by Thaddeus Flint
The Lebanon Valley Speedway motocross track, which is located on a piece of property in Stephentown, must be leveled, said a Rensselaer Supreme Court Justice.
[private]That there is even a motocross track at all to be leveled might come as a surprise to some who were under the impression that construction was stopped by a court order back in 2010.
Neighbors of the property off of Webster Hill Road, a Residential Zoning District, never believed that construction of the track had ever actually ended. A July 24, 2014 article in the Albany Times Union confirmed those suspicions, said the January 26, 2017 decision by Justice Patrick McGrath.
The Times Union story quotes Speedway owner Howard Commander as saying: “And on Sunday afternoon I want to see the drag track, motocross track, and Go-Kart track running and full of people.”
Then, in November 2015, one of the plaintiffs in the suit against Commander, “observed that the motocross racecourse was in operation ‘’with several motorcycles observed navigating the course’”. The New York State Police were notified of the existence of the track-which-was-not-supposed-to-be. Their investigation found that indeed, a track did exist, with Commander quoted in the subsequent Incident Report saying that “he did build a motocross racecourse but only for private use.”
Commander’s attorney, K.J. McGuire, argued that while the Town of Stephentown specifically denied his client a permit to build a “commercial racetrack,” the Town didn’t say he couldn’t build a “trail system”. And so a “trail system” was built, “mimicking the characteristics of motocross track.
McGuire went on to assert that that mimicked motocross track wasn’t really a track because it “it is not sufficiently developed for competitive events.” Missing were the starting gate, safety barriers, fencing, and observation towers “all of which are required for the conduct of a motocross race.”
However, it was just these type of activities, which could be seen as advancing “the completion of a commercial motocross raceway,” Justice McGrath, noted in his finding, adding that “completion is not necessary for the defendant to have violated the Stipulation.”
The attorney for the neighbors of the track-which-was-not-supposed-to-be, John Dax, also pointed out that the original Stipulation of Settlement actually prohibited “site clearing, sod movement, tree removal and grading resulting in creation of trails suitable for motocross racing.”
“The undisputed facts clearly show that defendant Commander has engaged in activities in furtherance of a commercial racecourse,” Justice McGrath decided.
Commander has been given 60 days to “level the land and return it to its original grade.”
A complaint against Dean Herrick, Town of Stephentown Code Enforcement Officer, was dismissed at the request of the Plaintiffs.
An e-mail request to the Lebanon Valley Speedway asking for comment was not returned by press time.
“It’s a sad commentary that the initial injunction was not sufficient to get the motocross track owner to comply and equally sad that the Town of Stephentown and its code enforcer took a hands-off attitude,” wrote Attorney Dax in an email on February 2, Dax added that “the rule of law has been suppressed for too long in this area and instead a wealthy business owner has been allowed to do as he pleases without regard to the area residents’ legitimate concerns.” [/private]