PRESS RELEASE, Focus:Tamworth

Contact:

Charles Greenhalgh, 356-5439 (day)

[if unavailable: Kate Vachon, 323 8224 (day or evening)]

Note to editors: complete text of the Focus: Tamworth expert team's written comments is available from Kate Vachon. Selected slides from the PowerPoint presentation used at the hearing may also be available.

Experts find deficiencies in Club Motorsports DES applications

Tamworth, April 12 - At a hearing tonight attended by more than 100 people from Tamworth and surrounding towns, legal, engineering and environmental experts pointed out major deficiencies in the wetlands dredge-and-fill applications submitted to the Tamworth Conservation Commission and the NH Department of Environmental Services by Club Motorsports, the Derry-based developer that wants to build an exclusive race track for fast cars, motorcycles and snowmobiles on the north slope of Mt. Whittier in Tamworth.

The experts were part of a team put together by Focus: Tamworth, a group of local residents concerned about the enforcement of the town's Racetrack Ordinance. The ordinance was signed into law by the Tamworth selectmen in October, 2003 and ratified by an 84% majority at the March, 2004 town meeting. The team is spearheaded by Sherrilyn B. Young of Rath, Young and Pignatelli and Jed Callen of Baldwin, Callen and Hogan, both of Concord.

The team's conclusion was that the project is not a reasonable one. "The 251-acre site is centered in the majestic Ossipee Mountains.  It is surrounded by approximately 20,000 acres of conservation and recreation lands.  Given the location of the site directly over a major drinking water aquifer and in the midst of significant conservation and recreation lands, the development of the site for a private motorsports park simply makes no sense," according to written comments submitted by Young to Tamworth Conservation Commission chairman John Mersfelder.

The team detailed many specific deficiencies in the Club Motorsports application materials. Among them:

• The applicant does not own all the land covered by the application. Part of the project will sit on land to be leased from an abutter, but under Tamworth's subdivision regulations CMI must apply to the Tamworth Planning Board for subdivision approval before it can finalize the lease. "Until that application has been submitted to the Planning Board, a public hearing held and a permit issued, CMI is not entitled to submit any application to Tamworth or the DES," says Charles Greenhalgh, Focus: Tamworth spokesperson.

• The acreage of wetlands that the application claims to affect is incorrect. The project will affect more than one acre, not the 0.72 acres stated in the application, according to Muriel Robinette, civil engineer with engineering consultant Haley & Aldrich. Irene Garvey, a wetlands scientist hired by the Tamworth Conservation Commission, noted missing and incorrect wetlands delineations on a site walk on Friday, April 9th. "The discrepancies noted should be enough justify DES re-verifying all the wetland determinations," Greenhalgh says.

• Several required elements of the application's proposals for stormwater and wastewater handling are missing or unacceptable. The application's analysis of the effect of its massive terrain alterations on stormwater flows is inadequate. The effect on water flows of the massive blasting and drilling of bedrock that will be needed to construct the track is understated. The impact on the Ossipee Aquifer will be much greater than the application indicates. 

• The water needs of the project are underestimated at 56,000 gallons per day; the actual figure, based on the proposed uses of the site, is closer to 80,000 gallons per day. That could reduce the water available to wells on adjoining properties.

• The assessment of impact on wildlife is not adequate. According to Dr Rick Van de Poll of Ecosystems Management Consultants, noise will affect wildlife like black bear, bobcat, eastern mountain lion and lynx that have been observed on or near the racetrack site. "The application's statement that 'mortality to wildlife is not anticipated to significantly exceed mortality compared to other profitable land uses ...' does not offer a reasonable argument for creating the largest and loudest commercial enterprise in Tamworth," Van de Poll said.

• The project does not meet local permit requirements. "It appears to violate not only the subdivision regulation but also Tamworth's Wetlands Ordinance. And the project has no provision for any kind of sound abatement, like berms or walls, which it will surely need to meet the requirements of Tamworth's Racetrack Ordinance," says Greenhalgh.

 The Tamworth Conservation Commission has been able to visit the site only once since the application was filed. The site walk on April 9th covered about one-quarter of the property, according to statements made during a public meeting of the TCC before the April 12 hearing. The Commission expressed interested in another visit, but no date was set. Susan Duprey, a lawyer for Club Motorsports, indicated that Club Motorsports would "consider" the request. 

 At a public session with Club Motorsports engineers before the hearing, Duprey noted that the application had to cover all possible wetlands-related impacts, because once a permit is issued "We are not permitted to come back and ask for more." But the deficiencies of the application mean that the developer will have to do just that, says Greenhalgh. "Focus: Tamworth has encouraged the Tamworth Conservation Commission to recommend that the Department of Environmental Services deny Club Motorsports' application as submitted and require the developers to address these very serious deficiencies." 

The Tamworth Conservation Commission plans to submit its final comments to DES by April 23. The Department of Environmental Services will hold a second hearing in Tamworth on April 27, at the Brett School at 6:30 PM.

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