Cape takes vehicle limit off of noise ordinance

~ The original proposal banned people from riding off-road vehicles within 200 yards of their neighbors.

The Cape Girardeau City Council sought to balance the rights of property owners to race ATVs and motorcycles against a larger issue of noise disturbance at Wednesday night's meeting.

An amendment to the existing noise ordinance will curtail off-road racing only when it disturbs neighbors.

After more than an hour of discussion, the council chose to pass the ordinance but removed provisions setting limits on specific vehicles. Owners of the vehicles will remain able to operate them within the city, but they can't create noise rising to the level of a public nuisance.

The original proposal banned people from riding off-road vehicles within 200 yards of their neighbors. It met with stiff resistance, and most council members said they received angry calls from constituents.

Approximately 20 residents opposed to the ordinance came to voice concerns alongside a handful of supporters of the restriction. There was passion on both sides.

Jack Volkerding of the U.S. Marine Corps recently returned from active duty overseas and said the ordinance was an abridgment of the rights he fought for. "I feel that this is infringing on rights and liberty. If you own land you have certain rights to do what you want on that land," he said.

Roger Austin pointed out that the current noise ordinance only requires a 50-foot buffer for weed-eaters or chain saws during early morning hours. "These items have an average decibel range of about 90, while the average children's motorcycle is only 50 decibels." Austin said racing motorcycles are mandated to be less than 90 decibels in order to enter competitions.

"This law will not fix personal responsibility between one another," he said.

The proposal originated when several neighbors of Basil Harrison of 1530 Oak Lei Drive complained about ATV and four-wheeler races on a dirt track maintained on his property.

Harrison said he sometimes has as many as 10 bikes racing on his property simultaneously.

Mayor Jay Knudtson admitted the issue was a difficult one for him since he and his son have frequented the track.

"In five years as mayor I was locked out of my house for the first time two weeks ago. ... My son didn't understand this ordinance," he said.

Knudtson said the ordinance as it was initially worded missed the mark. "It's about noise. That's where we failed. We attempted to list specific motorcycles and four-wheelers and didn't address the main issue."

Attorney Kevin Spaethe representing Gene Rhodes, who lives near Harrison, said his client wants some peace and quiet. "This is constant, it's different and it's an assault on my neighborhood rights," he said. "We're worried about how are community looks whether our right of ways get trashed, why would we not likewise be concerned about noise pollution?"

Proposition 1

Prior to the discussion of the noise ordinance, council members heard a presentation by county Commissioner Jay Purcell on Proposition 1, a half-cent countywide sales tax on the Aug. 8 ballot.

Purcell emphasized that most residents would see little change in their total tax burden.

Purcell, joined by Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones, Commissioner Larry Bock and Sheriff John Jordan, sought to explain the decision to place the tax before voters. The tax would raise approximately $5.9 million in the first year to pay for an accelerated paving program, an expanded sheriff's department and property tax cuts.

"The vast majority of citizens are going to break even on this tax," Purcell told the council. "By shifting some of our citizens' tax burden to sales tax, we allow the tens of thousands of citizens who drive into our community to do their shopping to help fund" law enforcement and roads.

After replacing the revenue lost by the sales tax cuts, the county expects the tax would bring in about $3.1 million in new revenue. The money would be split between the county road needs and the sheriff.

During his portion of the presentation, Jordan emphasized the multiple duties his department must handle from courtroom security and operating the county jail to enforcing laws in unincorporated areas.

Since he was elected in 2004, Jordan said, "Cape Girardeau County became a first-class county, but we are not delivering first-class service."

Council members questioned how county officials could project that most people will see no increase in total taxes. Purcell replied that each taxpayer must compare their property tax bills with their spending habits to determine whether they benefit.

Jones told the council that the county has reached the limit of what it can do with current revenue. "The facts are we passed a sales tax in 1982 and we are maxed out," he said. "We need a new revenue stream to be and act like a first-class county."

Mayor Jay Knudtson noted Purcell has asked his fellow commissioners to approve a comprehensive plan for using the road portion of the tax. Commissioners voted to put the tax on the ballot without a list of roads that would be paved by the new money and without any public hearings on what county residents wanted in a road plan.

Knudtson has previously raised questions about the tax and the lack of details. "It is critical," he said. "It is absolutely essential."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126