Noise ordinance back to square one, New Hampshire - NORTH HAMPTON

OFF THE WIRE
With the decision by a federal judge to send the lawsuit brought by Seacoast Motorcycles against the town back to Rockingham Superior Court, things are back to square one in the fight to enforce a motorcycle noise ordinance passed by voters at the 2010 Town Meeting.




"We have not yet received a date for (a) hearing (in superior court)," said Town Administrator Steve Fournier last week. "Until such time, the police will be enforcing the laws that were on the books prior to the warrant article's passage."



NH CALM (New Hampshire Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles), a New Castle-based organization that intervened in the case, had attempted to move the case to federal court based on the citing of the EPA requirement that motorcycle exhaust system emit no more than 80 decibels in the ordinance. State law allows motorcycles to emit no more than 106 decibels.
In an order dated Feb. 4, U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled the case belonged in the superior court based on the fact that NH CALM was simply an intervener and the town did not join in the motion to have the case heard in the federal court.
"Without formally analyzing the issue, the court observes that NH CALM's claim for federal-question jurisdiction appears to be exceptionally weak," McCafferty wrote.
North Hampton Police Chief Brian Page has called the ordinance unenforceable citing several legal opinions as the basis for his decision, including one from Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams. Page's determination has the backing of the Select Board.
"The town ordinance is trying to circumvent state law and is not enforceable," he told the Select Board in June of 2010. "It would be ridiculous for me to direct my men to enforce it."