NCM Motorsports Park Submits New Noise Plan to Bowling Green’s Planning Commission

Photo Credit: NCM Motorsports Park

Lawyers are getting ready to rev up their engines again as the noise dispute over the National Corvette Museum’s Motorsports Park in Bowling Green continues later this month.

Neighbors of the park have been complaining for more than a year about the increased noise levels, and in response, the NCM has submitted a revised detailed development plan that is supposed to be considered by the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County on March 17.

Meanwhile, supporters of the Motorsports Park are finally climbing into the driver’s seat and making some noise of their own.

Laura Gilbert of Bowling Green told the Bowling Green Daily News on Friday that she is helping with an online petition drive by supporters of the park.

“We feel like the museum and the track are a huge part of this community and its economy,” Gilbert said. “The folks at NCM have lent a hand and we started the petition. It’s really important people understand what the NCM means for Bowling Green. We have a lot of support here in Bowling Green but, honestly, a lot from the folks all over. These are people who love coming here and spend money here.”

You can see the petition at supportncm.com, where people are being asked to attend the meeting on March 17.

“There are citizens and groups who very much support the NCM Motorsports Park,” said Charles “Buzz” English Jr., a Bowling Green attorney who represents the NCM. “It is a very important aspect to our community. We want to be a good neighbor.”

In the new plan, the NCM offers to build new structures designed to lower the noise level for the nearby Clark Circle residents, according to English. Included is a 12-foot wall on top of the existing 1,620-foot berm which already averages 14 feet in height. Noise abatement walls would also be added in critical areas near the edge of the track.

Under the old plan, the NCM had to make sure the park does not cause a “substantial noise” increase, an elusive number that has yet to be defined.

Bowling Green attorney Chris Davenport, who represents about 50 Clark Circle residents in the civil action, is worried that the new structures won’t solve the noise problem.

The NCM says it wants to keep the maximum decibel level at 103 for vehicles at the park. Any vehicle louder than that would be black-flagged and have to leave the track. However, in the revised standards filed last month, the Museum declined to put that number in writing.

Davenport is worried that even with a 103 decibel level, the residents would still be bothered. He claims that noise perceived by a person is twice what the actual level is, therefore making a 10-decibel increase sound like 20 decibels to the residents.

The Museum also faces more legal issues, including its appeal of a fine levied against the park last year by the Warren County Code Enforcement Board that will be heard before Warren District Judge John Brown on March 28.

Then on Nov. 1, a civil trial will begin before Warren Circuit Judge John Grise to decide if the Clark Circle residents should receive monetary damages from the track noise.

Source:
Bowling Green Daily News

Related:
Corvette Museum’s Motorsports Park Could be Heading for a 2016 Jury Trial Over Noise Dispute
[VIDEO] Neighbors File Lawsuit Against the National Corvette Museum
NCM May Go to Court After Board Orders Fines, Closure of the Motorsports Park Over Noise