The battle between the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park and a group of residents, now formed up as Residents Against Mororsports Track Noise, LLC, a group whose purpose is “to stop motorsports track noise” is gearing up to go from bad to nasty. NCM Motorsports Park was issued a notice of violation on June 29, 2015 directing that all construction and event activites cease within 24 hours by the Warren County City-County Planning Commission, claiming that the track was out of compliance with the Warren County Joint Zoning Ordinance. NCM Motorsports Park has not ceased activities, with construction continuing and races still being held. The track, however, did hire on a sound mitigation company that is currently analyzing noise levels in nearby neighborhoods.
NCM Motorsports Park’s stance is firm: after a meeting on June 30th, 2015, an agreement had been reached at a meeting that included the Planning Commission, neighborhood representatives, a local magistrate, the sound mitigation company and NCM Motorsports representatives. Per NCM Motorsports’ statement, “Everyone attending the meeting including the Planning Commission representative, the neighborhood committee and the local magistrate all were in agreement that ceasing event activity at this time is not necessary or warranted,” and that “We intend to move forward with the agreement reached at the meeting, therefore the NCM Motorsports Park will fulfill all contracts with our renters as well as continue construction on our planned facilities at the NCM Motorsports Park. We plan to move forward with business as usual, we will not cancel any scheduled events and will continue to book events for future years.”
This did not bode well with the individuals that compose Residents Against Motorsports Track Noise, LLC. In a letter to Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, the group said, “Our neighborhood is suffering, and we need someone to help protect our rights. We hope that you will help us to restore peace. We are requesting that action be taken by your office,” as reported by the Bowling Green Daily News. The group claims that NCM Motorsports Park is violating noise emissions laws, and said in the letter, “We have appealed to every government department in Warren County to seek enforcement, but we have been ignored. We feel that local politics has contributed to depriving us of our rights.” Unlike most situations we’ve seen in the past, the neighborhood pre-dates the track, not the other way around.
Currently the next deadline in this debate is September 26, 2015. That is the 90th day from June 29, 2015, and is the date that the Planning Commission requires NCM Motorsports Par to submit a development plan and to be in compliance with binding elements for the property. We will be watching this one closely and will keep you informed as this progresses.
The” Residents Against Motorsports Track Noise, LLC” sound like a bunch whiners who expect living next to a motorsports complex should be quiet. The time to bitch and whine is over suck it up or sell our house.
the last line should read sell your house.
I work near the track. It’s really only loud when actual race cars are testing, i.e. Corvette and Nissan Lemans cars.
The state of KY has colossal unemployment, collapsing infrastructure, and is #1 in meth labs
Imagine these NIMBY’s being concerned about a new development.
Even Nascar threatened to pull it’s race from KY speedway due to the poor condition of it’s highway system as the fans couldn’t navigate the state’s roads.
Im just curious where the folks were when ground was being bought and the intent to build this facility was out in the open. I do see the need for creating some form of sound reduction infrastructure, its just being a good neighbor in that respect. Bowling Green financially is a relatively strong town with lots of industry and a strong commuter base that drives to Nashville everyday. Its importance as a motorsports epicenter for the south (vette plant and museum, beech bend, thriving diesel culture) cannot be discounted, a facility like this can only help the local econimy even more. I lived in BG for 21 years and saw it go from a sleepy college town to the impressive city it is today.
More often than not, people object to the type of noise, rather than how loud it is. Not saying it isn’t loud, but there is evidence that a racetrack 55-60 decibels causes more complaints than a convoy of semi trucks going by at nearly 100 decibels. It has to do with the frequency of the noise and how the brain responds to it.
I guess for most of us on this site it would be the opposite, I’d find the semi trucks more annoying than race prepped corvettes at full song..
I find it ironic that the FREEWAY FULL OF SEMIS that is located mere yards from the track isn’t a bigger noise issue with the local residents. I’ve been to NCM several times and I was actually shocked at how NOT noisy it is. I recognize that I’m not hearing it from the backyard of a house down the street, to make that call but c’mon, that freeway cannot be peaceful.
understanding that the track came second. It’s too bad GM doesn’t have a stake in the track.
“Too noisy you say?We will help with truck noise too, Corvette plant will be closing same day the track does. Goodbye Kentucky”
Aww how adorable they made a facebook page and everything to whine on and complain like they actually matter or anyone cares https://www.facebook.com/tracknoise?fref=ts
What they need to focus on is Sones: The sone is a unit of how loud a sound is perceived. It has more to do with subjective sound quality as perceived by the brain than its decibel rating. That’s why our 99 db V-8s are music to our ears while the nasty little 4 bangers with open exhaust are like fingernails on a chalk board at 80 db.
This is likely what is irritating the neighbors. I know they make me cringe when they go by at my racing events….