Commissioners Silence Dirt Bike Track Complaints Had Been Made About About Deal-Making, Excessive Noise

A Post Falls city councilman can no longer race motorcycles at his Stateline speedway.

Joe Doellefeld could not keep dirt bikes quiet enough to satisfy county rules and neighbors, Kootenai County commissioners decided. They let the track’s operating permit expire this week.

“We had hoped something would work out for everyone, but he didn’t fulfill his obligations,” said Commissioner Dick Panabaker. “It was one of those lose-lose situations for us. There was no way everyone was going to be happy.”

That decision means Doellefeld will not be allowed to use the track unless he goes through several public hearings and a lengthy permit-approval process again, said county planner Linda James.

That process took him about three years the first time.

It’s a relief to track neighbors who spent more than a year battling the whine of engines and trying to ensure Doellefeld followed county rules. It also closes a case that included accusations of backroom deals and secret meetings.

“Mostly, it means we won’t have to put up with that buzzing and the neighborhood will go back to being quiet again,” said Lynn Humphreys, a cattle rancher who led a group of two dozen residents opposed to the track.

Attempts to reach Doellefeld were unsuccessful Friday.

Doellefeld built the track near his Stateline Stadium/Speedway without proper permits in 1993. In 1994, commissioners said he could host races if he got those permits and met 17 other conditions.

He never did.

The controversy started in the spring of 1995, when Humphreys and neighbor Frank Flanigan videotaped themselves monitoring an Easter Sunday practice at the track with hand-held noise meters. The tape showed noise levels hitting 80 decibels - 25 more than allowed.

Humphreys took the complaint to commissioners, but learned they had quietly agreed to let Doellefeld hold weekly practices until bringing the track to code. Humphreys charged commissioners cut Doellefeld a deal because he was a fellow elected official.

Commissioners invalidated their decision a week later, after the Idaho Spokesman-Review asked for an investigation of potential open-meetings law violations.

Commissioners later increased allowable noise from the track to 75 decibels. “We took a lot of heat for that,” Panabaker said. It made little difference in the end.

On April 27 of this year the county hosted a sound test, where Humphreys, Doellefeld and county planners tested noise during a two-motorcycle race.

“They had their engineers, we had ours,” Humphreys said. “The county was there just in case.”

But with two bikes on the track at a time, the noise exceeded 75 decibels 30 times in three minutes -“and that was with no crowd noise and no PA system or anything,” Humphreys said.

The raceway seated 700 people.

Commissioners gave Doellefeld until May 4 to fix the problem. He couldn’t.

While Humphreys is “cautiously optimistic” that the track won’t be used again, a lawsuit he filed against the commissioners has not been dropped. His attorney, Stephen McCrea, is waiting to see if Doellefeld files an appeal.

“Legally, it’s still not as simple as ‘yes it’s finally over’ yet,” McCrea said.

, DataTimes