The fact a proposed volleyball law is taking months to serve up has a mayoral challenger crying foul.

Democrat Dean Esposito said Mayor Mark Boughton and the Republican-controlled Common Council are keeping a "neighborhood nuisance" law stuck in a subcommittee because it is too controversial.

In the spring, elected officials said the law would be ready by summer. In the summer, they said it would be ready by the fall.

Now the law is expected to be sent to the Common Council in December. Public hearings would then be scheduled.

"What's taking so long? If you're going to do it, do it already," Esposito said.

Boughton said the political season has forced the law to the back burner. The mayor said city officials are not side-stepping the volleyball issue. "I don't think we're ducking it. We are just doing our due diligence," Boughton said.

City officials said a "neighborhood nuisance" law would regulate — among other activities — large, backyard volleyball games that have become increasingly popular among the city's immigrant population.

The large games caused friction this summer among neighbors in some parts of the city, such as on Corn Tassle Road and Casper Street.

City officials shut down one game on Casper Street when it was discovered a portion of the volleball court was on city property.

Members of the Common Council committee studying the issue said the law doesn't concentrate specifically on volleyball. Instead, it focuses on any "outdoor repetitive activities."

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When the city first proposed the law, leaders in the Ecuadoran community worried it would unfairly target them. Volleyball is a popular sport in Ecuador and many of the neighborhood games in the city are organized by Ecuadoran property owners.

Esposito doesn't support the law. He said the city already has laws and zoning rules that deal with issues such as overcrowded volleyball games in back yards.

"Like I've said, this law was just a feel good thing to make people happy," Esposito said. "Now they don't know quite what to do with it."

However, Boughton said the law would give police the ability to issue tickets when they come across large neighborhood games. As it stands now, city officials can't stop the games immediately. Instead, zoning officers issue cease and desist orders.

Boughton said even when city officials visited games over the summer, the games continued. "We didn't shut down any volleyball games. That's the problem," Boughton said.