Editor:
    This Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, Kennebunk residents will be asked to approve an amendment to the town noise ordinance by voting on Question 1 on the local ballot.  This amendment will remove motor vehicles from the list of noise sources presently excluded from the ordinance.  We strongly encourage citizens to support this measure and vote YES on local Question 1.  
    At the November 2006 town meeting, residents voiced overwhelming support for the enforcement of the town’s existing noise ordinance as passed on the ballot during the 2004 election, and voted down proposed changes which would have weakened the existing ordinance and permitted unlimited motor vehicle noise.  Over the past year, we have been asked by the town to propose language changes so the town will feel confident enforcing the ordinance in such cases.  During that time, we have worked cooperatively with the board of selectmen, town manager, town attorney and the Kennebunk Police Department, at their request, to make the adjustments to the ordinance that they feel are necessary in order for the ordinance to be successfully enforced.  This amendment is the result of a long series of meetings, workshops and public hearings.  We are thankful for the unanimous vote of the selectmen to include these changes on the November ballot.
    We support the proposed changes to the ordinance in hopes that it will serve its purpose equally well in all areas of town as we intended when we voted for it originally in 2004.  In our neighborhood, however, we have a particular interest in seeing this amendment passed.  For many years now, we have experienced an ongoing noise disturbance from dirt bikes, which began operating on adjacent property after our neighborhood was constructed.  The noise level has been measured by the police department with a sound meter (from within our neighborhood) and it has been verified to far exceed the 55 decibel limit specified in the ordinance.  Yet the town has thus far been unwilling to attempt enforcement of the ordinance because of perceived ambiguity in its wording.  
    Many of you are likely thinking, “Doesn’t the ordinance already cover noise produced by motor vehicles?”  In our discussions with fellow residents, who have approached us after various televised meetings in the past year, it has come as a surprise to many of you (as it did to us) that this kind of noise disturbance is something the town feels it is not presently able to address with certainty via the existing noise ordinance language.  The proposed changes are intended to provide the certainty that the police and town attorney have requested, so that the town may actually enforce the ordinance as intended when the need arises in a proper case.    
    Some of you may also be thinking, “Will I still be able to ride my motorcycle down the street without being stopped by the police?” or “Will I still be able to use my riding lawnmower without causing a violation?”  The answer is, of course, yes.  The new ordinance will still contain reasonable allowances for domestic power equipment including lawnmowers and tractors, and also contains obvious commonsense exclusions for emergency vehicles, etc.  It does not set a decibel level for passing traffic, or for any noise that does not persist in location and intensity for the extended time required to constitute a violation.  
    The purpose of this amendment is to clarify that producing a continuous noise (whether with a motor vehicle or not) that measures in excess of 55 decibels on someone else’s property, for more than 15 minutes straight and/or 30 minutes in a day, is a violation.  The existing ordinance established the decibel and time limits, and these are not going to change.  Except for the reasonable allowances already provided for in the ordinance, it should not matter what the source of the noise is.  This amendment will bring Kennebunk’s noise ordinance in line with the vast majority of ordinances in surrounding towns and across Maine, which make no exception for motor vehicles.  With the changes contained in Question 1, the town should be in position to attempt the enforcement of the ordinance, and will have language similar to Ordinances which have already been successfully upheld in similar situations.  
To view the proposed changes for yourself, visit the town Web site at www.kennebunkmaine.org or visit the town hall.  We sincerely hope you will join us in voting YES on Question 1.  

Peter Van Hemel, Mary Ellen Van Hemel, Howie Motenko, Brenda Beckett, Gary Bylow, Brenda Ellsworth-Bylow, Luke Santoro, Kathleen Santoro, Jane Dumais, Daniel Quinn, Gabriela Rodriguez, Marcy Ferretti and Nancy Campbell-Jones