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Excessive Noise On School Property Line

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Location: Upstate NY

The highschool, which my house borders, recently built a massive multi-use turf field which they use but also rent out. They built the field as close as they could to the edge of our property line- a small swale between my property and the turf (~50 ft) and about 150 ft as measured from my house. Us homeowners voiced our concerns about the proximity during the initial build and they simply verbally assured the homeowners there would be no lighting or sound system. Well it turns out that this wasn't in scope of the Phase 1 construction, but now they're proposing an improvement project to run electrical, install stadium lighting, and a sound system. It feels like they pulled a fast one on us. The project is expected to be approved.

The proposed stadium lighting system does appear to mitigate light trespassing onto our properties within reason. They clearly put thought into the technology and positioning. The lighting will allow practices and games until 10pm. The larger concern is the sound system. Historically, they've abused their sound system on other fields. People can hear the music and announcer a mile away (not kidding). When we reach out to the school, they fix the issue for a weekend and then it's back to full volume the next weekend. It doesn't exactly bother me because that field is 900-1200 feet away so it's not super intrusive when they're playing food music. My concern is that if the same noise level and lack of care is transferred over to my property line with now extended field hours, it's going to considerably disrupt the homeowners’ quality of life especially when trying to put toddlers to sleep.

I'm in upstate NY and my town doesn't have a sound ordinance. The school “promised to be a good neighbor” but I'm curious if there is something more binding to maintain the appropriate sound levels. What would be your suggested path forward? Do I even have any leverage given there's no sound ordinance? I don't even know where to begin

submitted by /u/GlutinousLoaf
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