Plan For Stephentown Moto-Cross Track Tabled

by David Flint
Howard Commander, in partnership with event organizer Sean Sermini, has plans for a Moto-Cross sports park in Stephentown that they believe could in the near future attract the best riders in the world and up to 30,000 spectators to national competitions. The Stephentown Zoning Board last Thursday held a public hearing on an application for a zoning variance from Commander, owner of the Lebanon Valley Speedway, to use nine acres out of a 90-acre parcel he owns off of Webster Hill Road adjacent to the Speedway to construct the Moto-Cross field. The land is zoned Residential.
Commander said he would use a 9-acre corn field to construct Stephentown Moto-Cross, a “world class Moto-Cross course.” Moto-Cross, he said, is one the biggest up and coming forms of racing. In three to four years he expected the course could be the site of one of the five big national MX events.
Commander’s partner in this endeavor, Sean Sermini, President of Superior Events Racing and Management, said that this would be a first class, professional, well maintained track. His goal would be to have 10 to 12 events a year with one large race each year. The newer 4-stroke dirt bikes and ATVs he said are less noisy, putting out only an average of 100 decibels. All vehicles have mufflers, and there is a technical inspection before every race. Four or five employees would maintain the track year round, with up to 40 local people employed on racing days. With 400 to 450 entries expected at a regular race, proceeds could easily run to $20,000 thus generating considerable sales tax for the Town. Sermini said that for many years he has organized major Moto-Cross events all across the country. He now is tired of being on the road and plans to “apply everything I have learned to this track.”
About 25 people attended the hearing. Most of those who spoke were skeptical and fearful. Most of the fears were related to the noise that would be added to that already produced by the existing race track and drag strip just across the county line in New Lebanon.
Gary Millett, who has lived in West Lebanon for 35 years, said the noise is “horrendous.” He warned Stephentown residents that the applicants were presenting the least case regarding noise. “If you grant them the track and they can figure out how to run races every night of the year, they will,” he said. “Open the door a crack, and you can look forward to many years of aggravation as it gets larger and noisier.” Millett feared the Moto-Cross track would also lead to more environmental damage from ATVs leaving the track to zip around through the woods.
Several people were concerned that Webster Hill Road could not possibly support the traffic that is expected. Susan Crowdy doubted that this was the best use of the land for the Town. Rather than bringing in additional revenue she believed that over the long term it would lose revenue because it is not the kind of sustainable development residents want.
A local real estate developer echoed these concerns, saying the Town should be concerned not just with growth but with the quality of life. The Moto-Cross proposal, he said, would have a negative effect on the value of nearby property and owners who decide to sell because of this new unacceptable element in their lives would find that they had not just lost value but that they could not sell their property at all. He said that he has listed properties near the raceway for over three years and they can’t be sold.
Alice Caton complained that the noise at the drag strip has become overwhelming and that people use that track almost every night even when there are no scheduled events. She feared the same would be true with the Moto-Cross track. The raceway and the drag strip are bad enough, she said, and questioned why we would want to expand it into Stephentown.
Several people advised against granting a variance but urged the Board that if they did grant it  to at least lay down stipulations regarding such things as hours and days of operation and number of cars permitted and that they should also get as many concessions for the Town as possible. Some suggested that nearby property owners be given tax breaks on their property.
Lewis Oliver, an environmental attorney, said this type of use is prohibited in a residential zone and no variance should be granted. If the Board was considering granting a variance he said they should require that the applicant submit at his cost a scientific noise study. Since the project, including parking space for cars, would take up more than ten acres and it borders on the Kinderhook Creek, a state protected trout stream, he suggested that State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) procedures would have to be followed including the long version of an Environmental Assessment Form and an Environmental Impact Statement. He insisted that a comprehensive plan should be submitted that includes information on noise, loudspeakers, lighting, dust control, erosion, crowd control and other factors. He reminded the Board of a clause in Stephentown’s Land Use Regulations that states that granting a variance “will not be injurious to the neighborhood or change its character and will not be otherwise detrimental to the public welfare or the environment.”
There were some who spoke up in favor of the project. PJ Roder, a member of the Stephentown Town Board, thought it would be a huge benefit to the Town, financially and otherwise, to have a motor sports park that is adjacent to an already established race track. The noise, he thought, could be tolerated. He noted that the Go-Kart track at Lebanon Valley is one of the nicest ones anywhere.
David Goodermote, a contractor, said he loves motor sports and thought it would be great for kids and families. He pointed out that the Moto-Cross machines are not cheap motorcycles but cost in the range of $6,000. They are 4-cycle machines, he said, and make little noise, noting that there are indoor tracks, and it’s not all that loud. “People need a place to go,” he said.
Gina Goodermote, a member of the Berlin School Board, defended the Lebanon Valley Raceway saying that for years it has provided a place for kids to have fun and to be employed with good wages. She thought it was great that someone wants to invest money in Stephentown, provide employment and help the economy. She noted that the applicants had pledged that the Moto-Cross events would run at the same time as the drag strip so that there would be no additional nights with noise.
The Board members, Joseph Champion chairing, Robert Mittnight, Richard Sime and James Ayling, asked questions about dust control, crowd control, fueling stations, time of operation and the size of crowds at current raceway and drag strip events. They noted that a SPDES (State Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permit was required which Sermini said was expected within a week. Sime said he would like to see a more extensive plan than what was provided. The Board decided to table the application for a variance pending receipt of the SPDES permit. They will take it up again at their next meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 3, at 7 pm.