Saturday, February 12, 2005

Neighbors complain racetrack too noisy

Dana L. Bowley El Defensor Chieftain Editor

EDITORIAL Some residents in the vicinity of the new motorcycle racetrack at the former Eagle Picher facility say the activity at the track is too noisy, creates a dangerous distraction for drivers on I-25 and could lower their property values.

In a petition presented to the City Council on Monday, the residents asked that the track be moved.

Ryan Hall, representing the signers, presented the petition during the public forum portion of Monday's meeting. The petition contains the names of 11 residents and homeowners, representing eight households in the Tenorio Road-Escondida Lane area on the east side of I-25 just inside the city limits. Hall said the signatures represent about half the affected residents.

The operator of the track, Ty Zimmerman, was not present at Monday's meeting.

The racetrack is on the west side of I-25 in Escondida, about a quarter of a mile from the highway, and can be seen from the interstate. The land and building are owned by the City of Socorro and leased to Zimmerman, who has a long-term lease on the land and a one-year lease on a large part of the building while a long-term agreement is being drawn up. His lease amount is offset by improvements he is making to the property and building.

The motocross-style track has not begun running races yet, Zimmerman said Friday, but has been open for practice on weekends since mid-January.

Hall told councilors the noise from the track could be heard inside his home, with the windows closed. In response to a question, however, he said he could only cite one specific instance.

Hall also expressed concerns about dust pollution from the dirt track, which, combined with the noise, could affect the residents' property values.

In addition, he said, because the motorcycles making jumps are visible from I-25, it could create a dangerous distraction for drivers on the highway.

The petition he presented concludes, "We want the track to be moved away from the freeway and the residents."

Mayor Ravi Bhasker said the request creates a problem because, "We've already held public hearings on this" and there was no objection from residents at the time.

Hall said residents at the time weren't aware of how much noise there would be.

Bhasker noted that the long-term land lease is already in place, and the building lease is in the works.

Nevertheless, he said the matter would be put on the council agenda for a future meeting and Zimmerman would be invited to attend. Councilors cannot take action on items brought up under the public forum.

Zimmerman said Friday he doesn't believe the noise is excessive and that he is planning to conduct sound tests to demonstrate that.

"I'm going to do a decibel check, which I believe will show that the noise is below 70 (decibels), which is the maximum in the city ordinance," Zimmerman said. He said he was going to do it last weekend, but there weren't enough motorcycles on the track to get a representative reading.

In an unscientific test, Zimmerman said he stood on top of the building while there were several motorcycles on the track and he could still here the traffic from I-25 and from the train tracks to the east of the residences.

And, he said, "I asked our closest neighbors, which is the State Police office right next door, and they said the noise was not a problem as far as they were concerned."

Zimmerman said he doesn't dispute that perhaps the residents are hearing the motorcycles, "but I think the cars on the highway and the trains are louder."

He said he believes the one time Hall cited that he could hear the noise inside with the windows closed was a fluke of wind and weather.

He also said that it was out of consideration for the residents that he has limited practice times to 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Zimmerman also said he asked the State Police officers if they felt the track would be a distraction to drivers, "and they said they don't feel there's a distraction.

"I don't think they're near the distraction of the paragliders up in Los Lunas or the hang-gliders that launch from that hill just south of Albuquerque."

editorial@dchieftain.com

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