Noise about Noise, Dare County style

Monday night the Dare County Planning Board will consider one of the worst ordinances I have had the displeasure of reading. The change would allow “ The operation of any recreational motorized vehicle including motorcycles, go-karts, all-terrain vehicles, dune buggies, or other similar motorized vehicles” during daylight hours on any lot in unincorporated Dare County. Further it would allow the use to generate noise at a volume the EPA says may cause hearing damage with extended exposure. The Planning Board will consider the ordinance without every having been exposed to level of noise they are considering. What's more the ordinance probably won't solve the very problem it was created to solve.
The draft rule stems from a neighborhood dispute on the north end of Roanoke Island. Neighborhood kids have long ridden dirt bikes in the are but the use increased dramatically when “fill” was added to 4 lots and shaped into a track with ramps and jumps. Neighbors complained to the DC Sheriff but the deputies decided the activity didn't violate the vague standards of Dare County's noise ordinance (more on this later). The neighbors carried their complaint to the Dare Board of Commissioners. The board told staff to draft an ordinance to fix the problem.
Fix in this case meant to make sure that the activity as allowed to continue. Comm. Alan Burris and Richard Johnson felt that the activities were, in fact, traditional activities in rural (my term not theirs) Dare. They felt that this type of activity, along with keeping horses and working on cars and boats, should not be regulated away as the county developed. From that came the abomination called “Ancillary Residential Uses”, amendment the zoning ordinance that allows all the activities listed above on any zoning district in DC.
What's wrong with a couple of kids on dirt bikes you ask. Lets find out:

• Noise level: Sound pressure levels (noise level) ranging form 81 to 94 decibels are allowed in the rule. To put that in perspective the state of Colorado caps noise from train rights of way at 80 db. 81 db is the equivalent of standing 30 ft from the bypass on a busy summer day. Imagine enjoying your deck with this racket going on next door.
• How loud is really allowed: The 81 + db limits are really the limits. You see the ordinance requires that sound be measured 25 ft from the property line. Since the use can occur right up to the lot lines of the lot in question this means 25 ft onto neighboring property. I am not a sound engineer but that means the noise will be more intense at the property line so the limits aren't really the limits at all.
• Zoning Districts: The ordinance allows the uses in any district this includes some envirnomentally sensitive districts and recently zoned areas where the community has been intimately involved in drafting the zoning code. How will they react to this intrusive uee.
• It won't work: Ironically the ordinance won't even solve the problem it was drafted to address. The proposed language includes a requirement that the use be :”private property only in association with a residential structure”. You can't ride on a vacant lot. Well guess where the problem is – on vacant lots.

Now the rest of the story, the County's noise ordinance prohibits Noise Disturbance which is defined as:

Any sound which endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals, or annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities, or endangers or injures personal or real property.
It goes on to state that:
No person shall operate a motor vehicle, motorcycle or motorboat which causes noise disturbance across a real property boundary, within a noise sensitive zone or on a public right-of-way, public space or public waterway as a result of:
1. A defective or modified exhaust system;
2. Any unreasonably rapid acceleration, deceleration, engine revving or tire squealing; or
3. Overloading or ill-repair which causes unusually excessive grating, grinding, rattling or other noise
[All emphasis added]

A reasonable person might think that continued exposure to sound pressure levels that can damage their hearing is banned under this ordinance but apparently Planning Staff doesn't see the contradiction between banning bothersome noise on one hand and allowing it on the other. The Planning Board decided at an earlier meeting not to have a demonstration of the noise levels permitted under the plan so they don't have to deal with the contradiction either.
Now for the bad news. The sound levels in the Dare draft are based on a Nags Head ordinance that I voted for about 18 years ago. how about that. The rule has never come into play in Nags Head but our more stringent general noise rules get enforced regularly. The town rule sets specific limits for residential and commercial zones. It works pretty well. Much better than the rules similar to DC's that it replaced.
Second problem. I agree with Richard and Alan that the old practices should be protected. I fought to keep pit fires and dogs on the beach. Both activities that generated complaints like the one the began the Dare County fiasco. However the proposed Dare County rule goes too far in allowing intrusive activities both in terms of how (loud) and where. Dogs require a leash, pit fires require a permit, motorcycles require reasonable limits as well.
Expect a dust up if the current ordinance gets to the BOC in its current form. There should be a lot of people alarmed about what might be coming to a neighborhood near them. If they aren't upset now they will be when the hear (about) it.
Ciao.