Lafayette Resident Wants Neighbor's Batting Cage Removed

Lafayette planning officials are recommending that a woman protesting the installation of a neighbor’s batting cage pay the $1,900 fee required to appeal a Planning Commission decision.

On March 11, Michele Chalmers wrote to the city asking that the fee be waived, claiming that the sum represents “great financial difficulty.”

The batting cage is located at 3357 Kincheloe Court. In November, Chalmers successfully got the Planning Commission to require that lights for the play area be removed as a nuisance, but in her letter to the commission Chalmers said the noise makes her backyard unusable.

The appeal is tentatively scheduled for a Lafayette City Council meeting on April 22.

Below is the full text of Chalmers' letter: 

I am in the process of requesting an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision allowing a batting cage to operate on the property of 3357 Kincheloe Court (case Lll-12), due to excessive noise problems in this particular instance.

The project was built without going through the proper permit process, and as a result, the sport  court as it deviates from several existing common sense Lafayette building ordinances. My entire  backyard property line directly abuts the entire backyard property line of 3357 Kincheloe Court so I am the most affected by this batting cage.

 It was unanimously agreed by the Planning Commission that the lighting erected around the sport court was deemed a nuisance, and ordered to be taken down, but the issue of excessive noise remains.

The Planning Commission also agreed that the noise of the court would be even louder in my backyard if it was moved out of the street easement toward my backyard, but unfortunately, even as It is, the loud impulsive sound Is rendering my backyard uninhabitable when it is in use.

It is for these above reasons that I feel I am reluctantly forced to apply for an appeal to this sport court, but at the same time it is a great financial difficulty for me to afford the required $1,900.00 fee to ask for a reevaiuation of this entire project. I am asking that you waive the appeal fee for me so that I may at least try to solve this most distressing problem.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.