County on the slow track to motocross ordinance

The Burke County Board of Commissioners and the county's Planning Board will take a "go-slow" approach to regulating motocross and other off-track racing.
The two boards had a joint meeting Tuesday morning to discuss possible ordinances concerning the popular sports. About 12 people were in the audience.
Three weeks ago, more than 100 residents confronted the commissioners at a public hearing on the planning board's proposed zoning ordinance to regulate motocross and ATV tracks. Some speakers objected to the vehicles' noise and dust. Others defended all-terrain vehicles and motocross (off-road motorcycle racing, usually on specially designed bikes) as popular recreational sports in which whole families can participate. And many people objected to government regulations on how they use their private property.
Susan Berley, the county's interim planning director, spoke for both boards' members on Tuesday when she said they've learned motocross is much more popular in Burke County than anyone guessed.
Planning board member Rick McClurd of Valdese said, "I was surprised at how big an industry this is in the area." He said an Australian rider visiting here told him Burke County is one of the world's best places for motocross riding.
Perhaps mindful of the potential economic impact — both on people's property values and on prospects for encouraging growth in Burke County's economy — the two boards' members agreed to proceed cautiously.
Burke County has an existing ordinance concerning racetracks. The problem, Berley said, is that it's aimed at regulating commercial tracks on 50-acre sites, not small private ones on a few acres.
County Attorney Redmond Dill said the county adopted the Institute of Government's model ordinance, with a few local modifications, many years ago when Caldwell County became embroiled in a controversy over large racetracks. The main concerns were noise and dust and hours of operation. There wasn't much motocross racing at the time, Dill added.
Motocross grew under almost everyone's radar until this year when the N.C. Department of Natural Resources told the planning office about an erosion problem due to Chris Miles' development of a motocross practice track at 4900 Mineral Springs Mountain Ave. near Valdese.
Miles built the course for his daughters, Kailynn and Kennadi, who aspire to compete in professional motocross racing.
Berley said she and the planning staff looked at Team Milestone's Web site, saw Miles' description of his track and that it was open to use by local and regional riders, and realized they had a potential ordinance violation because it's on a 13-acre site.
About the same time, the Code Enforcement Division received neighbors' complaints about Jody Coffey's motocross track at 5716 Mortimer Road in the Jonas Ridge area. The division ruled the track violated the local ordinance. Coffey appealed to the Board of Adjustment. For now, he and his family, but no one else, can ride there.
"We soon realized there are a lot of these tracks out in the county," Berley said, and "a number of degrees of racetracks and off-highway uses."
The Planning Board felt the need to draft a new ordinance that allowed property owners to use their land for their own riding. But the board also wanted to regulate racetracks that fell somewhere in a range between personal courses and 50-acre commercial tracks.
Commissioner Wayne Abele agreed. "How many people in Burke County have 50 acres?" he asked rhetorically.
Berley said the planning staff looked at related ordinances in Alexander, Caldwell, Catawba, Yadkin, Madison, Gaston, Henderson and Buncombe counties.
"There really is not a good solution," she reported.
So, Berley asked the commissioners, "Should the present ordinance be amended?" If the answer is "no," then the two current cases have been pretty well decided. If "yes," she said, there needs to be some differentiation between commercial and private use; otherwise, private tracks will be over-regulated.
The commissioners took a different tack. The problems they saw are what happens when one person's activity on his own land drifts over the property line to his neighbor?
Commissioner Steve Smith focussed on noise.
McClurd said it didn't really become a problem until manufacturers introduced cycles with four-stroke engines. Since then, responding to complaints and new noise regulations, manufacturers are making bikes with lower decibel levels.
Noise becomes a problem, he continued, when owners refit their bikes with after-market gear, such as straight-pipe exhausts.
McClurd said he believes Burke County could amend its current noise ordinance to deal with bikes' noise.
"If we take our time and do it right, we can be fair to all parties," he said. "Most of the guys are willing to comply so they can ride."
The commissioners' chairman, Bruce Hawkins, said they also should consider hours of operation (the current ordinance allows riding from sunrise to 11 p.m.), acreage and public versus private standards.
"I would suggest we accept feedback, involve the motocross community," Hawkins said.
He produced a list of the names and phone numbers of people willing to serve on a committee, work with the Planning Board and bring back recommendations.
If the result is substantially different from the Planning Board's original proposal, Dill said the commissioners may set another public hearing.
"I think this is another starting point," he added.