Photo shoot in the Grove. Looking for peace and quiet in our bucolic town. Paul Goldfinger photo.
BLOGFINGER POLL: (Re-post from 2014). By Paul Goldfinger editor Blogfinger.net
Certain shore towns such as Allenhurst, Toms River, Ocean Beach and Deal opt for quiet and calmness by banning all construction work in their resort towns during the summer months.
Many visitors to the Grove during the summer, especially those who are renting houses, don’t savor the sound of hammering and power tools. Some towns even ban inside work, such as plumbing or electric, where there is little or no noise.
Would Grovers like a quality-of-life rule of this sort? Let’s find out:
LAVAY SMITH AND HER RED HOT SKILLET LICKERS with “Honey Pie.”
“C’mon home, let’s light the oven……oowee baby, you’re my honey pie”
Oh, and let’s keep the music and other sorts of noise down too. Do you hear that Lavay Smith?
For many years the Grove didn’t allow any work on homes from June 15th to Sept 15th. The township made folks move their dumpsters out of town from Friday till Monday. I don’t think you need people making noise
If you can speed up the permitting and HPC process, then possibly. It took me over 10 weeks to get a permit for my roof last year. (Which had minor wind damage from Sandy; which was supposed to expedite the process.) Neptune just laughed at that note on the application. Then the shingle color had to go through HPC approval, but got deferred one meeting because of a heavy calendar.
Because of the delay, the weeklong, including dumpster, didn’t start until July. We tried to get it done in early June, but it didn’t happen until late July. Contractors also get delayed on other projects, plus weather delays things, so it would be a hardship to have a prohibition.
I can understand the sentiment, as I have lived through Surf Ave. fire reconstruction on my block for the past 3+ years.
This town needs a lot more construction/renovation than it currently has. We certainly should not be putting up any barriers to anyone who wants to invest in and improve their property. Renovations benefit everyone, either directly or indirectly.
I say “Bring on the Renovations!!”
For years, it was the policy f the association not to allow ANY outside work, and we all liked it that was. With the very small narrow of the streets, you don’t need those trucks plus all the summer visitors.
I agree with Doug. I too work M-F. I also agree with summer homeowner: it’s not feasible in this day and age.
I don’t agree that contractors have learned to live with such restraints. There is plenty of unrestricted work out there. I do agree with the later morning start time .
Bethany. The idea of eliminating two summer months from permitted construction noise is not meant to prevent you or others from maintaining your homes. There are 7-8 months each year when work can be done in this climate. Other towns which do restrict construction noise during July and August have no problem remaining beautiful, and I can tell you that the contractors have learned to live with such restrictions, although they grumble about it.
There used to be a ban on all summertime work, when we were still run by OGCMA exclusively. It was lovely to have a quiet summer, but this is not a feasible option in this day and age. It would be nice not to have dumpsters parked on the streets but how can we ban some but not all summer work?
I am now a summer resident, do alot of my own work (not on Sunday morning though,) and it would be detrimental to me if work were not allowed during the summer. Wish there was a workable answer to this.
It can take a very long time to get approval from zoning and the HPC for even very simple improvements. It was never my intention to be disrupting the neighborhood during the summer season. However things do not always go as planned. I did have a dumpster in front of my house recently and I apologized to my neighbors and summer renters for it. No work was ever done on weekends, but the dumpster was still there.
There was still construction noise beginning at 8:00 AM every morning. If you live in a typical OG Victorian your turn to disrupt the neighbors will most likely happen,if it hasn’t already. If you are fortunate enough to have completed your project or bought a renovated home, that is awesome. Please don’t prohibit the rest of us from continuing to upgrade and keep OG beautiful.
One of the reasons I would say Yes on the summer ban is that the construction is accompanied by a dumpster and construction trucks that block parking spaces and make threading a car through tight streets difficult.
Doug: Some homeowners in the Grove do work or allow work to be done on Sundays even though it is an ordinance violation. To make that kind of noise even on a Sunday morning is disrespectful and totally unneighborly. The only way that the ordinance would be enforced is if someone calls the police and complains, and everyone is reluctant to do that.
Doug: What’s wrong with spring and autumn?
A lot of people in OG are DIY* homeowners, we have other jobs, so M-F are out, then we have the Sunday prohibition and can only work part of the day on Saturdays, so now we would be able to work Saturdays in the Winter???
*do it yourself
Perhaps a compromise would be banning construction on summer weekends, but allowing it during the week, during reasonable hours.