Residents hope to void the noisemakers

Muskego - Those who buzz around on all-terrain vehicles, motorized bicycles or other off-road vehicles may need to be more careful to avoid annoying the inhabitants of neighboring properties.

The Muskego Public Safety Committee has thrown its supports behind a proposed ordinance that will likely be in front of the Muskego Common Council on Nov. 22.

The proposal, which would stiffen existing noise rules, comes in response to a petition signed by 30 residents of the Fountainwood subdivision complaining about young people in two houses racing round on ATVs for hours and disturbing the neighborhood.

Although the riders were on their own property, committee member Philip Kiedrowski said neighbors have rights too.

"They're due some protection," Kiedrowski said.

Police said they could not write citations because of the language in the current noise ordinance.

Defining 'annoyance'

The proposed ordinance would prohibit riders from doing things that would cause substantial annoyance to any reasonable person. The proposed ordinance seeks to filter out petty annoyances and slight inconveniences. It also does not make the annoyance standard what a sensitive person would find annoying.

The current ordinance is more broad, banning noise that "may tend to annoy or disturb another." That part of the code will remain. The proposed ordinance would add a section just on off-road vehicles. (Snowmobiles are covered in a different section of the municipal code.)

The proposed change would enable police to enforce the city noise ordinance in these instances.

The committee recommended the proposal with only Alderman Kert Harenda voting against.

While he might still support the change at council, Harenda said he worries that people who want to do yard work all day might be in trouble by extension of the proposed off-road vehicle noise ordinance.

For example, what if someone wants to use a chainsaw for four hours, he asked.

Witnessing a disturbance

While the change would help complainants, police still will run up against a familiar barrier. They either have to hear the noise themselves to issue a ticket, or find someone willing to make a complaint and appear in court, said Police Chief Paul Geiszler.

The court appearance element tends to be the biggest obstacle in processing a complain. "That's where we lose a lot of people," Geiszler said.