I have two separate issues, and am just looking for any thoughts as to legal rights.
The first one is a major problem for my neighbor. We live on opposite sides of a dead end street. Our houses face the main road, and the dead end just extends as far as the sides of our houses. Behind us is a large span of private property. Both of the sides of our houses have rows of large trees on the city's property near the street, across the sidewalk and beyond our property lines. Neighborhood kids have taken to climbing my neighbor's trees and hanging out in there...one even recently carved a threatening message about another child into the bark of the tree. They also ride their bikes all the grass beneath the trees to the point where my neighbor doesn't even bother to water it anymore, since it's dying anyway. They've told the kids to please stay out of the trees and off the lawn, but one of the children's parents came over and told her that the trees are on the city's property, not hers, so their kids can be in the trees all they want and she can't say anything about it. Mind you, these kids are in the trees all day, every day, making their dogs bark and making a general nuisance of themselves. The little girl has actually taken to telling all the other neighborhood kids who would courteously NOT climb the trees that they have every right, because it's all the city's property, so no one can complain. Does anyone know the actual legality of that? Definitely it's not her property, but I'd thought that the homeowner adjacent to the city's property had the responsibility to maintain the land and stewardship over it (and therefore every right to tell the kids to get out of the trees and off the grass). Am I offbase?
The other issue we have is that the landowner behind us turned the gorgeous span of forested land into a huge dirtbike track. HIS house is quite far away from the track, but he built one seven-foot high hill directly behind by back yard fence (just barely 11 feet away from the fence, so no easement rules would apply). I actually would respect his right to do whatever he wants with his land, annoying or not, since we live in a pretty rural area. However, recently a bunch of teenagers from the neighborhood have taken to trespassing and riding their dirtbikes on the tracks day and night. We've caught them urinating in plain sight and have complained to the police several times, finally being told that there's nothing the police can do because it's on private property and the owner hasn't complained. We'd complain to the owner of the property, but some neighbors had complained before about the dirtbiking (and the previous owner of my home had complained when the hill by my fence was built) and the guy just brushed it off and said he'd do whatever he wanted. The police told us that even though we know the kids don't live on that property and are trespassing, unless the owner of the property complains about them it's actually NOT trespassing. And they said that unless it's nighttime, the kids can make any amount of noise they want, so they aren't disturbing the peace. (These aren't normal dirtbikes or ATVs...the dirtbikes are unbearably shrill to the point where our dogs go nuts every time the kids are back there riding.) Any thoughts about what we can do? Even neighbors down the road and not right near this problem hate the dirtbikes because of all the noise, and my neighbors nearby and I can't even sit in our backyards and enjoy a sunny day because of all the noise and dust. Thanks for any thoughts!
The first one is a major problem for my neighbor. We live on opposite sides of a dead end street. Our houses face the main road, and the dead end just extends as far as the sides of our houses. Behind us is a large span of private property. Both of the sides of our houses have rows of large trees on the city's property near the street, across the sidewalk and beyond our property lines. Neighborhood kids have taken to climbing my neighbor's trees and hanging out in there...one even recently carved a threatening message about another child into the bark of the tree. They also ride their bikes all the grass beneath the trees to the point where my neighbor doesn't even bother to water it anymore, since it's dying anyway. They've told the kids to please stay out of the trees and off the lawn, but one of the children's parents came over and told her that the trees are on the city's property, not hers, so their kids can be in the trees all they want and she can't say anything about it. Mind you, these kids are in the trees all day, every day, making their dogs bark and making a general nuisance of themselves. The little girl has actually taken to telling all the other neighborhood kids who would courteously NOT climb the trees that they have every right, because it's all the city's property, so no one can complain. Does anyone know the actual legality of that? Definitely it's not her property, but I'd thought that the homeowner adjacent to the city's property had the responsibility to maintain the land and stewardship over it (and therefore every right to tell the kids to get out of the trees and off the grass). Am I offbase?
The other issue we have is that the landowner behind us turned the gorgeous span of forested land into a huge dirtbike track. HIS house is quite far away from the track, but he built one seven-foot high hill directly behind by back yard fence (just barely 11 feet away from the fence, so no easement rules would apply). I actually would respect his right to do whatever he wants with his land, annoying or not, since we live in a pretty rural area. However, recently a bunch of teenagers from the neighborhood have taken to trespassing and riding their dirtbikes on the tracks day and night. We've caught them urinating in plain sight and have complained to the police several times, finally being told that there's nothing the police can do because it's on private property and the owner hasn't complained. We'd complain to the owner of the property, but some neighbors had complained before about the dirtbiking (and the previous owner of my home had complained when the hill by my fence was built) and the guy just brushed it off and said he'd do whatever he wanted. The police told us that even though we know the kids don't live on that property and are trespassing, unless the owner of the property complains about them it's actually NOT trespassing. And they said that unless it's nighttime, the kids can make any amount of noise they want, so they aren't disturbing the peace. (These aren't normal dirtbikes or ATVs...the dirtbikes are unbearably shrill to the point where our dogs go nuts every time the kids are back there riding.) Any thoughts about what we can do? Even neighbors down the road and not right near this problem hate the dirtbikes because of all the noise, and my neighbors nearby and I can't even sit in our backyards and enjoy a sunny day because of all the noise and dust. Thanks for any thoughts!
