ATV committee sets first meeting

A select committee of citizens and public officials soon will begin trying to resolve the sometimes conflicting interests of people who like riding ATVs and motocross bikes and their neighbors who object to the machines' dust and noise.
The Burke County Board of Commissioners appointed the committee to study off-highway vehicles' use. The committee's first meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m. March 30 in the commissioners' meeting room, 110 N. Green Entrance E.
Four months ago this week, winter's chill was settling over Burke County's forests when the disagreements over private ATV and motocross courses got hot.
The debate's genesis occurred when Burke County zoning department became aware of a private off-track course that didn't conform to the existing zoning regulations on race tracks. At about the same time, residents on Jonas Ridge complained about noise and dust from a neighbor's private track.
The existing zoning ordinance regulated large, generally commercial race tracks. Planning Director Susan Berley said the Planning Board felt a need to distinguish between large tracks and small, private ones.
Some people didn't read the proposed zoning amendment that way. To them, it looked like an attempt by the county government to regulate what citizens could do on their own private property.
More than 200 people, many of them ATV (all-terrain vehicle) and motocross enthusiasts, jammed a county meeting room Nov. 16 when the commissioners had a public hearing on the proposed amendment.
Among them was Dr. Mark McManus, who declared, "If you pass this ordinance and Sheriff McDevitt comes out here, he'd better bring his ticket book. I'm not stopping."
After hearing dozens of comments, the commissioners agreed their best course was to appoint a select committee that would study the issue and bring back recommendations. The commissioners on Feb. 16 formally voted to form the committee by inviting interested citizens to volunteer. The planning department accepted applications until March 2. Berley presented them to the commissioners on Tuesday.
Among the committee's members are four citizens who represent ATV or motocross riders and four who represent landowners whose property adjoins off-track courses.
Those who applied to be off-highway vehicle user representatives are Richard Beyer, Michael Bingham, Derryl Bollinger, Clifford Brown, Mark McManus, James Morrison, Hannah Rhodes, Stony Story, Roger William Suttles, Evan Veness, Allen Whisnant, Marty Wiseman and George Yount.
The commissioners unanimously appointed McManus and Story to the advisory committee and by majority vote added Beyer and Suttles. Story is a contractor who chairs the group that organized speakers against the amendment in November. McManus, a family practitioner, also is in that group. Beyer is an attorney. Suttles works for the N.C. Department of Corrections and is a member of Chesterfield Fire & Rescue and the Chesterfield ATV Rescue Team.
The seven who volunteered to represent adjoining property owners are Teresa Church, Cynthia Coffey, Chris Crane, David Ferber, Fay McFetridge and Norman and Susan Woodie.
The commissioners unanimously selected Church, a retired school teacher who lives in Connelly Springs; Crane, an engineer whose home at 2806 Byrd Road is next door to an outdoor track; Ferber, a retired Morganton police major who said his home at 230 Edgewood Circle is 160 feet from a private race track; and Norman Woodie.
Woodie, a landscaper who lives at 3660 Old Jonas Ridge Road, is one of the property owners who originally complained about noise, dust and erosion problems caused by an unregulated private motocross race course.
Additional advisory committee appointed by the commissioners are Ed Hallyburton and Rick McClurd from the Planning Board, Maj. Banks Hinceman from the Burke County Sheriff's Office and County Commissioner Steve Smith plus Berley and Brock Hall from the planning staff.
In a briefing paper, Berley said she hopes the committee will work with the Planning Board to answer three questions:
1) Should the existing definition of a racetrack be amended to refer only to commercial courses?
2) Should any type of non-commercial off-track vehicle use be regulated by the zoning ordinance? If so, what should be regulated and at what point should those regulations apply?
3) Should there be a stand-alone ordinance for non-commercial off-highway vehicle use, such as the ordinance developed by the American Motorcyclist Association?
You can read Burke County's present zoning ordinance concerning race tracks by going to the county's Web site, www.co.burke.nc.us. Click on "County ordinances" in the left column. Then search for "racetracks" or go to Article XI. Special Provisions, Section 1111.