Tamworth motorsports park needs town permit

Tamworth motorsports park needs town permit

By ROGER AMSDEN
Union Leader Correspondent
12/14/05

Tamworth — A court ruling that will require a developer who plans to build a private motorsports park on the north face of Mount Whittier to first obtain a special use permit from the town is being hailed as a victory for local control by a group monitoring the project.

“At least it’s up to the town now,” said Charles Greenhalgh, a local attorney who is the spokesman for Focus: Tamworth, which along with St. Andrews in the Valley Episcopal Church, brought the lawsuit. Judge Kenneth R. McHugh, sitting in Rockingham County Superior Court, recently ruled that procedures outlined in the town’s wetlands protection ordinance should be followed by the applicant.

Club Motorsports, which has obtained approvals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as the N.H. Department of Environmental Services for the project, had maintained that the local permit was not needed as it was superseded by state and federal regulations.

The developer plans to build a 3.1-mile, European-style road course and buildings to repair and store the vehicles, as well as a hotel and restaurant within the complex. It is to be located on a 250-acre tract of land about a mile west of the former Mt. Whittier Ski Area.

Greenhalgh said that project is the largest undertaken in Tamworth in many years and is being followed closely by the members of Focus: Tamworth, who are concerned about its impact on the environment and quality of life in the largely rural community.

He noted that the town’s wetlands ordinance predates the proposed development by 10 years and that special-use permit applications have been rare, since most development in town is on a much smaller scale.

Greenhalgh said that in the summer of 2004, Club Motorsports applied to the town planning board for a special use permit, but withdrew the application before the scheduled hearing, maintaining that the permit wasn’t needed.

He said that Focus: Tamworth is also considering a possible appeal of the permit granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the project.