Neighbor's Wood Smoke Unbearable; Appears There's No Legal Recourse; What to Do?

[gwraigty]

I would assume that since you aren't a country girl, you can't or don't appreciate being in the middle of nowhere and slowly watching your "piece of heaven" [-]be developed[/-] have trees mowed down and ugly ass stick built homes put in.

I don't know what an "ugly ass stick built home" is, but I don't think of ours that way.

I live and was raised in a rural area. I dislike the idea of everyone moving into every cow pasture or piece of woods that comes available. The problem is that most newcomers move from the city and bring their big city ways with them. They all act the same, they get here and want to change our paradise into the crap hole that they fled from. The best solution is for them to stay where they are. We were all fine before they got here. The statement above about the area having more to gain from adding homes and stores is laughable. Could someone tell me how growth is beneficial? All that I see it accomplishes is more traffic, more crime, higher taxes, people complaining about wood smoke, the little stores we had disappear and super Walmart shows up.

What a broad brush you paint with. Laughable? Yeah, I guess the local government laughs all the way to the bank when they're collecting more income tax (well, not from retired folks), property tax, and sales tax from all the hundreds of new homeowners and retail stores. It is what it is, like it or not, and they surely do.

Actually, I didn't intend my post to be offensive to anyone, but you both seem to have taken it that way. I wasn't taking sides between rural folk or city folk, or the OP and his wood-burning neighbor. I can understand both sides of it.

Thanks for the reminder of why I took an extended break from posting here. Maybe I'll take another break, or maybe I'll just make it permanent this time. I'm quite tired of the condescending tone that some use when addressing some women on this forum. I'm not your target practice.

Merry Christmas and goodbye.

 

[W2R]

Thanks for the reminder of why I took an extended break from posting here. Maybe I'll take another break, or maybe I'll just make it permanent this time. I'm quite tired of the condescending tone that some use when addressing some women on this forum. I'm not your target practice.

Merry Christmas and goodbye.

Aw, I hope you'll reconsider. You are all terrific people.

So let's leave it alone, 'cause we can't see eye to eye.
There ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys.
There's only you and me and we just disagree.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Change can be jarring in rural areas -- partly because in years past things sometimes moved very slowly. When something new came around, it stood out in a largely unchanging landscape. But the pace of change is increasing nearly everywhere. And as we age, the change isn't necessarily welcome.

I've lived in my predominantly rural county for most of the last 50 years. When I first arrived, quite a few of my neighbors were related. Family roots ran deep. I relocated to another unincorporated township in the county about 30 years ago that was culturally pretty similar but closer to the encroaching suburbs. Since DW and I came here, the town's population has doubled.

I recently heard a town official who is a member of one of the "old" families grumble about the newcomers. Never mind that his father sold off part of the family farm for residential lots.

The growth isn't all residential. A neighbor is a second-generation dairy farmer who put his herd under a roof and grew it to about 2,800 cows. We're lucky to be upwind of his million gallons of liquid manure, which he distributes for spreading with a fleet of 18-wheelers. I sure miss the days when his dad milked maybe 130 cows -- a good-sized herd in his day. I enjoyed seeing his heifers grazing in his pasture. Now we never see the cows, just semitrailer trucks.

From a distance, it's an interesting juxtaposition: growing subdivisions butting up against a farm turned into a bio-factory. Both are agents of change that aren't universally welcome. About all we can do is surf that wave.

Some of the rural folks here heat their homes with outdoor wood boilers that can cast quite a pall. If they're burning wood, the smoke is obnoxious but not what I'd call offensive. But some people use the woodburners as a trash disposal. Then you have something like this:

 

[Keim]

Change can be jarring in rural areas -- partly because in years past things sometimes moved very slowly. When something new came around, it stood out in a largely unchanging landscape. But the pace of change is increasing nearly everywhere. And as we age, the change isn't necessarily welcome.

I've lived in my predominantly rural county for most of the last 50 years. When I first arrived, quite a few of my neighbors were related. Family roots ran deep. I relocated to another unincorporated township in the county about 30 years ago that was culturally pretty similar but closer to the encroaching suburbs. Since DW and I came here, the town's population has doubled.

I recently heard a town official who is a member of one of the "old" families grumble about the newcomers. Never mind that his father sold off part of the family farm for residential lots.

The growth isn't all residential. A neighbor is a second-generation dairy farmer who put his herd under a roof and grew it to about 2,800 cows. We're lucky to be upwind of his million gallons of liquid manure, which he distributes for spreading with a fleet of 18-wheelers. I sure miss the days when his dad milked maybe 130 cows -- a good-sized herd in his day. I enjoyed seeing his heifers grazing in his pasture. Now we never see the cows, just semitrailer trucks.

From a distance, it's an interesting juxtaposition: growing subdivisions butting up against a farm turned into a bio-factory. Both are agents of change that aren't universally welcome. About all we can do is surf that wave.

Some of the rural folks here heat their homes with outdoor wood boilers that can cast quite a pall. If they're burning wood, the smoke is obnoxious but not what I'd call offensive. But some people use the woodburners as a trash disposal. Then you have something like this:

Love SCOTS.

 

[FDC319]

I don't know what an "ugly ass stick built home" is, but I don't think of ours that way.



What a broad brush you paint with. Laughable? Yeah, I guess the local government laughs all the way to the bank when they're collecting more income tax (well, not from retired folks), property tax, and sales tax from all the hundreds of new homeowners and retail stores. It is what it is, like it or not, and they surely do.

Actually, I didn't intend my post to be offensive to anyone, but you both seem to have taken it that way. I wasn't taking sides between rural folk or city folk, or the OP and his wood-burning neighbor. I can understand both sides of it.

Thanks for the reminder of why I took an extended break from posting here. Maybe I'll take another break, or maybe I'll just make it permanent this time. I'm quite tired of the condescending tone that some use when addressing some women on this forum. I'm not your target practice.

Great job playing the victim. Some people can't help it and use their professional victim skills in their arguments. Good job.
Fact: You are the one who first brought up that you were female.
Fact: ExFlyBoy5 quoted your statement and in no way was condescending to you female or not.
Fact: 427Vette whom you quoted was not condescending and didn't bring up anything about you being female.
If you don't want to be used as target practice, do not stand down range.

You're right town administrators love the influx of business/residences as it lines their pockets and solves the town's budget woes.

With that rise in population you see a rise in property taxes, a rise in mandatory government programs that the newcomers demand, increased crime, increased noise, and an overall lower quality of life as the area goes from a never locking your doors one light town to needing full time alarm systems and multiple traffic lights.

Plenty of examples out there: Southern Maine, anywhere south of the Whites in NH, near Raleigh Charlotte and Wilmington NC, all the locals priced out of living on Cape Cod, Anchorage Wasilla and Palmer AK, Greenwood Franklin and Columbus IN, the whole east side of VA, anywhere in SE TX which has become a crime ridden trashheap, etc.

Couple that with the holier than thou I'm from the city and here to grace you bumpkins with my presence attitudes displayed by the newcomers(see your posts as an example), and you shouldn't be surprised that the people who live in the rural areas don't want a ton of newcomers.

*and yes, the pop up neighborhoods of stick built mcmansions are ugly.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for the interesting discussion.