Army Corps to compare competing noise studies before ruling on Tamworth track permit

2/9/2005

Focus: Tamworth withdraws request for injunction against Club Motorsports

Nate Giarnese

TAMWORTH—U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not decide whether to grant Club Motorsports Inc. a wetlands permit for a proposed 3-mile road course until reviewing two competing noise studies.

One sound study was commissioned and paid for by the Tamworth Foundation to provide data for a committee that developed the town's race track ordinance in the summer of 2003. The study indicates that noise from the proposed racetrack at Mount Whittier would reach 80 to 99 decibels at the property line without significant design changes to incorporate sound mitigation barriers, the citizen's group, Focus: Tamworth, said.

A second study, commissioned and paid for by Club Motorsports, concludes the noise generated by the proposed driving track and motorsports park would not adversely impact the area, and argued that even a lawnmower would violate unreasonable decibel limits cited in the prior study, according to Club Motorsports.

The Army Corps has hired a sound engineer to review the competing studies, prompting Focus: Tamworth lawyers to withdraw a preliminary restraining order request asking a judge to temporarily stop Club Motorsports from breaking ground, according to a Focus: Tamworth press release Monday.

A Club Motorsports spokesman Tuesday called the withdrawal by the citizen's group an attempt to save face, knowing a Rockingham County judge would rule against the injunction request later this month.

U.S. Army Corps Attorney Michael Hicks was not available for comment Tuesday. Hicks has not said when the agency expects to make a decision on the Club Motorsports permit application.