A proposal to limit noise from motorcycles and other activities faces more opposition from business leaders, who say the rules, now in their sixth or seventh iteration, have become so broad that they could hamper activities that bring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the area every year.

The board of directors of Southwest County's leading economic-development group voted 14-0 last week to oppose the ordinance in its current form. Representatives of the group, the Economic Development Corporation of Southwest Riverside County, plan to speak against the ordinance when Riverside County supervisors take up the matter, which they are expected to do at their Tuesday meeting.

A key section of the ordinance addresses live music and parties. It would prohibit talking and live music that could be heard more than 200 feet from speakers, for example.

Dennis Frank, president of the development group, said he worried that the rules could block a wide range of large gatherings, and not only nuisances caused by a handful of people. As the ordinance is now written, Frank said, outdoor banquets and even the annual Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival, which is held on unincorporated land near Lake Skinner, could end up in violation.

"Let's not put them all in one giant pot and stir it up," Frank said.

The development group represents local businesses, colleges and city and county governments. Its vote came on the heels of concerns raised by Temecula Valley vintners and grape growers, who worried the rules could preclude weddings and other special events in Wine Country. Vintner Ray Falkner, who took his group's concerns to the Board of Supervisors earlier this month, said he believes the noise ordinance in its current form would not interfere with Wine Country businesses.

The Southwest California Legislative Council, an advocacy group representing businesses in and around Lake Elsinore, Murrieta and Temecula, hasn't taken a position on the noise ordinance. One member of the group's board said it isn't likely to take a position on the ordinance. Joan Sparkman, who leads the group's board, couldn't be reached for comment.

The noise ordinance is one of two that grew out of an earlier proposal to regulate dirt bikes and other motorized off-road vehicles. Residents of Aguanga and other unincorporated areas of Riverside County had complained of the high-pitched buzz and dust kicked up by riders on neighboring lots, prompting county planners in October 2004 to look for ways to regulate the vehicles.

The county's Planning Commission reviewed the ordinance several times early last year. Responding to off-roaders who complained that they were being unfairly targeted, the commission eventually created a second ordinance that would address noise from both off-road vehicles and other sources.

The original ordinance now focuses on standards for creating sites for off-roading, hours for using them, and the environmental impacts of those sites. Supervisors are expected to discuss the off-road ordinance Tuesday for the first time since January. The Economic Development Corporation hasn't taken a position on it.

Anthony Papa, a Wine Country resident who has often brought neighbors' concerns to the supervisors, said he worries that the ordinances have gotten too complicated, and now could be interpreted as loopholes to existing laws that address public nuisances. The noise ordinance, for example, would require that noise be measured with a decibel meter.

Sheriff's deputies or code-enforcement officers would then have to interpret the results depending on the source of the noise and the zoning on the land. That just complicates their job, said Papa, a former sheriff's deputy in Los Angeles County.

"I don't think they need another law," Papa said. "I think they need to go to work."

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.