Rob Zombie, wife say new Conn. skate park too loud

  

August 7, 2013 (HARTFORD, Conn.) -- The noise from a new skate park in Connecticut is too much for rocker Rob Zombie.

He and his wife have complained to the Litchfield County town of Woodbury that the park, which opened near their home in April, makes such a racket that it should be moved.

The town is looking into moving the park, but first it's trying to muffle the noise by enclosing the sides of the metal skate ramps, stuffing the jumps with Styrofoam and putting up soundproofing fabric on a fence, said First Selectman Gerald Stomski. The park hours were also reduced and it is closed on Sundays.

Stomski said the town is responding to the complaint from the Zombies as it would for any resident.

"We do know the Zombies, on a side note, and they are just normal people like anyone else in our town," Stomski said. About 10,000 people live in the well-to-do small town nestled in Litchfield Hills, known for antiquing.

Zombie, 48, began his career with the '80s shock-rock band White Zombie and has reinvented himself as a contemporary horror film master with "House of 1000 Corpses," its sequel, "The Devil's Rejects," and the recently released "The Lords of Salem."

He wrote on Facebook last week that they are trying to resolve the situation.

"Some really crazy articles have popped up making claims about 'hating skaters' and 'hating children,'" he wrote. "There is a simple matter going on in which we are trying to find a solution that will make EVERYBODY happy."

Stomski said the Zombies were the first to complain about the park, but two other neighbors have since complained. The rocker's wife, Sheri Zombie, asked at a town budget meeting in June if there might be money available to move the park.

She said the park "proved to be a significant noise pollutant" and reduced quality of life for the neighborhood.

The park was opened after two decades of planning at a cost of $53,000, covered partly by the town and partly by fundraising by children and their parents, Stomski said.

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