More towns taking on the controversial issue of noise restrictions on motorcycles.
RYE — While North Hampton's motorcycle noise ordinance is being challenged in court, similar ordinances are being proposed for the neighboring towns of Rye and New Castle.
To promote the efforts, the newly formed N. H. Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles are challenging local bikers and chiefs of police.
Bill Mitchell, a recent founder of NH CALM, said the group gathered enough signatures in Rye to get a bill on the March town meeting ballot. The proposed ordinance would ask Rye police to fine all motorcycle riders who do not have federal Environmental Protection Agency stickers on bikes manufactured after 1982, which indicates decibel levels don't exceed 80.
That level is lower than the state of New Hampshire's 106-decibel requirement. Fines would range from $200 to $500 for a first offense and $500 to $1,000 for subsequent offenses.
Rye Police Chief Kevin Walsh told the Herald he doesn't support the proposed ordinance and that he told Mitchell that last spring. One reason, he said, is that it's been called “unenforceable” in neighboring Hampton after that town passed the same ordinance.
Walsh said local and state police are enforcing state law and a local ordinance would tie up an already stressed judicial system. Also, said Walsh, most taxpayers would not support sending their police officers to court to fight motorcycle noise cases.
Lastly, if the members of NH CALM want the allowed decibels lowered, said Walsh, “they need to go to the state legislature.”
Mitchell has also drafted a proposed ordinance with the same language for his hometown of New Castle. There, Police Chief Don White said he hadn't yet received the proposal and will reserve comment until he does.
NH CALM has retained Portsmouth attorney Bob Shaines to try and get a related motorcycle noise case heard by a federal judge.
“The dispute involves a federal statute and should, in our opinion, be judged in the Federal Circuit Court,” he said.
The underlying dispute currently exists as a Rockingham Superior Court suit filed by Seacoast Harley Davidson in opposition to North Hampton's ordinance regulating decibel levels emitted by motorcycles. In its suit, the dealership asks the court to file a restraining order preventing North Hampton from enforcing its ordinance, to declare that state law trumps the local ordinance in terms of motorcycle noise and to award attorney's fees.
“The ordinance has the effect of making the majority of Seacoast's (Harley dealership) entire used motorcycle inventory illegal,” according to the suit.
The Harley dealership also notes that after-market exhaust pipes, which are popular among Harley owners, also do not have EPA stickers.
N.H. CALM has joined North Hampton in defending the suit, but the town isn't interested in taking it to a higher court.
In June, North Hampton Police Chief Brian Page said, “The town ordinance is trying to circumvent state law and is not enforceable.”
“It would be ridiculous for me to direct my men to enforce it,” he added.
Since then, the county attorney and a N.H. Local Government Center attorney also stated publicly the North Hampton ordinance is not enforceable.
N.H. CALM, on the other hand, hopes to get a federal ruling in support of the local ordinance and, Mitchell said, “make sure it's enforced.”
“Since when does support by the police override the will or majority of the voters?” Mitchell asked Monday. “Do we need permission from the police before we move forward on an ordinance? We need to push forward in gaining public support so we can push back against chiefs of police who try to overstep their authority.”
Mitchell was so annoyed by loud motorcycles roaring past his home, he used his own money to buy the town's police department a decibel meter last year. He later learned it takes three officers to take an accurate decibel reading from a stopped motorcycle, so he founded N.H. CALM. The group legally formed as a corporation, retained Shaines, and its goal is to raise awareness, publicity and legal defense funds.
Earlier this year, the N.H. House killed a bill that would have mandated EPA stickers on motorcycle pipes as “inexpedient to legislate.”
Reprinted from Seacoastonline.com
By Elizabeth Dinan