According to a press release from Focus: Tamworth, the company filed, papers with the court Tuesday, Oct. 12.
Last year, Club Motorsports backed out of filing a special use permit application under the town wetlands ordinance. The company has applied for and received state and federal permits required for construction of the facility Focus: Tamworth sees in this latest court move by Club Motorsports a continuing pattern of disregard for the ordinances of Tamworth and concerns of the people who live there.
"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 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."
Club Motorsports wants to build a 250-acre private racetrack for fast cars and motorcycles on the north slope of Mt Whittier in Tamworth. Most towns in New Hampshire have wetlands ordinances, and Greenhalgh said those should be very concerned if CMI's actions set a precedent, that those regulations need not be followed.
"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," Greenhalgh said.
Hoenscheid said that if the argument is that the stricter laws will prevail, Club Motor-sports has already complied. "The overall (state and federal) process is more strict than the local level — the engineering, the financial investment have been much stricter."
Focus: Tamworth believes Club Motorsports has shown a clear pattern of trying to avoid any local control of its project. "First CMI used the N.H. 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."
Hoenscheid countered, "I think Focus is trying to characterize us as somebody who is putting this together haphazardly and that's not accurate. From our perspective we've shown through the state and federal level we don't intend to operate unregulated."
The lawsuit regarding the Tamworth Wetlands Ordinance has a scheduled trial date of Dec. 19 in Rockingham Superior Court. Focus: Tamworth is also asking the state to reconsider one of its permits. The appeal of the state water quality certificate, originally scheduled to be heard by the Water Council Wednesday, Nov. 9, has been rescheduled for Dec. 14, at 10 a.m., at the Department of Environmental Services offices, 28 Hazen Road, Concord.
