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August 18, 2006
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The Friday Flyer Editor
If a new club has its way, motorcycles will be a common sight on the streets here before the end of the year. The newly formed Canyon Lake Motorcycle Club was successful in getting enough signatures on its petition to call for a special election, which the Board of Directors has approved for October 30.
The measure must be approved by a two-thirds majority, which Corporate Counsel Pete Racobs said Tuesday night will be a “high hurdle” to achieve.
The Motorcycle Club, which has not yet been sanctioned, but which has turned in its bylaws and hopes to become official soon, has approximately 75 members.
POA President Jordan Ehrenkranz received a letter from the Motorcycle Club on August 4 along with a petition bearing the signatures of 291 Canyon Lake property owners asking for a special election. A total of 251 of the signatures were valid, easily surpassing the five percent – or 208 names – needed to call for the election, which will cost the Association approximately $17,000.
The language requested for the ballot reads:
“Motorcycles that have been licensed to operate on California highways shall be allowed to use the private streets for ingress and egress only to their residence and are required to use designated bike lanes on major streets and not to exceed 15 mph. The 15 mph maximum speed shall also apply to the residential streets without a bike lane. Motorcycles whose muffler tailpipe has been modified to exceed federally mandated noise levels shall not be allowed to use the streets of the community. A POA vehicle sticker can be issued to motorcycles with fairings or permanently installed windshields, provided proof of registration is submitted.”
According to Chuck Marler, the president of the new organization and its driving force, the amendment would apply only to Canyon Lake residents and not to their guests or visitors. The term “bike lanes,” he says, refers to the lane closest to the curb on two major streets of Canyon Lake Dr. and Vacation. Sharing what most people here refer to as the “golf cart lane” with joggers, bicycles, pedestrians and, of course, golf carts, is a compromise, Chuck says. It would keep the motorcycles going slowly and thus, make for a quieter ride.
He reiterates that he and other motorcyclists only want to be able to ride their bikes to and from their homes to the gates. They are not asking to ride here recreationally or to attend Taco Tuesday and other functions on their bikes, he maintains.
Chuck can easily spout statistics to prove the points he wants to make. Street legal motorcycles, he says, cannot exceed 80 decibels. In comparison, Chuck says, the POA allows boats at 84 decibels. Cars and trucks run at 70 to 75 decibels, garbage trucks at 84, weed wackers at 76 and school buses more than 80, he says.
However, there is psychological impact involved with motorcycles, he notes, that makes them more irritating to others. He calls this a “psycho-acoustic” factor and says it is backed up by research he’s done. Then, of course, there is the negative stereotype that motorcyclists seem to have, though today’s bike riders are more likely to be professionals than hooligans.
Chuck himself is a Human Resource Manager, while other officers of the Canyon Lake Motorcycle Club include the retired Chief of Police of Cypress and a certified public accountant.
The motorcycle ban in Canyon Lake was part of the original CC&Rs and was upheld again in 1995, when property owners here voted the vehicles were “expressly excepted and excluded from each owner’s easements (including any and all easements of access, ingress and egress), if any, for use and enjoyment of the Subdivision’s streets, parks or any and all common areas or Association property (including any and all easements of access, ingress and egress.”
The ban was upheld by more than two-thirds of the total property owners here, though 13 Canyon Lake tracts did not meet this “super majority” and the issue was taken to the Riverside Superior Court, which approved the prohibition.
Chuck and his club believe the demographics have changed in Canyon Lake and that the measure allowing motorcycles will pass this time. He says the majority of the people who signed the group’s petitions did not even own motorcycles but favored allowing them on the community’s streets.
However, the demographics might not have changed as much as the group thinks. It seemed at Tuesday night’s Board meeting that a backlash had already begun.
“These people moved into a community that doesn’t allow motorcycles and now wants to change the rules,” Jack Wamsley said at the meeting. “The community spoke loudly at the last election (on motorcycles.)”
Jack added that, after the hardship of increased assessments, spending $17,000 on a special election was out of line.
Joe Henderson agreed and asked the club to withdraw its motion for a costly special election and bring the issue up next year to be placed on the May ballot.
Chuck Marler’s group, however, is ready to bring the issue before the community now.
“We hope that, after a few weeks of allowing motorcycles, people will realize this isn’t the problem they thought it would be,” says Chuck.
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