Conway Daily Sun
2004-10-06

Racetrack public hearing tonight at Brett School

Nate Giarnese
TAMWORTH — State and federal agencies will hold a joint public hearing Wednesday on a 251-acre motorsports park planned for the north side of Mount Whittier in Tamworth.

At 7 p.m. at the Kenneth A. Brett School in Tamworth, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will jointly hear pubic comment on a permit application by Motorsports Holdings, LLC, to place fill in wetlands and streams pursuant to Section 404 of The Clean Water Act. Speaker registration will begin at 6 p.m.

The federal permit review will consider whether or not the proposed park and road course will acceptably impact noise level, dust, safety, wildlife and the Ossipee aquifer. According to the Corps the impacts must be minimal.

NHDES is currently reviewing the project’s application for a “Alteration of Terrain” permit, considered a major permit for Club Motorsports Inc.

The project as proposed would be located on a 251-acre site immediately off of Route 25 in Tamworth, and include the construction of a motorsports country club with an associated 3.1 mile road course, access road, parking and facilities for the repair, garaging, and servicing of high-quality vehicles and accommodations and dining facilities for club members, guests and visitors to New Hampshire. Approximately 0.73 acres of wetlands and streams would be filled by site development activities, which would include the filling of 14, 759 square feet of wetlands and an impact of 165,952 square feet to intermittent streams, according to an Army Corps press release.

Written statements of public comment should reference File #NAE-200302257 and should be forwarded to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Regulatory Division (ATTN: Michael Hicks), 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-275, (978) 318-8157, no later than Oct. 16, 2004.