Agenda - 05-17-2005-9c - Laserfiche WebLink

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l~ he has a weird hobby in that he i s a former stuntman and he sometimes practices his fast draw. He has a legally designed un-muffled Colt 45 that fires 245 grains of black powder. If he practices his hobby in his backyard it will definitely irritate his neighbors. He made reference to the trucks and said that the Town of Hil Isborough banned them on Churton Street. He has been trying to get them banned o n Lawrence Road for five years. He lives on the corner of Lawrence Road and US 70 He said that trucks come up the hill from Old NC 10 and have to gear down to make the stop sign and slam on brakes.. H e said that it is hard to get sleep when his bedroom is 50 feet from the road where these trucks are coming. Sometimes the trucks come down the road at 4:00 a. m. He has had persona I meetings with State officials. State Highway Commissioner Sanderson spent two and a half hours discussing this with him in his office one day.. Mr. Sanderson promised to get back with him, but he has not heard anything and it has been three years. He has talked to everyone at the County level that might be interested in helping and so far he ha s gotten no help. He sent a letter to Comm issioner Carey in October 2000 and afour-page letter to Secretary Sanderson and he is still waiting for a response to this letter. The only elected official that has done anything at al I to help him was Representative Verla Insko, who requested a traffic study to verify that the complaints were accurate. This study was performed over a 16-hour period April 9-10, 2001 and showed that 15 heavy trucks per hour were coming up Lawrence Road. Par t of the study included Palm Sunday, during which six dump trucks made a total of 276 trips down Lawrence R oad in an obvious disturbance of Sunday services at the two churches on the road. Based on this information, he requested the Sheriffs Department to do a noise ordinance test in 2001. He was contacted by the deputy he spoke with who said that the equipment was down and he would get bac k to him., Three years later he has not heard anything. He requested from the County Co mmissioners in 2001 that the noise ordinance be modified to remove the exemption of mufflers that are factory installed, This is the only reason that the noise ordinance cannot be enfo rced for these trucks. He wrote to John Link in November 2001 requesting the re moval of this exemption, and he is still waiting for this action. He requested one m ore test from the County D eputy Sheriff this week and he made a personal prom ise to get a measurement. This is a great first step. He is asking for some real response from the County, specifically on Article 4, item 6 of this ordinance and remove the exemption as stated above. Kimberly Schott expressed her support for an enforceable noise ordinance. For the past two years, there has been a go -cart racing track operating in her residentially zoned neighborhood in northern Orange County, H er family has been subjected to this noise often for hours at a time from 1:30 p.m. to 10:30 p. m. These are commercial grade go-carts.. She said that her family has had to deal with the ramifications of asking their neighbor to moderate the go-cart races. She called the neighb or and received vandalism to her home and threats because her County officials did not have the tools to stop this disruptive activity. She said that because there is no enforceable law in place, people are forced to handle situations on their own and they can end up in a confrontation. She purchased ahand-held noise meter and measured the go-cart racing at 77 decibels,. A lawnmower measured at 68 decibels from 50 feet away. This 77 decibels is occurring from across the street. She knows that other counties have extensive noise ordinances. She is asking that the County Commissioners help create a better quality of life for those that I ive outside of the protection of subdivision covenants or city ordinances and create a n enforceable, practical noise ordinance that can protect citizens. Gene Poveromo asked about the process and when this would be considered again by the County Commissioners Chair Jacobs said that this is a public hearing, but the County Commissioners may direct staff to do further revisions and bring it back at another meeting yet to be determined. Gene Poveromo asked if this noise ordinance was complaint driven. He made reference to page 11 u nder Article 2 and asked why the decibel ratings go up from 50 to 55 On page 12, under violations and penalties, he thinks i t may be appropriate to give people warnings before they are fined. He asked for the County Commissioners to consider reviewing and reevaluating this in 12 months once it has been i n practice.. He said that he once had a problem in his neighborhood, but it has since decreased. He thinks this revision will help.