as he grew older (he was 90+ when he eventually went to the home were he is now), his hearing got progressively worse and it got to the point where if we were both watching the same channel on TV, we could mute the sound and still follow the programme via the sound from next door - we were prepared to put up with it, but if you were driven to distraction by someone's inabilty to use subtitles, then I can understand such action being taken. |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17895 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 22-05-2006 12:08 Post subject: |
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When my kids were teenagers we lived in an end terrace where the 'joined' neighbour was deaf. I used to say, play your music loudly if you like, but if I can't actually hear myself talk I may have to ask you to turn it down. 
We never had any complaints.
Later we moved to a larger terraced house with deaf neighbours on BOTH sides. Both used to play their TVs very loudly, one at night, one in the morning. Didn't bother us.
One of those neighbours has died and been replaced by a large family, who are understandably noisy and whose parents have very interesting and clearly audible rows in the early hours.
The other neighbour still plays his TV at full blast until 1am or later, in his bedreem next to mine. Does all this noise bother me? Nope. Live and let live.  |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 22-05-2006 12:41 Post subject: |
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| When I lived in Camberwell (a vibrant noisy area in London), I used to work from my flat. By and large I had no major problems with noise - even living across the road from a yardie club (with shootings) and a huge nightclub on the corner. However, a new neighbour moved in next door and played dance music from early morning to late at night. At first, I thought live and let live. Then it started to interfere with incoming phone calls (he must've bought even 'louder' speakers). I asked politely if he could turn it down in the mornings and afternoon and was greeted with a fuck off and a slammed door in the face - to which, calmly, I did not respond. I called the police, who told to me to call the noise abatement people (or whatever theyare called). I heard nothing back - I rang them, and they told me they couldn't do anything. Soooooo....I went round once more and asked nicely. Fuck off and slam. Sooooo, I went round again, kept the door open with a well placed foot and threatened the selfish sod. Simply put, I told him that I would come back, fill him in and smash his stereo. I told him I didn't mind his playing of music, but in the day, some of us are working. Once I had established the situation, the guy became very reasonable and we became sort of friends - indeed, I still see this bloke about every two months or so. Sometimes, just sometimes, you need to put your foot down. Live and live is all very well (and a noble state to aspire to), sometimes there needs to be a form of parity. I do not recommend threatening in most situations, but my company and livlihood depended on being able to talk to people over the phone. My only regret that I was driven to emotion - but it was the catalyst that resolved the situation...cognition and friendliness maintained the situation. |
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| fluffle9 Great Old One Joined: 01 May 2004 Total posts: 979 Location: somewhere over the rainbow Age: 30 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 23-05-2006 21:02 Post subject: |
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| WhistlingJack wrote: | | rynner wrote: | | Quote: | | Ethel Preston, 104, who is hard of hearing, was served with a noise abatement order after she upset neighbours in Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire, by turning her television up to to full volume. One neighbour said he was forced to sleep in his car to escape the noise. |
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It may seem harsh, but I can understand that. My former next-door neighbour was a lovely gentleman, but as he grew older (he was 90+ when he eventually went to the home were he is now), his hearing got progressively worse and it got to the point where if we were both watching the same channel on TV, we could mute the sound and still follow the programme via the sound from next door - we were prepared to put up with it, but if you were driven to distraction by someone's inabilty to use subtitles, then I can understand such action being taken. |
I don't think it's at all harsh. I don't care if she's 104, she was being an inconsiderate moron. If you're too deaf to hear the telly and don't want to use subtitles, get headphones (I presume the neighbours suggested this to her if she didn't think of it herself). |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 23-05-2006 22:06 Post subject: |
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| escargot1 wrote: | | Does all this noise bother me? Nope. Live and let live. |
You must be a saint.
I've suffered two evil, noisy neighbours. One threatened to kill me when I complained, but I faced up to him and then called the police. He's been better since then with me, although he was in court recently over a fracas with another tenant here (which resulted in the other tenant moving out).
