A long-running dispute over an informal motorcycle racing track in a gravel pit made it Saturday to Henniker’s town meeting, where voters soundly rejected a noise ordinance that would have curtailed its operation.
The petitioned warrant article would have limited noise made by motorcycles on private property to no more than 55 decibels from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 45 decibels the rest of the time “as measured at the abutting property line” by police. Fines of up to $400 could be levied.
The article was rejected, 127 no to 50 yes, after several speakers described it as unnecessary and excessive – “a sledgehammer for a specific problem,” said one – and argued that the decibel levels were unrealistically low.
Petitioners said the article was targeted at motorcycle racing that has taken place for years in a sand and gravel pit on Route 114, just north of Pats Peak Ski Area.
“We can’t have conversations outside on our property,” said Ross Bennett, who lives on Bennett Road. A lifelong town resident, he said the racing has gone on for decades.
One of the petitioners, Doreen Connor of Western Avenue, said the gravel pit owners have ignored cease-and-desist orders from the town, while another speaker described “80 pages” of documents related to past complaints.
Connor said the article, including the decibel levels, was based on existing noise ordinances in several other New Hampshire towns and was drawn up because the select board and police department have said they needed an “objective” rather than subjective ordinance before they could take action.
In other business:
In a big change from last year, voters overwhelmingly approved $3.2 million in upgrades to the town’s aging wastewater treatment system, to be paid by all taxpayers and not just the roughly 430 customers who use it. The vote was 128-9.
Last year voters rejected a similar proposal. They may have been swayed this year by news that federal grants will reduce the amount to be covered by bonds to $1.9 million, and some of those grants will run out in June.
Nobody spoke against the need to repair the 47-year-old facility, especially after seeing a short presentation that included photos of a sludge auger so old that many of its fins have broken off. There was also unanimity that Henniker has benefited from reducing pollution in the Contoocook River, which runs through the center of town.
Former Fire Chief Keith Gilbert recalled attending junior high school in what is now the Henniker Community School, where Saturday’s meeting was held, before the sewage treatment plant was built.
“We’d flush things down, then run down to the river and see it pop up in the river,” he said. “The river was disgusting. … The whole community has benefited from (the plant).”
A pair of articles that would have split the town clerk/tax collector’s position in two was tabled after one of the selectmen said it had been put forward on a misunderstanding.
Selectman Peter Flynn said the idea was put forward because he had heard that long-time Town Clerk Kimberley Johnson was planning to step down in a year. Johnson, however, said she had no intention of retiring any time soon and Flynn moved to table the article.
That came after a half-dozen speakers came to the public microphone to praise Johnson and oppose any change to her position.
Voters OK’d a $6.07 million operating budget, up $318,000 or about 6.6% from the budget approved last year, and OK’d all other warrant articles, many for buying equipment or putting money in various capital reserve funds.
The town portion tax rate is projected to go up 46 cents per $1,000 valuation, or 4.3%, which is about $138 more on the annual bill of a $300,000 home.
(David Brooks can be reached at (603) 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
