Conway Daily Sun
2004-09-30

Focus will ask Army Corps to require bond from CMI

Tamworth group fears taxpayers will be left with restoration bill if developer bails out

Nate Giarnese

TAMWORTH — The anti-racetrack citizens' group Focus: Tamworth, will ask a federal permitting agency to require Club Motorsports Inc. to post bond to pay for environmental restoration, in the event the Derry developer abandons its 251-acre motorsports park project due to cost overruns. The group fears restoration costs would fall onto taxpayers.

Developers say they will complete the park's construction on the side of Mt. Whittier in Tamworth at any cost, while standing by their original estimate of $28 million.

An engineering firm hired by Focus: Tamworth, Haley & Aldrich of Manchester, has estimated that the most recent re-design of the private racetrack complex will cost approximately $50 million dollars to build, almost twice the $28 million figure quoted by CMI. "The massive size and extremely high cost of the project raises concerns about possible abandonment," said Charles Greenhalgh, spokesperson for the citizens' group.

CMI spokesman, Scott Tranchemontagne dismissed the Focus estimate and request for bond as another attempt by the group to kill the project. "We have every intention of completing the project," he said. "We have the resources to complete the project no matter what the cost, and we are standing by our estimate of 28 million.

"Our cost estimate remains as its always been: two phases of building for $28 million. Contrary to what our opponents have said, it hasn't changed," he said. "Focus has a record of throwing anything up against the wall and seeing what sticks. This is more of the same."

As part of an October 6 public hearing regarding a water quality permit, Focus: Tamworth will ask the Army Corps of Engineers to require that CMI post the bond to ensure environmental restoration costs do not fall on the town of Tamworth. Focus will also highlight details of related state and federal permits already granted to CMI, that Focus says, bolster the case for the bond.

"Several of the conditions of the Site Specific permit that the NH Department of Environmental Services recently granted to CMI underscore concern about the potential for serious erosion. As one condition of the permit, CMI must provide detailed calculations and drawings for the geotextile reinforcements that it claims will stabilize the steeply sloping cuts the project requires. The information must be submitted to DES at least ten days before construction begins," a Focus press release reads.

"CMI is also required to hire an independent environmental monitor, who must be a licensed professional engineer or environmental specialist. The monitor must visit the site at least weekly during the construction phase of the project to be sure that proper erosion control measures are in place. The monitor must file weekly reports to DES," according to the release.

"Both these conditions show that DES has paid special attention to the threat of erosion and the potential damage to downstream water quality," said Greenhalgh.

Kate Vachon of Focus:Tamworth said the group did its homework and is convinced that bonding would be appropriate in this case. She said the group had not yet prepared a dollar figure.

According to Tranchemontagne, private developers are not usually required to post such as bond on a project; bonding, he said is common to public projects. "A performance bond is typically for public, municipally-funded projects,: he said. "This is not a public project."

Tranchemontagne added that CMI will send several representatives to the October 6 hearing.

Attorney Michael Hicks of the Army Corps. could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and Army Corps will jointly hear pubic comment Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Kenneth A. Brett School in Tamworth on a permit application by Motorsports Holdings, LLC to place fill in wetlands and streams pursuant to the Clean Water Act. Registration will begin at 6 p.m. The Army Corps does not usually hold public hearings on private projects.

The federal permit review will consider whether or not the proposed Valley Motorsports 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.

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 a 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.

The site contains vegetated wetlands consisting of forested swamps, including red maple swamps, and low-lying hemlock stands, and wet meadows, and the site contains intermittent streams that consist streams that range from 1 to 15 feet wide.

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.

The application for the federal permit was filed with the Corps of Engineers in compliance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge or fill of material in United States waters, including wetlands. The Corps public notice with plans and descriptions can be reviewed online at the Corps website http://www.nae.usace.army.mil.

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.

"At the hearing, Focus: Tamworth will outline concerns about damage to the water quality of the Bearcamp River, which is located only 900 feet from the lower edge of the CMI property. Green Mountain Conservation Group of Effingham has monitored the water quality of the Bearcamp since 2002, at sites in Sandwich, South Tamworth and Tamworth, upstream of the CMI property, and Ossipee, downstream from the proposed development. Michelle Daly of the University of New Hampshire's water resource department will explain that the data demonstrates the river's currently excellent water quality. Focus Tamworth will outline how the CMI project, during both construction and operation, could degrade the river," according to the Focus release.