Making Noise About Proposed Bylaw Change

By Mary Stanely

 

While residents Jennie H. and

George H. Zantuhos of Knott Avenue

are pushing for a change

to the town’s current noise bylaws,

their neighbors are pushing

back.

The Zantuhoses say that the

changes they are proposing will

enhance the quality of life for

people living in Sandwich. The

article calls for changing the language

in the bylaw so that noise

coming from boom boxes, electronic

devices, or wind chimes

cannot travel beyond an owner’s

property line. As the bylaw is currently

written, noise coming from

any of these devices, including

wind chimes cannot travel beyond

150 feet from the source.

But opponents to this petition

article say that the bylaw change

will not enhance the quality of

life for residents of Sandwich or

the people who vacation here,

and it could infringe on an individual’s

rights to listen to music

while gardening or to even hang

a small wind chime outside their

home.

A group of residents living in

the Town Neck area of Sandwich

and abutters to the Zantuhoses

say that the couple is taking a

neighborhood dispute and escalating

it to the point that it will

impact all residents of town.

For more than fi ve years, the

neighbors said they have had

run-ins with the Zantuhoses on

issues ranging from the fl apping

of an American fl ag to the tinkling

sounds of wind chimes to

the crooning of Frank Sinatra on

the radio.

“He came over to my house

twice and took my American fl ag

down because the sound of the

flag flapping in the wind annoyed

him,” said James R. Custodio of

Knott Avenue. Mr. Custodio said five years

ago, Mr. Zantuhos asked him to

remove a very small wind chime,

less than six inches in height, because

the tiny tinkling sounds of

the device was disturbing him.

Out of respect for their neighbors,

the Custodios removed the

chime.

But now they say, there is

just no pleasing their neighbor.

Mr. Custodio has had to remove

everything from wind chimes to

a small waterfall display on his

property because it annoyed his

neighbor. Mr. Custodio said he

once received a visit from the

Sandwich police telling him to

turn down his radio. But when he

took the offi cer into his back yard

to hear the decibel level of the radio,

even the officer agreed that it

was not a nuisance.

Likewise, Susan L. Howard,

who often stays at a home owned

by Terry J. Everatt of Freeman

Avenue, said the audio-sensitive

neighbor once called the police

because she had a radio playing

while she was gardening in the

afternoon.

In an earlier interview about

this bylaw change Mr. Zantuhos

said he is not looking to be petty

about the noise issue, but over the

years he and his wife have been

subjected to more and more noise

coming from radios and boom boxes

from homes in their neighborhood.

He said the number of wind

chimes that have been placed on

decks, front porches, and elsewhere

on the outside of homes

has increased significantly and

the tinkling sounds are interfering

with his and his wife’s quality of

life and enjoyment of their home.

 

Ms. Howard said changing the

existing noise bylaw is only going

to increase the number of visits

that Sandwich police will have to

make to the neighborhood.

“Making a stricter bylaw is only

going to increase the number of

calls Mr. Zantuhos makes to the

police,” Ms. Howard said.

Interim Police Chief Robert

J. Pomeroy said the proposed

change to the bylaw is going to

be difficult to enforce, even if it

passes muster at the state level.

“It’s a statute that’s overly

broad. The Attorney General’s

Office may not approve the type

of language in the bylaw. It could

actually put the police in a position,

where we may be criminalizing

what is not criminal behavior,”

said Chief Pomeroy.

Mr. Zantuhos said changing this

bylaw at this time is appropriate,

given the town’s growth in population.

He said the last time this

bylaw was amended was in 1999.

He explained that in the 11

years that have passed since the

bylaw was amended, the Town of

Sandwich has grown sufficiently

enough so that an updated amendment

is required that will finally

provide equal noise protection to

all of the people, in all sections of

Sandwich, regardless of lot size.

While Mr. Custodio, Ms. Howard,

and other neighbors agreed

that there should be bylaws pertaining

to noise issues, they said

the current bylaw is sufficient

and is working just fine. They said

in neighborhoods where houses

are situated on one-acre lots, the

proposed changes would probably

not have an impact on those

residents and property owners.

However, they said, the changes

that the Zantuhoses are proposing

will not work in a neighborhood

such as the Town Neck area,

where the homes are built on lots

that are only one-10th of an acre

in size.

Mr. Zantuhos pointed out, however,

that the current bylaw, with

its 150-foot maximum distance

that a noise can travel would allow

15 property owners in that

small neighborhood to be subjected

to the noise. “It seems to

me that [the bylaw] has been unfair

for all of these years,” said

Mr. Zantuhos.

Ms. Howard questioned whether

the proposed changes could

make it unlawful for children to

play outside or for businesses on

Jarves Street to play music for

their customers dining outside.

She said the proposed changes

are unreasonable and fears that

the Zantuhoses are bringing the

citizens petition article to Town

Meeting because of this neighborhood

dispute.

“It’s been escalating and escalating

and escalating and to

have him take it out on the Town

of Sandwich is ridiculous,” she

said.

Mr. Zantuhos said although it

appears to be a neighborhood

dispute, there are many people

in town who have spoken to him

about the noise bylaw and agree

that it needs to be addressed.

“People living on small lots have

no protection from the noise from

other people,” Mr. Zantuhos said