Skateboard half pipe
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espeon
in Renovation 5 years and 9 months ago
16
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16 replies
Guest User | 5 years and 10 months ago
The new owner who is renovating the house next to mine is constructing one in his backyard. Obviously I am very concerned about noise. Is this legal? I’m trying not to go crazy until it’s a problem, but don’t see how it can’t be. Is calling the DOB the first step? Any other advice? I’ve done a little searching online and haven’t found clear answer yet. We’re in Cobble Hill with 20×100 foot lots.
GreenThinker | 5 years and 10 months ago
i’d love to see a photo. I’d start with the department of buildings or fdny, i’m sure there’s some sort of law pertaining to structures in backyards.
louisahml | 5 years and 10 months ago
Noise aside, are there any other issues that concern you? Do they have a child(ren) that this is being built for? I’d be more concerned about the possibility of an all night rager back there vs the intermittent use of the half pipe. To answer your question, talking to your neighbor is the first step. My imagination takes me to a scenario where without a half pipe the yard is still somehow used for skate practice and you’re still left with a neighbor using their backyard for a relatively innocent recreational activity.
stevecym | 5 years and 10 months ago
they allowed a tree house to remain a few years back even though they decided it was a shed and a big one at that.
i am kind of wondering that if this thing does not turn into something noisy all the time and at weird hours and if the kids doing this are not doing other things such as using drugs and playing loud music, if maybe it might be better to leave it go. yes, the noise of the wheels hitting the wood will be annoying, sort of like a basketball game, but who stops something like that in the city? we can’t.
keep in mind, in someone’s eyes, and it may be that child’s parent, this is a good thing. some of you have read my complaints on my neighbor’s over here where i live and if they were complaining about things such as skateboard ramps, i would feel they are justified just as you do. but we had one of these people who shouted over a fence to my then 8 year old son and his friend telling them to stop practicing violin (no apology, no “i have a sick parent in here or a head ache can you please let this go for today”). we were shocked that someone would shut down something that two boys were doing for a half hour here and there a couple times a week. to us this was and is the best thing boys can be doing in the city and the one child (not ours) is now in a gifted and talented program at Julliard. i am telling you about this because, that neighbor had a problem with it; but from our perspective the kids were doing something healthy and the community should support children doing such things; i know a skateboard tube goes beyond violin.
i can see a lot of downsides to this, one being, if you go to sell, you have one more issue you have to overcome and this might be a big one. Here is another thing, if these are adults who never outgrew this doing this, it might be there a long time and be used at odd hours, like after work. on the upside, perhaps it is a passing fad and will fall into decay in 5 years and you can offer to break it up and put it out in the trash? (btw, if plywood is not maintained when out of doors, it will decay and fast)
i am wondering if you can approach them and tell them what your fears are? i know this is bad because if you do and you have to go to the DOB, they will know it was you and they might end up having skateboard parties out there.
in all honesty, i am not defending this; i would not want it next to me either.
solehappy | 5 years and 10 months ago
kids having fun in a backyard, better get the city after them
stevecym | 5 years and 10 months ago
and take a look at the plywood they are making this out of; if it is marine grade, you are in this for the long haul.
Guest User | 5 years and 10 months ago
OP here – I agree about talking to the neighbors and assuming that they will be respectful. This is why I haven’t gone to the DOB yet. I’m a parent, so pretty understanding when it comes to noise and letting kids be kids. That said, I have always insisted that my kids be respectful of our tenants and not make noise in the morning of night. This will obviously affect all adjacent properties not just mine. I have worried about resale, but I am most worried about noise. If they do not offer this, I would propose designating certain times and also the amount of time it can be used so that I can get out of the house with the dog who hates skateboard noise.
yudashasom | 5 years and 10 months ago
You know your dog well.
yudashasom | 5 years and 10 months ago
How big is this thing?
