Saturday, August 21, 2010

Motorsports and Noise August 17 2010

At the August 17th 2010 Meeting, the Millville City Commission tabled a proposal to revise the city's agreement with the New Jersey Motorsports Park to address complaints about noise. A committee had been meeting with the management of the NJ Motorsports Park for several months. The committee has been hearing complaints about the proposed revisoin of the municipal agreement with the NJ Motorsports Park. Commissioner Finch and Vanaman were members of this committee. Commissioners Shannon and Quinn recused themselves from voting on this proposal due to possible conflict of interest Commissioner Dale Finch's statement of why he favored tableing the motion. He feels that the city needs to address the noise issue and not to work around it. At the public portion of the Millville City Commission meeting, folks gave impassioned speeches (including myself) pro and con. Michelle Post, founder of TrackRacket,
had folks stand up and show signs mocking the tabled ordinance and the so-called "good faith" agreement to reduce noise. Regular opponent of the track and the current sitting Commission, Robert Tesoroni, questioned why the motocross track was not going to be built in the area agreed to in the original agreement. One gentleman stared at the track opponents and basically called them out till a City Commissioner put a stop to that and told him to speak directly to the Commission itself. Still another speaker who described himself as a downtown businessman stated that the park has been an asset to his business. He also questioned why folks forgot about the loud noise at Airwork which was located near where the NJ Motorsports part is now. He stated there was no outcry about that private company and their noise. A most interesting speaker made a point that a previous City Commission tried to use 2 sets of noise levels to resolve this issue of the noise; one for the track to use and one for the nearby neighbors. The Motorsports Attorney spoke how disappointed. he was that the proposed ordinance was tabled. He listed the economic benefits of the track. He answers what "good faith" means. Oppenents have mocked the "good faith" provisions in the tabled ordence. He does state the park does not have a legal obligation to make changes but they have. Commissioner Derella closed out the meeting with comments on ambiant noise and how folks perceive it. He states that he hopes to have the City Commission hire a noise expert that will hopefully be satisfactory to the racetrack AND the opponents. The motorsports park proponents cite econimic benefits. A supporter of the park spells this out in response to a critic:
As for the NJMP, they would not have been able to afford to locate here if Millville had stood firm. No jobs, and the city owned land was bringing in zero tax revenue for the schools.
NJMP has spent $45 MILLION on capital improvements, more than half going to Cumberland County contractors. That equals jobs.
In the first two years, NJMP paid well over $1,355,000 in wages to Cumberland County residents.
NJMP did almot $3 MILLION in business with Cumberland County contractors and businesses. Almost $2 MILLION was to Millville businesses.
Critics of the NJ Motorsports also use figures to bolster their case that its using too much taxpayer money, is not doing enough for noise abaitment, and using the arrogance of the park as well. Here is a sample.
The taxpayers have invested $9 million into infrastructure to services out to the track. We live weekly with the noise. Taxpayers have floated a $425,000 loan to NJMP to help carry them through the offseason. We are going to forgo another $1million on land NJMP was to purchase for the ATV track. I think it is quite reasonable for the public to hear how many people pay to attend the events each weekend.
 I have an opinion on that one. First off  racetrack folks  have  little or NO political savvy. Some of the opponents are just using this issue for their political advantage and do not really give a hoot about the residents. Acting like adults might lead to less of a political advantage. The racetrack has tax abatements so opponents of the tax abatements are just piling on. TrackRacket comes off as strident to folks who might disagree. They act like they ares smarter then everyone else.I am not sure why the committee meeting with the NJMSP did not include any responsible critics of the track and the noise. Did they not think there there were no responsible opponents. I will let the reader decide that. There is that stridency of TrackRacket and others that might have something to do with it. I know a blogger who would be good for that committee. I have documented the opposition Millville First and Track Racket for some time now as you might see. Commisssioner Finch nailed it when he said it is dividing the city I agree the people have a valid complaint with the noise issue..why can't people just be adult and listen to all sides? Opponents are going to keep "harping" on the noise issue. They feel if they back down, the city will just forget about it. The critics want the issue resolved before the motocross track is built and frankly they might have the NJMSP over a barrel on this one.The track folks are now losing the political fight. This is my humble opinion and I wish the City Commisson luck with this issue. I wish there were more honest brokers in this issue and that I had a solution for this. Including the public in a "committee" would be a good idea. It might cause opponents to become more constructive and be of help to move forward. Now all they have to to is to fight. Can we just move forward?
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