Real estate and construction Noise as a Threat to Your Business
Summary
The issue of noise in urban spaces stems from the lack of cohesion in spatial planning and the improper separation of residential, industrial, logistical, and natural areas. This leads to numerous consequences, such as neighborhood conflicts, increased costs for businesses, and a higher number of administrative and civil proceedings. Administrative authorities have tools that can significantly affect business operations, and civil courts allow neighbors to pursue compensation claims. Proper planning, analysis of strategic documents, and the implementation of modern technological solutions to reduce noise are key to minimizing this problem.
Sources of the Problem
Noise is becoming one of the main factors of conflict between investors, their projects, and residents. This largely results from the urban chaos created by both municipal authorities in metropolitan areas and smaller towns or rural centers.
Separation of Functions
The essence of the problem lies in the improper separation of spatial functions, such as residential, industrial, logistical, infrastructural, and natural areas. Lack of precise planning leads to intense interactions between these areas. A typical example is a peripheral residential area in a city or its outskirts, where a fast-moving road is constructed, followed by industrial or logistical development. Conversely, residential developments may arise near existing service and industrial buildings. Such situations exacerbate conflicts caused by the inappropriate location of various spatial functions, creating problematic proximity.
Cumulative Sources of Noise
The improper distribution of functions is further compounded by the issue of cumulative noise impacts from various sources. A fast-moving road, a railway line, and a cluster of industrial and logistical facilities situated near each other. Determining the acoustic background for noise emission measurements can be an extremely challenging task, sometimes deemed impossible by authorities.
Consequences for Entrepreneurs
Increasingly, noise nuisances are resulting in administrative and civil proceedings. Although a detailed analysis of these processes is beyond the scope of this publication, it is important to highlight their essence. In administrative proceedings, authorities have a wide range of instruments enabling effective noise management. They can not only set permissible noise levels but also issue decisions directly affecting business operations, such as imposing changes in the working hours of noise-generating sources. Such regulations can generate significant costs and losses for businesses.
Path to Compensation
In addition to the administrative path, there is also a civil path that allows neighbors to claim their rights in case of acoustic nuisances. The prohibition of harmful emissions entails a ban on disturbing neighbors' use of their properties beyond what is considered reasonable, based on the social-economic purpose of the property and local conditions. If, in an administrative procedure, the authority establishes such a violation, the civil court will typically accept this as the basis for its decision. In civil proceedings, neighbors may be entitled to a wide range of claims, including the restoration of lawful conditions, ensuring the peaceful use of property, compensation (including for a decrease in property value), and for violations of personal rights.
Effective actions by neighbors can lead to the closure or restriction of a facility’s operations and may result in high compensation costs. Therefore, the issue of acoustic nuisances should not be underestimated.
How Can We Help?
As a law firm, we have extensive experience advising in such proceedings.
Firstly, we recommend caution: choosing the right location to avoid potential neighborhood disputes. We can help you select a property by analyzing strategic noise-related documents, general plans (and current studies), local development plans, and decisions made by the local authority. In case of ongoing legal support, we will help you monitor urban planning documents during their creation, assist in formulating comments and objections, and, if necessary, challenge local council resolutions in administrative courts. If conflicts have already arisen, in cooperation with designers and contractors, we help create effective noise reduction solutions to restore compliance with standards. We also have experience solving acoustic issues inside buildings.
Today, most municipalities are working on general plans that will replace studies of local conditions and directions. These documents will determine the future proximity of your existing or planned businesses. For your own safety, it is advisable to participate in this process and ensure the possibility of conflict-free operations in the future. We are ready to assist you at any stage of this process!