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City satisfied with noise reduction

• Albany officials check out noise tests at a proposed motocross training facility.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — Leaving nothing to chance or heresay, Onorio Izzi invited city officials to the 42.6-acre motocross training facility at 100 E. Oakridge Drive Wednesday to check out first-hand the impact a muffler insert would have on bikes running at the facility.

At stake is the right of Izzi’s son, 18-year-old professional racer Nico, to continue training at the site in the face of noise complaints brought to the Albany City Commission by a nearby engineering firm and residents of the Albany Spring Senior Apartments.

After a series of noise tests in the presence of, among others, Commissioner Tommie Postell, Planning and Development Services Manager Mary Teter and Central Services Director Stephen Collier, plus word that the owner of International Control Associates, Russell Roe, is satisfied with the reduced noise due to the muffler inserts, it appears Izzi is in line for rezoning approval that will allow training to continue at the site.

“I don’t want to make a big deal of this,” Izzi said. “All I want is to have a place for my son to train and pursue his career. I want to build a house on this property and become a part of Albany, and I want to be a good neighbor to the businesses and residents in the area.

“My boy started riding on this property when he was 9, and it’s an excellent training facility for the (professional) competition he’s up against. We’re prepared for Nico to become an Albany hometown boy, to become a part of this community.”

Izzi, his lawyer, Albany attorney Alex Kaplan, and City Commissioner Bob Langstaff confirmed that Roe had signed off on a letter saying that he’s satisfied with the reduction in the noise level at the facility since racers installed the dB Dawg insert in their bikes’ mufflers.

“The fact that Mr. Roe signed off on that letter sounds pretty good to me,” Langstaff said. “I’ve gotten a lot of correspondence on this issue since it came up, and it was always my desire to see the groups work together to find an amicable solution.”

Several attempts to reach Roe, who complained to the commission during a rezoning hearing that the noise generated by the motor bikes at the facility was distracting to the engineers at his nearby 1705 Radium Springs Road business, were unsuccessful.

Steve Carnegie, an Atlanta sports manager and motocross racing official with the American Motorcyclists Association, measured sound levels at the Oakridge Drive facility Wednesday as a pair of riders made their way around the track. His readings showed high decibel levels of around 71-74 as the riders came closest to where he made the readings.

Even standing within a yard of the bikes while racers revved the engines, the readings rarely topped the 100-decibel level.

“The manufacturers of these four-stroke bikes have gone above and beyond in trying to keep them quiet,” Carnegie said. “That old ‘louder is faster’ axiom is no longer the case. There are those who say the after-products like these inserts actually make the bikes more efficient.

“As you can see, the readings right beside the bikes stay within the 99-decibel range that is in compliance with AMA racing rules. And it’s well within the acceptable range of many communities’ noise ordinances.”

Teter, who noted that the city of Albany’s noise ordinance did not apply to noise generated by the motor bikes at the track, visited the Albany Spring apartment of 74-year-old Ethel Brown to check noise levels there.

“I went inside her apartment, turned off the television and listened for noise from the track,” Teter said. “I couldn’t hear it at all.”

Many senior residents at the Spring apartments had signed a petition complaining of the noise at the track that was presented to the commission. Resident Dorothy Shelton sent a handwritten letter to Teter saying she “can’t hear her TV or radio.” Shelton was not at home Wednesday when Teter, Kaplan and a reporter visited her home.

Brown, though, said she wasn’t particularly bothered by noise from the track.

“I can hear it sometimes when I’m sitting outside, but it don’t bother me too much,” she said. Asked if the noise level in the last week (during testing with the muffler inserts) had improved, Brown replied, “It’s quieted down some; it doesn’t really bother me now.”

Postell, meanwhile, said he felt confident Izzi had taken the necessary steps to satisfy the concerns of his neighbors.

“I got some good information from the neighbors, and most of them I talked to said the noise didn’t bother them,” the commissioner said. “When Bob (Langstaff) suggested (during a commission business meeting) that we table a vote on this issue, I went along because I believe in seeing things for myself.

“This is in my ward, and what I wanted was a scenario where everybody could be happy. Since Mr. Roe has said he’s satisfied with the reduced noise levels and the folks I’ve talked to in the neighborhood seem OK with it, I don’t see a problem with this facility. I appreciate Mr. Izzi working so diligently to solve the problem.”

Nearby businessman Benny Wilson, who works with his son at the 1804 Radium Springs Road Wilson and Wilson Small Engine Repairs, said he didn’t hear the bikes at the track even before the muffler inserts were installed.

“Working on chainsaws and other small engines, we probably make more noise than they do,” Wilson said. “We don’t have any problems with what those folks are trying to do.”

Postell said the commission may address the rezoning issue at its work session Wednesday and could take a binding vote on the matter at its July 23 business meeting.

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