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NH Supreme Court affirms CMI’s need for local wetlands permit

Ruling is a “victory for local control,” says Focus: Tamworth spokesman

( TAMWORTH , NH , May 30)

The New Hampshire Supreme Court today upheld a 2005 Rockingham Superior Court ruling that sent Club Motorsports Inc (CMI, also know as Motorsports Holdings) to the Tamworth Planning Board for a permit to build in wetlands on its property. The ruling means that CMI must have a Special Use Permit under Tamworth ’s Wetlands Ordinance in order to construct its racetrack as currently designed.

After the Superior Court ruling, CMI applied for a Special Use Permit for its track. In November the Tamworth Planning Board denied CMI’s permit application. In a 5-1 vote, the board ruled that a race track is not a permitted use in Tamworth ’s wetlands.

CMI has appealed the Planning Board decision in Carroll County Superior Court. The appeal was on hold at CMI’s request pending the Supreme Court decision.

Since August 2004, CMI has claimed that the town ordinance does not apply to its project. The Supreme Court decision affirms the Superior Court’s ruling that it does. CMI has already received the necessary State and Federal wetlands permits. Since Tamworth has no zoning ordinance, the local wetlands permit was the last major permit needed before construction could begin.

Club Motorsports wants to build a 3.1-mile closed loop racetrack, along with garages, a large paved testing and exhibition “paddock,” a fueling facility, a hotel and other amenities for its members on 251 acres on the north face of Mt. Whittier in Tamworth. Unless their Superior Court appeal overturns the Planning Board decision, CMI will not be able to build its race track on the Mt. Whittier site.

Fifty towns were represented by amicus briefs filed in support of the Rockingham Superior Court ruling by the Local Government Center and the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions.

“We are grateful that the Supreme Court recognized the validity and importance of allowing a local community to control wetlands impacts within its borders, independently of State and federal requirements,” said Charles Greenhalgh, spokesman for the Tamworth citizens’ group Focus: Tamworth . “This is truly a victory for local control. Now the citizens of Tamworth and every other city and town in NH can decide issues like this according to the ordinances passed in their own towns, even when those ordinances are more stringent than State and federal requirements.

“This decision will certainly please the fifty towns, including Tamworth , that were represented by the LGC and NHACC amicus briefs in support of the Superior Court ruling.”

Many Focus: Tamworth members were among the large group of citizens that filed the original lawsuit in 2004, asking the Rockingham Superior Court to rule that CMI needed to obtain a Special Use Permit under Tamworth ’s Wetlands Ordinance in order to build its track. CMI argued that it did not need the permit.

“We feel strongly that a project of this type should be under some kind of local control,” Greenhalgh said. “Whether it’s here or in another New Hampshire town, no facility like this should be able to operate without accountability to the town where it’s located.”

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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[note to editors: the text of the decision is available at http://www.nh.gov/judiciary/supreme/opinions/2007/ander074.pdf OR http://www.focustamworth.org/5-30-07_Supreme_Court.pdf]