New wheels cause rumble on Alton Towers' Nemesis, complaints roll in

Given the degree with which Alton has proven to be a "good neighbour" business, complying with virtually every request ever made about noise, ride height, etc., you'd think the HOA (or the Brits' equivalent) could have meetings with AT constructively without raising such a ruckus in the press all the time. Maybe the British press needs to present this kind of thing as more...oppositional...in order to sell more papers?

Lord Gonchar said:

2. Being first one there doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want with no regard for those around you.

I would agree if they announced they were going to open a landfill, or start smelting metals or something. But what they're doing is normal operation for an amusement park, and they made it clear they're going to accommodate their neighbors to the greatest extent possible.

On the bright side, the noise from the wheels should cover up the sounds from the screaming riders. :)

phoenixphan :-) said:
I would certainly take the noise of coasters, guests, and traffic from 10 am - 10 pm five or six months out of the year over the constant droning of the city.

Might be time to take a look at the area. (Google - Microsoft)

It's appears pretty rural - I doubt there's any real level of droning city noise level to become accustomed to.

RatherGoodBear said:
...they made it clear they're going to accommodate their neighbors to the greatest extent possible.

Carrie M. said:
...they agree there is a problem and are fixing it. What more can be asked of them?

Exactly. The park has admitted their fault. How can we still be questioning whether or not the neighbors were unreasonable?

I'm not saying the park didn't handle it. I'm just not so willing to immediately dismiss the complaints as unreasonable.

I stand by my opinions. I wouldn't want to live anywhere near an operating amusement park and I say communities can dictate what happens...even if the trends and wants of the community change. When the district council leader is quoted as saying, "the noise has certainly not been acceptable" then I think the community is speaking.

I with Gonch on not wanting to have my backyard bordering with an amusement park.

I lived 3 miles from SFGAm growing up and that was just perfect. Can't hear the sounds and screams but yet really close that you don't even need to drive and could view the Sky Trek Tower from the patio.

Alton Towers should take this off us Californian's hands to spite those whiners:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an7yE-xJTF4

Isn't Nemesis also mostly below ground AND filled with sand, though?

[Edit: No. Nemmy is not sand-filled. I did more Googling. It is mostly below grade, though. That has to help with noise a little.]

Lord Gonchar said:

Exactly. The park has admitted their fault. How can we still be questioning whether or not the neighbors were unreasonable?

That's a good point. Although it is worth noting that a nearby Bed & Breakfast reported that while they noticed the difference, they did not have any concern about the noise level.

I think the bigger picture issue, though, is that there is a long-standing lackluster relationship between Alton Towers and the community. The citation from the Ropers in the article wasn't even about this issue, but rather their noise abatement from 2005.

A problem was identified; a problem was addressed. I don't really see why it requires any news attention.

Unless, of course, the community doesn't trust that Alton will make good on their promise to address the issue. And that very well may be the bigger problem.

kRaXLeRidAh said:Alton Towers should take this off us Californian's hands to spite those whiners:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an7yE-xJTF4

Nice, kRaX - I was thinking THIS might dop the trick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y383TtsJzQ&feature=related

Lord Gonchar said:
Might be time to take a look at the area. (Google - Microsoft)

It's appears pretty rural - I doubt there's any real level of droning city noise level to become accustomed to.

RatherGoodBear said:
...they made it clear they're going to accommodate their neighbors to the greatest extent possible.

Carrie M. said:
...they agree there is a problem and are fixing it. What more can be asked of them?

Exactly. The park has admitted their fault. How can we still be questioning whether or not the neighbors were unreasonable?

I'm not saying the park didn't handle it. I'm just not so willing to immediately dismiss the complaints as unreasonable.

I stand by my opinions. I wouldn't want to live anywhere near an operating amusement park and I say communities can dictate what happens...even if the trends and wants of the community change. When the district council leader is quoted as saying, "the noise has certainly not been acceptable" then I think the community is speaking.

After looking at your Google Earth link, I'm more convinced than ever these people are in engaged in recreational and professional bitching. Nemesis is over 1000 feet from any road, and much further than that from the actual town. There's also a lush growth of trees between the park and the town, that must provide a measurable level of sound attenuation.

