Club Motorsports President Lloyd Dahman went up to individual planning board members and thanked them for their thoughtful deliberations on the application, but he would not comment publicly Wednesday night on the decision or what the company will do next.
At the public hearing last week, Attorney Greg Smith, representing Club Motorsports said it is possible that if the town denied the permit, the company could reactivate its Supreme Court case.
Dahmen would not talk about that possibility. He said at this point any comment would be premature.
The company also has the option of revising its application and submitting it again. Conservation Commission Chairman John Mersfelder said, "I was pleased that the meaning and purposes of the wetlands ordinance were upheld by the planning board. If CMI were to reconsider reapplying for a special use permit, I hope that they would first come to the planning board and the Tamworth Conservation Commission, so that any proposed road course redesign could be examined together, cooperatively, to ensure compliance with the Tamworth District Wetlands Ordinance."
In a press release following the planning board decision, Focus: Tamworth thanked the planning board for its decision.
Spokesman Charles Greenhalgh said, "We're glad the Planning Board finally got a chance to make a decision on this application after two and a half years. 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.
"We thank the Planning Board and Conservation Commission for their hard work and careful consideration of this application. We wish CMI good luck as they search for another place to build their racetrack," Greenhalgh said.
Focus: Tamworth describes itself as a coalition of local residents who support careful and fair regulations that protect Tamworth's economic and natural resources.
In the public hearing sessions, each of which lasted more than two hours, Club Motorsports presented its proposal, groups such as Tamworth Conservation Commission and Focus: Tamworth were given time to present their assessments, and individuals spoke about their opinions of the project.
The majority of the speakers at the hearing said the permit should not be granted. The conservation commission advised the planning board that commissioners did not believe the proposed application met the intent or specific details of the town wetlands ordinance.
The proposal included several crossings of wetlands areas, as well as wetlands areas in buffer zones for the track.
The purpose of the wetlands ordinance is to protect the functioning of wetlands in the town. Club Motorsports representatives said the project would affect 0.7 acres of wetlands, and those impacts have been avoided as much as possible, as well as diminished by.
Others said that was only the area directly affected by construction, and a significantly larger area of wetland would be affected by construction and operation.
No public comment was accepted at the meeting Wednesday. In the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, planning board members went through sections of the town's wetland ordinance, discussing and voting on whether the proposal met the requirements before voting on whether or not to approve the application.
Five planning board members of voted to deny a Special Use Permit. One member abstained from the vote.
Club Motorsports wants to built a motorsports country club, which would include a 3.1 mile track on the side of Mt. Whittier in Tamworth. The company has received permits from the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the project.
The town permit is required under the Tamworth Wetlands Ordinance because the project will have an adverse impact on several wetlands areas of the 251-acre site.
Club Motorsports had submitted a wetlands application two years ago and then withdrawn it, eventually claiming that the company did not need to apply for the town permit because it had met the more rigorous standards of the state and federal permit process.
Focus: Tamworth sued for the company to be required to file a town permit, and last December a superior court judge ruled in Focus' favor, saying that the town permit could impose a stricter standard than any permit previously received, so the company must apply for it as well.
Club Motorsports filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court, but that appeal was placed on hold when the company decided to go ahead and file the town wetlands application. CMI submitted its current application in August.
