Motorcycle
Race Track Complaints Continue - 4 July 2001
Motor
Cycle Race Track NOISE Is Here To Stay! - 26 May 2001
Curt Myers
decides to run - May 9, 2001
Citizen's Petition
Noise Petition Presented to Supervisors -
Oct 10, 2000
Racket roils residents
Motocross track complaints
aired
By Dale Heberlig
Sentinel Reporter
Complaints about noise at a Hopewell Township motorcycle race track spilled
over into
a public hearing Tuesday evening.
At the close of a hearing on the revised Subdivision and Land Development
Ordinance, a
handful of residents steered supervsors into an exchange about ongoing
claims of disruptive
noise caused by racing at the Doubling Gap Motocross located
just south of Newburg
along
Route 696.
Ellen Whitaker, who says she lives within 100 yards of the track, opened
the
debate when
she asked supervisors how the subdivision ordinance relates to the track.
David Rutherford, a zoning hearing board member present at the hearing,
responded
that campgrounds are now
addressed in the subdivision ordinance and that the race
track may
qualify as a campground.
Supervisor Marlin Hoover added, "The race track is a cross between a campground
and an amusement park."
That prompted Nancy Taylor, another resident upset by noise from the track,
to retort,
"It's not amusing if you
live near it."
For several years, people living in the vicinity have asked the township
to find a
solution to
problems of noise and vibration generated by powerful engines and the track's
loudspeakers.
Township
resident Cletus Whitaker told The Sentinel he has been involved with
community petitions
and visits to township meetings in the past. He says those overtures
have been dismissed
by the supervisors.
"They look at us like we're from another planet. I think the people at
the race track
have more
influence in the township than we (residents) do."
Supervisors cite several considerations that limit their options.
To begin with, the board believes the motocross track was in operation
before
zoning, subdivision
and land development ordinances were enacted and therefore is
subject to the grandfather
principle. That concept means the track is not subject to
measures passed afterthe
track came into existence.
Whitaker says grandfathering is not valid because the track stopped operating
for
a period and
resumed after the implementation of the township regulations.
Track
co-owner Rod Yentzel of Carlisle told The Sentinel that is not the case.
"The track has
operated every year since 1981,"Yentzel says.
Hoover also pointed to research that indicates noise ordinances are very
expensive
to develop
and equally costly and difficult to enforce. "We contacted an expert in
this
field and the
cost for developing the ordinance is staggering." he says.
According to the board, a first step in writing a noise law would be to
establish a
"baseline" noise
level in the township with which future noise complaints would be
compared.
"If you regulate noise, you must regulate all noise - that means a chain
saw or a
farm tractor
with a noisy muffler." Hoover says.
Shawn Falvy, who recently moved to Hopewell Township, says he knew about
the track and
accepted its presence when he purchased his home. But he may have underestimatedthe
impact.
"Frankly, it gets obnoxious." he told supervisors. "Sunday was a big problem,
I could
hear the
noise inside my house."
Ellen
Whitaker says the racket gets so bad that vibrations can be felt physically.
"Sometimes it
is so loud, you can feel it in your gut." she says.
Rutherford
says he thinks there is a possible recourse for residents through the zoning
hearing board. He points to Article
12 of the zoning ordinance that prohibits: "noise or vibration...in suchan
amount to adversely effect the reasonable use of the surrounding
area or adjoining premises:"
Yentzel says he intends to make improvements and hopes to improve conditions
at
the track. "I
want to work with the township, but these things don't happen overnight,"
he says.