TAMWORTH, N.H. (AP) – A proposed private driving track for car and motorcycle enthusiasts has suffered another setback.
The Planning Board rejected a wetlands permit for the Club Motorsports Inc.’s proposal to build a winding, three-mile track on the side of Mount Whittier for enthusiasts who would pay big fees to join. The board cited the dangers of pollution in runoff, fuel spills from accidents and the harm to animal habitats.
Town attorney Rick Sager described Wednesday’s vote as almost certain to prompt another appeal. But Focus: Tamworth, the citizens’ group that successfully sued more than a year ago to force the company to seek the permit, hailed it as a milestone.
Lawyer and spokesman Charles Greenhalgh wished company officials “good luck as they search for another place to build their race track.”
The Derry-based company had no immediate comment. It had sidelined an appeal of a court case it lost last year pending a decision on the wetlands permit and now could press ahead with the appeal.
The board ruled that plans for the track, on 250 acres, fell short of the requirements in a town ordinance on protecting water resources and wildlife habitat. The 5-1 ruling cited issues including the potential for sediment finding its way into groundwater and the destruction or major degradation of wetlands.
Two years ago, the company insisted it didn’t need the local permit because it had federal and state permits. Greenhalgh said the ruling is just the latest in a series siding with the track’s opponents.
“The court was clear, the conservation commission was unanimous, the public testimony was overwhelming, and the Planning Board was definitive: This project cannot be built in Tamworth wetlands under our ordinance,” he said.
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