County tables racing complex text amendment after ‘disappointing’ citation

Published 12:08 am Thursday, October 10, 2024

SALISBURY — The Rowan County Board of Commissioners moved to table a decision on an amendment to the recently-passed racing complex ordinance after the applicant, Mooresville Motorsports Complex, received a citation from the planning department for an event that went against zoning regulations.

The amendment to the ordinance would clear up a misunderstanding between the applicant and planning staff about the required acreage between different tracks and usages within a complex. The ordinance currently states that multiple of the same types would still require additional acreage.

The Mooresville Motorsports Complex planned to add a dirt drag strip in addition to the current paved drag strip, which attorney Cindy Reid said was viewed by the company as the same usage because they could not be run concurrently. During the noise study, which is a required part of the motorsports complex conditional district process, the two tracks were discovered by county staff and the discrepancy was originally discussed.

The company received a citation and fine from planning staff after holding a tractor and truck pull on Sept. 28 on the new dirt drag strip, which was considered an expansion of a nonconforming use while the rezoning process was pending. Planning Director Ed Muire said that the county sent a courtesy notice to the applicant on Sept. 12 stating that the event was not allowed. Planning staff also went to the property on Sept. 27 and observed no activity on the track, but when they came into the office on Sept. 30, they were made aware that the event had gone on despite being in violation of the county ordinances.

Board Chairman Greg Edds compared the incident to the complaints of a family that had spoken during the public comment period of the meeting. The Dunn family raised complaints about the Reaper’s Realm Haunted Farm and Trail, saying that the noise from the trail keeps them from sleeping and the constant noise has caused them considerable stress.

“As long as we’ve been commissioners, we’ve been dealing with (Reaper’s Realm) and we’ve got other racing venues that we’re dealing with. In your case, it felt like we had a good relationship and we had an understanding. (Planning staff) are our eyes and ears, and it just looked like, ‘we’re going to do whatever, even after getting a letter.’ We can’t operate that way, with our business locations or facilities. We can’t just violate law, violate zoning and violate ordinances, even if folks are coming from wherever. Personally, we’re a little disappointed at this” said Edds.

Reid said that the issue arose due to a misunderstanding around the county’s zoning process, and that the event organizers believed that the planning board’s recommendation of the amendment constituted a final decision. Once that mistake was discovered by her and county staff, she said that it was too late to stop the event because people had already begun to come from Texas and other distant places. Reid also said that she notified county staff of the issue.

“We’re sorry. Like I said, I thought after the last meeting we had passed that and we were good to go. We were basically under contract with the sled. Once we talked to Ed, we were committed to do the event at that point, we had everybody committed,” said Eric Yost, owner of the complex.

“I get the issue, there may have been a misunderstanding a year ago when we went through this. There was not a misunderstanding when you received a letter from Ed Muire. There was a decision made that you were going to disregard a letter from the county. That’s tough to swallow,” said Edds.

Edds said that the commissioners were not ready to make any decisions on the text amendment on Monday, saying that they wanted more time to discuss with planning staff.

“I’d like to make a motion that we table this and work with staff on some kind of boundaries on where we’re going to go, so that we both know where we’re heading on this and so there’s no more misunderstandings,” said Edds.

That motion was seconded by Commissioner Judy Klusman and approved unanimously by the commissioners.