The other evil druggie noisy neighbour was also very provocative, despite being under a restriction order, and the Police took no action when he trashed the communal areas one night. (Apparently there were 'no witnesses' - well, no-one actually saw him doing it, but all the other tenants heard it, and knew who it was...  )
Luckily for us, he was banged up shortly afterwards on the charge of attempted murder of his wife.
On a lesser but still annoying level, I've suffered from 'thin wall syndrome' with perfectly normal neighbours. But if they sit up talking into the wee hours when I'm trying to sleep, or go to bed themselves and then SNORE, it's very perturbing, and leaves me tired and short-tempered.
All I ask is peace on Earth - is that too much to ask? [sigh] |
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| mindalai spinster of this parish
Great Old One Joined: 27 Aug 2005 Total posts: 1739 Location: on the shelf Age: 37 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 23-05-2006 22:15 Post subject: |
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| I'm lucky because don't have noisy neighbours (nosy, yes, noisy no), although I have had in the past. I can stongly recommend sleeping with earplugs in. I still do it now even though I don't have the noisy neighbours any more. It makes me sleep much more deeply. |
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| zoltan_g Great Old One Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Total posts: 249 Location: The Blasted Heath Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-05-2006 12:47 Post subject: |
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| All these stories make me glad that I live in the middle of nowhere with only 1 set of neighbours! |
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| butterfly27 Hanuman Joined: 28 Feb 2002 Total posts: 788 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 25-05-2006 09:32 Post subject: |
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I had this problem in reverse - a downstairs neighbour who was stone deaf but who waged a hate campaign against me for the wild parties I was allegedly having every night. (Chance'd be a fine thing!) This hate campaign included throwing bricks at my back door, even tho she was in her 70s, - I was glad it wasn't a downstairs flat because she wouldn't have hesitated to put the windows out. Eventually she started on the next-door neighbours as well and so we were able to bring closure to the situation by attending her GP as a delegation. Because she was stone deaf it was easy to persuade the doc that something was amiss. It turned out that she was in the advanced stages of dementia and all the noise was in her own head. She was put into a care home and then I had a procession of her relatives hounding me for "driving" their mother, aunt etc into a home. It could only happen to me! 
I think the worst part was having to listen to Songs of Praise at full volume every week, accompanied by her tone deaf caterwauling. |
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| filcee Beer Monkey Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Total posts: 889 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 25-05-2006 10:11 Post subject: |
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My noisy neighbour has moved out, a 30-something, alcoholic ex-squaddie. He used to come in from the pub at 2-3am, screaming (literally) drunk, slamming all the doors on the way through the block of flats we live in. After getting into his flat the music would start at full volume, accompanied with bloody awful singing. He was always polite though when I went to hammer on the door, to ask him to turn it down, always asking me if I wanted a drink. The music would go off for half an hour, then come back with a vengeance. This would go on 'til about 5-6am, then he'd eventually sleep. Which is when the nightmares started, he'd be screaming his head off, shouting for his da, his CO, or screaming in general. He also had long, loud arguments with himself about not belonging, only following orders and things that weren't right. We found out on a long night sat up drinking and talking with him (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em) the music went on to cover the silence in his flat ('cos the silence scared him), and to make sure I went round - he wanted human contact that much, even me yelling at him would do...
The last we heard of him, he'd tried counselling but it hadn't worked, and he was going back to Iraq as 'private security'... |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17895 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 25-05-2006 12:24 Post subject: |
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When I said 'live and let live' I was referring to only my own situation. I'm presently lucky enough to only have to put up with reasonable noise, for understandable reasons, from otherwise friendly neighbours. I do know what 'bad' neighbours are like though. They could drive you mad.
Luckily I've found that the worst offenders seem to get murdered, carted off to prison or sectioned, if I wait long enough. 
Near here there seem to be two houses next to each other between which the families trade insults and threats at all hours. I can hear them from the back of my house if the window's open. Must be hell for their close neighbours. |
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