Shooting hoops in the driveway has taken on a whole new meaning in a residential neighbourhood in Peterborough, Ont., where one woman’s battle to quell the repeated thump of rubber on backboard has polarized a community.

What started as a squabble between neighbours became a matter of public concern in October, when Anne Langdon filed a complaint with Ontario’s environmental commissioner, and issued a news release over “unreasonable and excessive noise” due to “frequent basketball practice” by the teenage boy who lives next door.

The move was the tipping point in a dispute that began in the summer of 2009, when Langdon says she first approached her neighbours, the Elliotts, about the unintended consequences of the pro-level hoop they’d installed for their son. While the aspiring basketball player honed his jump shot, Langdon, a writer who works from home, said the reverberations rattled her adjacent ground-floor flat.

“He’s a serious player. I get that. It’s not a sports issue. It’s a noise issue,” she said in an interview. “It’s very loud. It’s an echo chamber.”

But the Elliotts’ solution — a large plywood barrier positioned on the edge of their driveway while their son played ball — only made matters worse. Langdon said the wall soon became a permanent fixture, blocking the sunlight “for months on end.”

Langdon, whose lawyer has sent the Elliotts a demand letter for $25,000 in “injunctive relief” from “excessive noise” and “loss of daylight,” said she filed for an investigation into the noise and barrier under the Environmental Protection Act as a last resort.

The Elliotts did not respond to a call from the Star on Wednesday. But according to their lawyer, Jeff Ayotte, the family retained his services earlier this week “to ensure that this situation goes no further.”

Residents of Gilmour St. for more than 20 years, the Elliotts have been “enduring” Langdon since she moved into the area in 2008, Ayotte said.

“It appears to us that this is not characterized as some sort of dispute between neighbours,” he said. “It’s the Elliotts having to deal with their neighbour’s unreasonable issues.”

Ayotte said he is currently investigating the charges against his clients, and their possible legal avenues.

The dispute has become the subject of heated debate in Peterborough, where neighbours have held a rally for the Elliotts and started an online petition in their defence. Others, meanwhile, have spoken out in support of Langdon, who said she has become a victim of cyber-bullying by those posting anonymous comments on local news websites.

Earlier this month, one of Langdon’s former landlords in Toronto described her as a “nightmare” tenant, citing her complaints about everything from construction to children’s birthday parties. She said she hadn’t been warned about the planned construction, and characterized the incident as isolated.

“I’ve had excellent relationships with my landlords,” she said.

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Environment ministry spokeswoman Kate Jordan said a decision about whether to pursue an investigation into the allegations will be reached sometime next month. The commission has only approved one noise-related investigation since 2008, but that investigation, which concerned an industrial site in the Toronto area, was dropped when the applicants withdrew their request, she said.

With files from Torstar News Service