Post by dalejrfan on May 13, 2006 13:45:04 GMT -5
Motocross course is noisy, stirs dust, foes say; others hold that Nemechek should get to do as he pleases with property
On the race circuit, NASCAR driver Joe Nemechek is used to the rumble of cars roaring by.
But some of his neighbors aren't familiar with racing's din and don't appreciate the noise coming from a private motocross track that driver No. 01 has built near his home outside Mooresville.
About 70 people attended a meeting in March to hash out the issue with him. Nemechek made changes, but some still aren't satisfied, and a few are talking about a lawsuit.
"It's just very aggravating, because I spent a lifetime saving money to buy a nice house in this neighborhood," said resident Julie Turbeville. "I can guarantee you if it was me, Julie Turbeville, who had motorcycles running around in her yard, it would've been stopped a long time ago."
The track, which the racer built for his 8-year-old son and others, is just off Langtree Road, about 15 miles north of Charlotte in Iredell County. It's on about 17 acres where Nemechek is building a house and across the street from the neighborhood where he now lives.
Completely rural just 20 years ago with a few hundred residents, the Langtree Road peninsula on Lake Norman now has more than 1,500 homes, many ranging in value from $300,000 to $1 million.
While rural-suburban conflicts are common as sprawl eats into the countryside, in this case the high-end subdivisions were there before the dirt-bike track.
Neighbors from several subdivisions say that when the weather's nice, the track is often in use. On some weekends, up to 20 riders are on the course and trailers arrive loaded with motorbikes, neighbors say.
The motocross course basically consists of large dirt mounds, or moguls, in an open field next to the road. At sunset, the dust from the track hangs in the air, visible from a quarter-mile away down Langtree Road.
And so as motocross meets suburbia and homeowner is pitted against homeowner, the one thing residents seem to agree on is: People have the right to enjoy their property.
Except, what do you do when one person's hobby is another's headache?
If you're Nemechek, you plant trees, put up fencing and start watering the course to keep the dust down.
But some residents say he's not doing everything he promised, such as building sound-barrier berms, completely screening the course with trees and moving the racing to another part of his property away from their homes.
"They're expecting me to do everything," said Nemechek, who got his start racing motocross at 13 and has since won four Cup races. "If they want some more privacy, they can plant trees, too."
But Turbeville said trees aren't the issue.
"There's no way that that dinky little shrubbery is going to stop (the noise of) any motorcycle," she said of the young foliage Nemechek planted.
The Iredell County noise ordinance prohibits the "creation of any unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise" in general. With regard to motorcycles, it prohibits their use if they are "so out of repair, so loaded or operated, or used to create loud, unnecessary and disturbing noises."
Nemechek is in compliance, said Capt. Harold Miller, with the Iredell County Sheriff's Office. The office has double-checked its interpretation of the ordinance with the local district attorney and concluded there is no violation.
Miller said he's a NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt Sr. fan from way back, but flatly dismisses the notion that Nemechek is getting special treatment.
The Sheriff's Office receives complaints about dirt bikes and four-wheelers from across the county, but as long as they're being properly operated on private property, it's a legal use of legal equipment, he said.
And because Nemechek is using the track for personal enjoyment and is not running a business, he's not violating zoning rules.
Margaret Meade, who lives less than a half-mile from the track, said it's a shame some neighbors are fussing about it.
"It just seems like (Nemechek's) bending over backwards to try to make it right and that's just not good enough for some people," she said. And after all, she said, it is his property.
Carl Willeford, whose backyard abuts the track, sees both sides.
On the one hand, he raced motocross in his youth and doesn't begrudge his neighbor and guests enjoying the sport.
On the other, his daughter once came inside coughing up dust, and his family finds it hard to sit outside or garden in peace when the bikes are running.
"I'm all about doing what you want to do and enjoying life, but I think it needs to be considerate of others, as well," he said.
For now, he's willing to give Nemechek more time to tone it down.
Capt. Miller said his office hasn't received any complaints lately about the track. For a while, the letters and e-mails were flying in, both pro and con.
"And quite frankly, they've been about equal," he said.