Carroll County Independent
4-14-05
Editorial

All politics is local

Last week, the N.H. House of Representatives took up House Bill 90, and acted to repeal a law passed only a year ago, that redefined some auto racing facilities as “driving instruction and exhibition facilities” and exempted them from control under state racetrack laws.

Though the legislative committee tried to divorce testimony about the bill from comments about the proposed Club Motorsports plan for Tamworth, realistically this was impossible to do, since the law it was asking to repeal was passed specifically with this facility in mind. That does not mean that the law or the bill did not have far-reaching consequences.

The question is inevitably asked. Is what Club Motorsports proposes a racetrack? Admittedly, plans for Club Motorsports’ facility do not look much like New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon. And perhaps some distinction is called for somewhere. But it would seem that to call the proposal something other than a racetrack is to fly in the face of common sense. At the facility, “motorsports enthusiasts” are expected to drive their cars and motorcycles as fast as they can over a three-mile “road course.” Their experience will be timed and they will compete with other club members for bragging rights.

Does changing the name of something really make it something else? Whether you are for or against the project, can you really deny that it is about racing?

Proponents of HB90 say that the law restores local control. Again this seems a matter of common sense. Tamworth voters enacted an ordinance to control (not stop) Club Motorsports’ business. The legislature’s passage of SB 458 took away that control. If the ordinance was that unreasonable, as Club Motorsports representatives have said, perhaps it should have been addressed by more direct means.

Opponents of the bill, including Tamworth selectmen who spoke against it in hearings, say that it does not do away with local control. Towns still have the means of regulating businesses that come into their communities. There is zoning. There are noise ordinances, and lighting ordinances.

It’s true, there may be other regulatory options available to the people of Tamworth. But, as the N.H. Municipal Association pointed out in taking its position in support HB 90, the racetrack ordinance is the method people in Tamworth chose to exercise. It was a valid method, backed by the force of law, and that law was changed specifically to remove that method of control for one town and one business. And that does circumvent local control and could set a precedent for the state.

While Tamworth selectmen voiced opposition to the bill, officials from other towns around the state recognized a threat to local control in the passage of SB458. More than 15 municipal groups, including the Tamworth Conservation Commission, Wolfeboro Planning Board and the boards of selectmen of Sandwich, Ossipee, Madison, Effingham, Moultonborough, Brentwood, Dalton, Seabrook, Mason, Marlborough, Freemont, Canaan, Plaistow, Fitzwilliam, and Dummer sent letters and emails in support of HB 90.

Representatives acted prudently in passing HB 90. Hopefully, our State Senators will keep their eyes on the big picture and do the same.