Military Range in NJ (NIMBY)

HMTKSteve

Let's build our homes right outside an active military gunnery range!

You know, I can understand people saying NIMBY when something new is trying to move into your area but, the range was already there!

Rym

All right, we're going to have to do a show on nitwits like these. ^_~

Jason

Indeed. I can't tell you the number of stories I have written about people complaining that a commercial or industrial project will take place on property adjacent to their homes. It is one thing to protest rezoning of nearby land; it is quite another to bitch about someone developing already-zoned property.

YOU BOUGHT THE FUCKING HOUSE RIGHT NEXT TO A 200-ACRE PARCEL WITH BIG SIGNS THAT SAID "FOR SALE FOR COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT." YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN.

NIMBYs piss me off to no end. They believe they have a right to control what happens not only on their property, but around it as well. There are asshats who call my office all the time complaining that such-and-such a neighbor hasn't mowed his lawn in a week and the grass is too tall. I hate them, I hate them, I HATE THEM.

HMTKSteve

We had a group in my town that purchased homes in the middle of an undeveloped industrial zone. The area where the houses were built had to be rezoned residential.

Then, when the plans for the nearby factory were being passed through town government these people threw a big fit about how their property would be devalued and "what about the nature/forest land??!!!"

If those folks had even bother to read up on some local history they would know that most of this area of CT was clear-cut to build ships only a few hundred years ago! Not only that, but the area they are in is all new growth (last 50 years) from when the previous mill closed! Walk through the woods and you can see the old mill's foundation with trees growing through it!

Jason

When you buy a home, it is critical to:

A) Call the town/city/township/hamlett/whatever legislative clerk and ask how the surrounding land is zoned and whether there has ever been interest in rezoning.

Obtain a zoning map of the surrounding area from your local county auditor.

C) Check the auditor's records to determine the official appraisal value.

D) Call the police to determine how many criminal reports have been filed for all addresses on the street in the past two years.

E) Check with the auditor/fire department/emergency and disaster management authority to see whether the property is in a flood plain.

F) Have two inspectors check the home and the property with a thorough inspection. DO NOT USE A SPOT INSPECTOR. THEY ARE USELESS.

HMTKSteve

G) Drive through the neighborhood at night and see what happens after dark.

WallyBman

Yeah, outside of my old neighborhood, across the main street, there was an out-of-use AHP (army heli-port), but between our negihbroorhood and the ahp were more than a couple of acres of trees, so the ahp never bothered us in the slightest.  Our neighborhood was one of, if not the, most expensive neighborhoods in town.  A new neighborhood was going in just outside of ours, right across the street from the ahp.  The neighborhood board TRIED to tell them not to develope there, not only because first of all, a bunch of small homes of low quality that they were planning would devalue all of our homes, but also because  they were planning on building right at the end of the ramp, at the end of one of two runways.  When the US Army reopened Shell Field, the people were up in arms because they had helicopteers buzzing their house at 50 feet while trying to land.  We told them so, and the giant airfield across the street should have been a bit of a warning.
A note:  Ft. Rucker is the home of Army aviation.  Not only do we train all of the U.S. Army's helicopter pilots, but we train the chopper jockeys for the Airforce as well.  Oh, and the Isreali Apache Longbow pilots are trained on my airfield, as well as German, British, and a few other nationalities of military helicopter pilots.  So when I say that they "buzz" those houses at 50 feet, I mean to say that they buzz those houses with as much accuracy as a new student pilot can muster.  Watching the students land at night is one of the things that I never look forward to every night at work.

Jason

H) Talk to the neighbors. I actually walked away from a couple of realtors to wander over and talk to the neighbors when my wife and I were house-hunting. They were far more valuable information resources than all the bullshit real estate agents.

HMTKSteve

Why do I have this image in my mind of a political cartoon where a house is being swallowed up as a missile silo opens up beneath it with the homeowners looking on? I imagine the caption would read, "Honey, I don't remember the realtor telling us anything about this area being zoned for ICBM missile emplacements?"

Jason

I've toured just such a missile silo, and it was scary as hell. My uncle was an Air Force mechanic working to dismantle nuclear MAD silos in Minnesota for several years, and he took me into the bunker to see how it all worked. The silo was impressive, but the entire operation worked on old tape-and-reel punchcard-feed computers that looked like big-ass refrigerators. There were two technicians tending them at all times and waiting for launch codes, which they memorized every day (they changed the launch codes every few hours).

The most frightening part was that (if I remember correctly) I was told that an ICBM launched at the U.S. from Moscow would take 11 minutes to hit NYC. A nuclear launch response from Minnesota would take 16 minutes. Basically, in such an event, we would all be fucked.

Apreche

The most frightening part was that (if I remember correctly) I was told that an ICBM launched at the U.S. from Moscow would take 11 minutes to hit NYC. A nuclear launch response from Minnesota would take 16 minutes. Basically, in such an event, we would all be fucked.


Even if it only took 10 seconds, it's not like it would make a difference in the amount that everyone would be fucked.

HMTKSteve

Even if it only took 10 seconds, it's not like it would make a difference in the amount that everyone would be fucked.

Sort of. With ten minutes I could get a bit more fucking in than I could get in ten seconds.

Jason

Yes, true. My point was that its only purpose was revenge.