What if the thing that defines your community is noise?

Posted at 2:18 PM on August 5, 2010 by Brooke Walsh (0 Comments)
Filed under: Baldwin Township

I wrote about the micro-community concept last week -- which is a way to build community in localized neighborhoods instead of focusing on broader community throughout an entire township.

In Baldwin, the Winding Trails, Northgate and Pinegate developments have built up a micro-community of sorts based partly on a shared desire for freedom to make noise -- the ability to ride three wheelers, have parties and work on their vehicles as they like. Most members of the community enjoy the freedom to engage in these activities more than the quiet that would result from rules limiting noise in the area.

But there is one notable exception: Wade and Beth Ficek, who have been losing sleep for months as the sound of their neighbor's semi drifts into their bedroom window.

The Ficeks want a noise ordinance in Baldwin, but their neighbors do not.

This scenario illustrates one of the main issues with micro-communities -- how can neighborhoods advertise their benefits to potential residents?

If the Ficeks had realized how noisy the community was before they moved in -- and that being able to make noise in this way is a priority to their neighbors -- they probably would have chosen a different place to live and avoided this problem. As of now they feel trapped in the neighborhood because of a housing market that is unfavorable to sellers.

Residents and potential residents want to know the priorities of their neighborhood, but it's unlikely a developer is going to want to advertise their development as "noisy." How can exurban micro-communities communicate these nuances in ways that give potential residents a realistic view of what it's like to live there?

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