By Matthew Spolar
Monitor Staff
December 18, 2009
The "Sno Bowl" is on. At a standing-room-only public hearing last night, the Loudon Planning Board gave unanimous approval for New Hampshire Motor Speedway to host a two-day snowmobile event early next year.
Though organizers hope the Sno Bowl - the name is still in flux, but officials say they're dropping the W - will be an annual occurrence, it is only approved for Feb. 20 and 21, 2010, as part of a compromise that pleased both sides in the debate.
"It's kind of like you're giving a guy an opportunity to date your daughter one time and he's gotta be on his toes," said John Zudell, the speedway's vice president of operations and development. "We've got to make sure we don't mess up."
At the center of the debate was a 10-year-old rule adopted by the planning board after hearing noise and traffic concerns about the track from residents in nearby Canterbury. It states that races at the track could only take place after April 1 and before Oct. 31.
At the meeting, Jeffrey Fullerton, a noise expert from Acentech, said a study concluded the snowmobiles would be clearly audible to residents about a mile from the track but would not impede a discussion between two people.
"At the start of the race, you'll know that the race is starting," he said. The 70-plus crowd that spilled into the foyer yielded a number of opinions. Abutters were worried about noise and safety from the event and snowmobilers zooming through nearby trails on their way to the Sno Bowl.
Canterbury residents said they were disturbed by the planning board potentially ignoring the concerns they raised 10 years ago, and Loudon residents said dissenters were preventing a boon to the local economy. Snowmobilers said the event would be no big deal.
Judy Elliott, a Canterbury resident, got up at one point with a plea that the issue not divide the community into snowmobilers and non-snowmobilers. "I'm hearing a lot of anger," she said.
After all opinions had been heard, planning board member Bob Ordway got up. "This whole discussion seems to be lacking facts," he said. "I think a logical solution would be a conditional approval to run this race. . . . Then we'll have some facts to use."
His suggestion seemed to agree with the rest of the board members, who then voted unanimously to give conditional approval to hold the event next year. Chairman Tom Dow told inquiring Canterbury residents that after checking with the town's attorney he was able to approve the one-shot event without changing the rule.
Dow did not recuse himself after the Canterbury selectmen argued he had a conflict of interest as the vice president of the New Hampshire Sno-Shakers Snowmobile Club, one of the groups organizing the event.
The result of the meeting seemed to leave both sides happy. "We're ecstatic," Zudell said. "There were some tough issues going into it, and it could have easily gone the other way."
Tim Meeh, a Canterbury resident who sits on the Shaker Village board of directors, said the decision by the board was "about what I expected." "We're glad to see it's limited to this one event, and we'll see what happens next year," he said.
Jim Snyder, chairman of the Canterbury Planning Board, agreed. "I'm glad that the condition (for) racing only between April 1 and Oct. 31 remained intact," he said. "I think that it gives us a chance to get a real idea of what the impact of this event will be."
Kim Bean, president of the Sno-Shakers, said he would have preferred permanent approval for the event but thought that it would be granted in time. "I think after this year everybody's going to realize it's a good thing and it'll slide right through," he said.