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Testimony sought by Army Corps through
Oct. 16
Residents voice opposition to racecourse at joint hearing
By Tom Eastman
TAMWORTH - As the world awaited the big volcanic
blast from the newly grumbling Mt. St. Helens in Washington state last
week, a different sort of eruption threatened the quietude of this town
as residents gathered Oct. 6 at the Brett School near the volcanic
Ossipee Range for a joint hearing on Club Motorsports Inc.’s
racecourse proposal.
The nearly four-hour hearing last Wednesday evening
was conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state
Department of Environmental Services and attended by approximately 200
people.
The purpose of the session was to gather comments
on Motorsports Holdings, LLC.’s request for a Corps of Engineers
permit to place fill in wetlands and streams for the construction of the
motorsport country club with an associated road course and support
facilities on the 251-acre site off Route 25 on the lower slopes of Mt.
Whittier.
Sound,
aquatic impacts
The
testimony by the 54 speakers was at times scientific or financial in
nature, other times emotional, with speakers questioning the company’s
financial wherewithal and ability to mitigate the damage to the site
should it run out of capital.
Many questioned the noise level impacts on the
school and on St. Margaret’s Anglican Church from the proposed nearby
track.
Possible damage to the aquifer in the Ossipee range
area from potential motor oil spillage was raised by several speakers,
as well as erosion concerns that could ensue should the developers
remove the topsoil, thereby exposing unsteady clay deposits left under
sand layers compacted by the glaciers 10,000 years ago.
Several noted that the Ossipees are one of the few
existing volcanic ring dikes left in the world and ought not to be
disturbed.
Democratic State District 3 Senate candidate Will
Farnum of Tamworth railed at the issue of the lack of local control,
charging that the town - which has no zoning - lost that regulatory
oversight with the passage of SB 458, which exempted racecourses from
local ordinances.
Farnum said he would support a repeal of SB 458.
“We have had a lot of our ability to regulate
this project taken away from us. This town decided not to have zoning -
but that does not mean that we don’t care about our land and our land
uses,” said Farnum, who said that the town does have a set of wetland
protection ordinances that are more stringent than the state’s.
“It [the racecourse] is a dangerous proposition.
SB 458 took away our right to control our future. We no longer have
control and I am asking for your help,” Farnum said to the ACOE and
DES officials.
Others, such as local wooden boatbuilder Geoffrey
Burke, urged the ACOE to consider the potential quality of life impacts
on local residents.
“This is a country club for a few hundred people.
Most people in this town or region could not afford to belong to it but
in the end, all of us will pay for it. This is the most divisive issue
to face Tamworth in years!” Burke charged.
FOCUS: Tamworth - a citizen activist group whose
members have challenged many of CMI’s assertions - rallied its members
to speak at the forum.
Many Focus: Tamworth speakers said they want the
ACOE to require Club Motorsports to obtain a bond to mitigate impacts
should they occur.
Among those speaking in favor of the project were
CMI engineer Craig Lizotte of the ESS Group; CMI attorney Susan Duprey,
and CMI president Stephan Condodemetraky, who spoke at the outset of the
hearing, saying he had the capital to build 50 of the courses.
Duprey said the racecourse would be something of
which all of New Hampshire would be proud.
The sole pro-racecourse speaker who was not a CMI
official was Jim Boothby, owner of a small business located directly
across from the proposed site on Route 25.
“I speak for all the hundreds of guys who get up
at 4 or 5 a.m. who can’t be here,” said Boothby. “I support this
because I believe it will bring needed jobs and tax relief, as we are
one of the highest taxed towns in the county. It will help tourism and
it will not cause the negative impacts that FOCUS: Tamworth says.”
Comments thru Oct. 16
The hearing was presided over by Larry Rosenberg,
ACOE Chief of Public Affairs, New England District. Other officials
addressing the audience included Lt. Col. Andrew Nelson of the ACOE and
Paul Currier, administrator of the state DES.
Proposed mitigation for the project includes the
preservation of a 107-acre parcel of land within the Bearcamp River
Watershed in Sandwich and restoration of 450 square feet of on-site
stream channel.
Public comment will be accepted through Oct. 16 and
may be made in writing to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England
District, Regulatory Division, ATTN.: Michael Hicks, 696 Virginia Road,
Concord, Mass. 01742-2751.
The web site for the Corps of Engineers is www.nae.usace.army.mil
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