The town's attorney, Rick Sager, moderated the meeting and attorneys for both sides did most of the talking.
The evening began with a rebuttal by Jim Hoenscheid, the public relations official representing Club Motorsports. He said the company has gone through "many (plan) iterations" to get to where it is now. "Ideally, it would not touch on wetlands, but it's not possible," he said about the layout of the roadcourse.
Hoenscheid said the company is building the track because "Americans love cars and love driving them," although this facility would not be a racing facility because the drivers are not entering competitions and "drivers are not being paid to bump people and win at all costs. This will not be inherently unsafe…but safer than the state highway. Here everyone is concentrating, not talking on cell phones or drinking behind the wheel."
Hoenscheid asked the board many times throughout the evening to be fair and reasonable in their decision. He said the town has had many instances in which it has had to decide on the wetland ordinance. The purpose of the ordinance is to protect the functioning of the wetlands, such as to prevent flooding, which they will do after the project has been completed. This was confirmed by a statement by the project manager, Bob Erickson.
Attorney Greg Smith, representing Club Motorsports, also spoke. He focused his responses to points made during the first part of the public hearing weeks ago by FOCUS:Tamworth's attorney Sherry Young.
He said the wetlands there are not open bodies of water but rather wet areas in the ground that do not drain completely. He also said the law "clearly allows for this project to be approved" and that it is "not a very strict wetland ordinance."
Smith cited 150 issues with wetlands, which have gotten permits as proof that the ordinance was not that difficult to meet. Further, he said, this project affects 0.7 acres of wetland on 16 different spots on 250 total acres and none of which are completely destroyed.
The ordinance, he said, does not have to be met on all points, but rather the board could approve the permit because the project meets the points of most of the requirements.
Smith said there are numerous safeguards in place for both the road course as well as the above-ground fuel storage tanks, as part of the requirements for the state and federal permits, which have been granted already.
He also said to "'expect accidents and contamination into the aquifer,' which FOCUS:Tamworth's attorney said earlier is a 'gross distortion.'" Smith said there was little chance of the cars having an accident and compared the record of the nearby Route 25, which has seen only two accidents since it was constructed.
This point was later refuted, by one of the audience who said that Route 25 is not a race track, there are speed limits and people are supposed to go straight.
In terms of MTBE, a gasoline preservative, Smith said FOCUS:Tamworth dropped their appeal of the water quality certificate because Club Motorsports agreed not to have MTBE on site.
Erickson explained the drainage system on site as well as the spill protection system involved. In addition to grass swales, detention basins and 'stormceptors,' he described stream spans, which are 20 to 30 feet wide, spanning the entire body of water.
"The actual impact (to wetlands) is almost invisible," he said, with most of the effect being seen at the lower end of the site, near Route 25. Yet, functions of the wetlands will not be changed, Erickson said.
John Mersfelder, the co-chairman of the Tamworth Conservation Commission, said the commission's decision still stands.
Sherry Young, representing FOCUS:Tamworth, told the board she hopes "the passage of time (two weeks since the first part of the public hearing) has not muted the urgency of the message. There is nothing CMI can do to change the purpose of intent of their project."
Young said there is nothing in place that will prevent members from bringing gas with MTBE in it to the site even if it is not sold on site, and safeguards will not be adequate."You are being asked to say it will work perfectly" when many of the safeguards require regular maintenance and upkeep, she said. While areas around the paved roadway have three levels of safeguards, she said there are no controls over the wetland crossings except a grassy strip.
Young also said the spans going over waterbodies follow the path of the water, and eventually get covered up so the track would go perpendicular to the water, creating a much larger effect from construction than expected.
Ultimately, she said a racetrack is not what the writers of the Tamworth Wetland Ordinance had in mind as a harmonious, low-intensity, safe project that could be allowed under the ordinance.
Smith said instead of "lots of releases" and "lots of hazardous materials," there is a "tiny fraction of what's done on the highway."
With regard to the court's role on Club Motorsports applying for a special use permit, Smith said the case has been appealed in superior court.
