PRESS RELEASE, Focus: Tamworth

Contact:

Charles Greenhalgh, 356-5439 (day)

OR Kate Vachon, 323 8224 (day or evening)

DES hearing on racetrack draws a crowd

Tamworth, April 27 -- At a packed hearing at the K.A. Brett School in Tamworth that lasted more than four hours, officials of the NH Department of Environmental Services heard a range of concerns from experts and citizens about the wetlands dredge-and-fill application by Club Motorsports Inc. The developer wants to build a $28 million private racetrack for fast cars and motorcycles on the north slope of Mt Whittier in Tamworth. Attendance at the meeting was about 500.

The hearing was chaired by Collis Adams, wetlands bureau administrator for the NH DES. Craig Rennie, the DES officer who is doing the technical review of the application, also attended.

Adams noted that DES will accept comments on the application until the close of business on Friday, May 7. He later said that he prefers comments delivered in hard copy, but will also accept e-mail. The NH DES is at 29 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH 03302.  

Adams denied that the application had been "fast-tracked," but noted that DES is under an obligation to review all such applications in a timely fashion. 

The developers, represented by engineers from ESS Group in Massachusetts, opened the hearing. They admitted that they knew the project would be "difficult to permit," but defended the CMI plan by stating that they had created an "environmentally sensitive" development that would have positive benefits for the area.

Experts hired by Focus: Tamworth addressed the major deficiencies in the application, highlighting concerns with the identification of wetlands on the Club Motorsports property, the effect on water flowing into the Ossipee Aquifer and the effect on wildlife. The wetlands delineation issue will be addressed at a site visit next week that will include representatives from the DES, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Tamworth Conservation Commission.

The lack of noise abatement measures in the plan as submitted drew particular criticism, since noise control sufficient to meet the Tamworth Race Track Ordinance, enacted in October 2003 and passed with strong support at Town Meeting in March 2004, will increase the wetlands impact of the project significantly. The developer has said that no noise abatement will be needed.

Christopher Menge, of sound engineering firm Harris Miller Miller and Hanson, said that his studies, done last summer at an event involving cars similar to those CMI says will run on its track, indicate that as much as 30 dB of sound reduction will be needed. That level of reduction, he said, is not feasible, so to meet the RTO limits, the loudest vehicles will need to be excluded. Sound reduction of 22 dB would accommodate 90% of the vehicles, but can only be achieved, according to Menge, with massive earthen berms or concrete walls as high as thirty-five feet. Menge added that sound control measures at the perimeter of the facility may not be sufficient to avoid an objectionable level of noise in the area to the north of the track.

Dr. Rick Van de Poll of Ecosystems Management Consultants pointed out that rare and endangered species are likely to exist on the site. Muriel Robinette, of the Manchester office of engineering firm Haley & Aldrich, cited numerous engineering flaws in the application. Dr. Robert Newton, a Smith College geologist who has studied the geology of the Ossipees, said that the proposed project could negatively affect the water quality of the Ossipee Aquifer, which supplies water to towns from Bartlett, NH to Saco, ME. Blair Folts of Green Mountain Conservation Group read a letter of concern from Dawn M. Gallagher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Ned Beecher of the Tamworth Conservation Commission reiterated the TCC's request that DES not approve the application and require the developer to re-do the application to correctly delineate the existing wetlands and indicate what noise abatement measures will be used and their impact on the site's wetlands.

Thirty-two individual speakers addressed the hearing to express serious concerns about the application and the project, including Heidi Frantz-Dale, minister at St. Andrew's in the Valley Episcopal Church, which is directly across Route 25 from the proposed development. A petition from a group of Sandwich residents and visitors opposing the track and signed by 300 people was presented to DES. Other speakers included representatives of conservation commissions from Wakefield and Madison, the Chocorua Lake Association, the Wonalancet Outdoor Club, the Silver Lake Association and Green Mountain Conservation Group, whose mission is protection of the Ossipee Aquifer and its watershed. State representative Mark McConkey of Ossipee said that he had received "more cards and letters than I get at Christmas or on my birthday," and urged DES to "hold CMI's nose to the grindstone" to be sure that the project met all requirements to protect the environment before a permit is granted.

Speakers questioned the developers' financial viability and their credibility in light of conflicting statements about the project's cost, scope and benefits. Others pointed to its potential for negative impact on the tourist economy, which is based on the rural character and scenic beauty of the town.

CMI executives invited everyone who had attended the company's two job fairs to pick up a free tee shirt at a nearby restaurant and wear it to the hearing, and about forty people did attend the first part of the meeting wearing black shirts with the Club Motorsports logo.

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