valperez15
in Renovation 5 years and 10 months ago
Years ago, a neighbor on the street backing on to ours built a half pipe in the back yard. The back of it was about 10′ tall so it created an illegal fence which was not cute to look at for the neighbor in back of them. That was the least of the issues though–every evening there was this tremendous repetitive swoosh followed by a thump as the half pipe was used and it would go on late into the night. There were also many gatherings with loud music and the skateboard noise. It disturbed everyone on our block–from the buzz kills to the chilled out neighbors. I am all for live and let live, but in this instance it was not a great thing to have in earshot.
vsleuchyjpgpyq | 5 years and 10 months ago
I shoud be so lucky.
A mere skateboard halfpipe?
MY nasty neighbor is building a guillotine in his back yard –and NOT asking the neighbors for advice on “agreeable usage times and noise”.
Just kidding of course, but about a year ago I DO remember an online article & photo about an apparently genuine guillotine set up on a local apartment house rooftop, as viewable from streetlevel. New York, it’s a helluva town.
Seriously, I fully sympathize with your potential grievance, myself living in a rapidly gentrifying area where noisy bars are multiplying unchecked in the first floor levels & backyards of residential apartment houses, and severely impacting quality of life. The legitimate rights & needs of existing residents must constrain property rights in a congested urban environment.
I suggest getting together with like-minded neighbor sand elected officials, and petitioning for such a structure to be built in a neighborhood park or playground instead.
ixrkyotw | 5 years and 10 months ago
Skateboarding is not a crime.
stevecym | 5 years and 10 months ago
OP: as someone who has always cherished quiet where i have lived, i have realized that something changed when i had my own son. it seems that if children and youth are having fun, the noise they make is not noise but good energy. i honestly never thought i would be able to say something like that myself but we frequently have my son’s friends over and i sometimes have to babysit a couple of young boys here, and i find that if they have fun and laughing, no matter how loud it is, it does not interrupt what i am doing. i could write this and they could be in the next room jumping off the couch and it would not bother me. i am hoping this half-pipe becomes a good thing. it may be something where the sound of the wheels hitting the wood become nothing to you just as someone who lives across from a fire house will tell you they don’t hear the fire engines. I am thinking that even the thought that a couple of kids are out there having fun and not doing something wrong in the community will erase any disruption. i hope i am not being overly optimistic.
vsleuchyjpgpyq | 5 years and 10 months ago
Noise? – hey, get used to it. This is New York!
What? You thought you had rights?
Let kids be kids.
Let kids (or aduts) do what they please,
where they please, and when they please.
Quality of life? – fuhgeddaboudit!
This is not a recipe for a sane & sensible & livable community,
especially one as congested as New York City.
Skateboarding not a crime?
Yes , but neither is it a get-out-of-jail card that cannot be regulated.
Mutual respect demands that your “rights” end when & where they undermine mine.
Otherwise we all suffer the sad consequences.
Is that so difficult to comprehend?
Guest User | 5 years and 10 months ago
Listen I can help you through experience I had a halfpipe Built in my backyard as a 11 year old that was 42ft long 32ft wide and 22ft high with 3/half foot of vert . It was great While there was people at my house 15 to 18 hours a day trying to ride . U had to be careful make them sign or parents sign a vaver releasing my family from liability if you were injured on our property no exceptions and we had a strict limit of hours and noise if people were to loud they left . Eventually it became so big and so many people around the city tried to make us take out permits like we had a amusment operation or a business we never charged any one a dime they just said it drew in to many people at on place at 1 time to remain safe for everyone …my dad was a Dr and we could have easily paid what they asked for to keep it open ..but we needed piece and quiet after years of people being loud and clackity clackiry clackity clack over and over from dusk till dawn …u get the picture …but im 43 years old now and I still love skateboards and I would still hunt of Animal Chin lol
Guest User | 5 years and 10 months ago
it’s always kept kids off the street and out of trouble …let them have there fun ..its goodfor the entire community …