After two hours of public debate on Tuesday night, in a room packed with more than 100 people, the Douglas County Parks & Recreation Commission gave the green light to a proposed motocross park off Pinenut Road.
Park commissioners voted unanimously to approve a parks use application for a temporary motocross track to be built on 15-20 acres of county-owned land across from the county fairgrounds, between the animal shelter and the transfer station.
The application would allow 18 days of use on the track this summer, including several practice days, five local races, two vintage races and one pro race event. Any permanent track after this summer would have to come back before the public and board members.
"As far as recreation, this will bring positive visitors and tourists to the community and will help all of us," said Kelly Gardner, park commission chair. "We want to help them find the right place. Maybe this is not the right place. But maybe the events will be so successful that we'll come back later and find a better place. It's only 18 days. We can live with a little dirt."
But opponents of the track, mostly prospective neighbors, argued that dust, noise and increased traffic would outweigh any benefit of the project.
"When it's not a race day, the track will dry out," said Susan Cryderman, who lives on Log Cabin Road, north of the project. "When the wind comes through, there will be dust like you won't believe."
Cryderman also questioned why the county didn't perform an independent, scientific study of potential noise impacts.
"The county's not going to spend that kind of money," said Community Services Director Scott Morgan.
Morgan said he and other officials conducted an informal test on the site, starting up a dozen or so dirt bikes, then positioning themselves on adjacent parcels to hear the different noise levels. He said in a lot of cases, the dirtbikes couldn't be heard over the model airplanes of the airplane park next to the property.
Another concern of residents was the site's proximity to the animal shelter. Cherie Owen of the Douglas Animal Welfare Group said the fence around the track's parking lot would be about 40-50 feet away from their building.
"My biggest problem with the location is the detriment to animals," she said. "The biggest stressor on any shelter animal is noise."
Consequently, park commissioners included in their approval a requirement that extra precautions be taken to mitigate any impact on the animals. Gardner suggested maybe earmarking some money for the shelter.