Now that the county appears headed toward a hands-off policy on racetrack noise, track neighbors will be left to more rudimentary solutions: hands over ears.

Growth and diversification continue to present the county with uncomfortable quality-of-life issues. A meat processing plant expands, and awful smells assault the neighborhood. (See editorial below.) Business at a small-but-growing dragway picks up, and neighbors can’t get a peaceful night’s sleep.

What’s a homeowner to do?People live out in Rowan’s rural areas because they like natural surroundings and open spaces. But unnatural noises and smells are closing in on them. Before you know it, they’ll have to move to the city to gain control over their surroundings.

Well, maybe not.

But the county Planning Board’s absolute hands-off attitude toward racetrack noise has to baffle the people who turned to the county for help. Folks in this area may love NASCAR and everything remotely attached to racing, but what happened to regard for people who live near these tracks?Some made their choice when they moved next door, but in some cases the tracks moved in next to them.

Employees of the Sheriff’s Department and the Planning Board are loath to take on the job of noise enforcer for every barking dog, speeding race car and buzzing JetSki in the county. And who can blame them? The task would be endless.

But the more people and businesses move into Rowan, the more such problems will present themselves. For now, the Planning Board seems to be saying live and let live. But eventually it will have to find some sort of equitable solution. The misery index is getting unbearable in some neighborhoods.