Perhaps the locals would like to gaze at several thousand feet of sound attenuation wall like you see along highways. That would address the acoustic issues, but would probably create a new complaint about spoiling someone's view of the park. I don't know if the park has admitted "fault" or are just making a goodwill effort to address what may or may not be valid complaints. Maybe they just decided they don't want to get into another pissing match with some disgruntled locals.

We still have no idea whether the district councilman was speaking for everyone in the community, or just a noisy minority (pun intended). Perhaps 90% of the community doesn't care or didn't notice. Following the article there were numerous comments disagreeing with the complainers. Aren't they the community as well?

I agree to a point that communities can dictate what happens. That's why we have zoning and planning and other ordinances, even noise control ordinances. However, if a business (or resident) is determined to be in violation of a reasonably crafted noise ordinance, the solution is to bring the site into compliance. I say reasonably crafted, because I've seen many people expect a noise ordinance to restrict anything above a whisper, which is unrealistic for anyone to comply with, let alone an existing operation. Only as a last resort is the solution to cease the activity causing the noise. But it appears that a lot of the complainers don't want the park there at all and are using the noise issue as an excuse.

RatherGoodBear said:
But it appears that a lot of the complainers don't want the park there at all and are using the noise issue as an excuse.

Good points all the way and I think the line above sums up your poisition.

The only problem I have with that is that it sounds a little too 'conspiracy theory' to me. I love how we (by 'we' I mean the forums in general) just dismiss the idea that someone is actually bothered by the noise.

As far as the location, I'd like to know the topography of the area (but not enough to look it up myself right now :) ). Are we in a valley? Is the park on a hill? Is the town above or below the park or level? That sort of thing is lost with satellite imagery and it would have a serious effect on how the sound travels.

And then there's the issue of frequency and duration of the noise. I live near an air force base. Planes take off and go over the house a couple time a day. It's really loud for like 5 seconds. No biggie. On the other hand the people who live on the street perpendicular to and behind us have a crappy little dog tied outside that barks constantly. I find the just-audible-enough-to-be-noticed and seemingly constant barking to be much more of an annoyance than the military jets flying over a three of four times a few days a week.

Solution: tie the dog to one of the jets...

*Disclaimer: no animals were harmed in the production of this post*

From Google maps, the topography view looks like it shows that AT is up on a hill from the town.

This reminds me for some reason of a worker at Knoebels who asked our campsite to quiet down a few evenings over the course of a few years. He said he could hear our conversations near the bathrooms near Twister, our site being Texas # 6 ( come in the campground, first left near twister though its a one way road, and aaallll the way back). Anyway, he said we were being too noisy and that...

"the sound our campsite was making was in a position that it carried down the road, over the trees and through branches (he specified these branches), up the small road to the bathrooms, and is amplafied by the rafters in the bathrooms"

This of course was around 10:30 pm, while we weren't making much noise and talking around the campfire, a guy chopped wood somewhere up the hill, some lady laughed histarically (for some reason these people did the same thing year after year, we refered to them as Lumberjack and Laughing Lady), and numerous other small groups talked and laughed around campires. Maybe Alton Towers is in a special position like that too, lol. Btw, the guy who would come to us or see us at the bathroom and say "its quite down time guys", we ended up refereing to him as Dweeb. Scrawny guy, wore a sweater, etc, dunno the name stuck for a few years. I know, completely off subject, but just reminded me. Knoebels Memories :)

I'm just wondering what was going on in the bathrooms at 10:30 at night that your conversations could have been disturbing.

Try living 75ft from Interstate 75 in Carthage Ohio, Having a major rail line and intersection 100ft in the other direction and another railroad a half mile away.The only time I noticed it was if I was on the phone and my windows were open. Ouside, we could usually hold normal conversation unless the train horn was blowing.Chuck, who slept like a baby and kinda misses it but Beast helix rumble a half mile away bugs the crap out of me! (NOT)

Speaking of the Beast's helix... It's way different this year. I know it was re-tracked, but was the banking changed? It sure feels like it, maybe because I'm not used to it being that smooth, but let me tell ya, it tears through there like I've never felt it before.