FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Focus: Tamworth spokesperson:
Charles Greenhalgh
603 356-5439 x 516
Home: 603 323-2908

If unavailable:
Kate Vachon, press coordinator
603 323 8224
focus@focustamworth.org

CMI attacks Tamworth Wetlands Ordinance

(TAMWORTH, NH, October 17, 2005)
In court papers filed on Tuesday, October 12, Club Motorsports Inc has asked the Rockingham Superior Court to throw out a Focus: Tamworth lawsuit that seeks to force the developer to apply for a Special Use Permit under the Tamworth Wetlands Ordinance.

“This is just another of CMI’s attempts to strip the Town of Tamworth of any oversight or control of their development,” said Charles Greenhalgh, spokesperson for citizens’ group Focus: Tamworth.  “CMI chose Tamworth because it has no zoning, and they have done everything they can to avoid any kind of local input or control.

“Now CMI is trying to use the Superior Court to say that the Tamworth Wetlands Ordinance doesn’t apply to them, despite the obvious impact to wetlands and the Ossipee Aquifer.”

CMI wants to build a 250-acre private racetrack for fast cars and motorcycles on the north slope of Mt Whittier in Tamworth.

Other New Hampshire towns with wetlands ordinances – there are 111 – should be very concerned about CMI’s action, Greenhalgh asserts. “This move goes against the clear intent of state laws that give municipalities the ability to enact land use ordinances that relate to wetlands impacts, and to make them more stringent than the State’s if the local voters wish. If CMI is successful in this case, every town in the state could lose its right to regulate any aspect of wetlands impacts in its own community.”

CMI has shown a clear pattern of trying to avoid any local control of its project, Focus: Tamworth believes. “First CMI used the NH State Legislature to get out from under our Race Track Ordinance, after they worked on the draft and got a lot of concessions. Now they are trying to avoid the Tamworth Wetlands Ordinance. We fully expect them to challenge the Tamworth Noise Ordinance, given the preliminary operating plan they submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers,” Greenhalgh said.

“CMI is counting on its legal maneuvers to intimidate Tamworth into doing whatever they say. It’s as though they are daring the town to try to establish any kind of local control. But we won’t be intimidated.”

Focus: Tamworth is a coalition of local residents who support careful and fair regulations that protect Tamworth’s economic and natural resources. More information on Focus: Tamworth is available at www.focustamworth.org.

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