Trio eyes motocross arena

 

Article Date: Thursday, December 13, 2007

One Wolfeboro resident is looking to make a business venture out of a pastime he and his friends share. While it may be good for them, some residents in Alton are not smiling.

Jody Persson, along with his friend, Eric Piper, and brother-in-law Matt Scott, are proposing to open up a motocross facility in Alton, just past the traffic circle on Route 28.

The motocross arena would provide a place where outdoor enthusiast could come and run their all terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and snowmobiles in the winter on some gravel made tracks.

Should the track pass through the town planning and zoning boards, the motocross arena would utilize the 46-acre Coffin Brook Gravel Pit in town.

"Basically it is turning an old grave pit into a motocross track," said Persson, summing up the project.

Instead of what the land currently looks like, Persson explained that there would be a mile and a quarter track that would use the natural landscape as the raceway. The large mile and a quarter track would be accompanied by a small track for beginners to learn on and children to ride.

While, due to the gravel operations, there is a lot of barren land, Persson and his partners say they will attempt to restore the land to what it had been, with trees, sod, and other restoration efforts.

Because of the lay of the land, not much construction will to be necessary to get the facility up and running but they will need a permit from the N.H. Department of Environmental Services for the earth-moving and wetlands impact.

Persson said one of the main concerns residents have voiced deals with potential noise. To help ease that concern, Persson and his partners have put a limit on the times of operation, from 11 a.m. up to one hour before dusk on the weekdays and 9 a.m. up to one hour before dusk on weekends and during events. The facility also would operate only 190 days of the year.

This would be the first motocross facility that Persson knows about that will implement a 96-decimal limit on what riders' machines can generate for noise. Additionally, the group will enlist the services of sound engineers to help prevent any intrusive noise from escaping the arena.

"That and the sport has been getting a bad rap lately," Persson said.

The issue is so controversial that, at the last meeting on the subject before the zoning board of adjustment, a petition with 200 signatures was presented to the board, voicing disapproval of the track.

"I would call them extremists. They are just dead-set against it," said Persson, explaining that, since he announced his intentions for the motocross track, there have been some falsehoods spread around the community.

Person said there is almost an equal number of citizens who support the track.

"The sport [of motocross] is big across America," Persson said, adding that he and his partners originally got the idea when they were traveling to Maine nearly every weekend to have a little fun on a track.

Figuring there were more people like them, they decided to look into setting up a track.

They say they found a huge demand throughout the Granite State. As Persson explained it, there is no place like the one they are proposing in the state for motocross riders to go.

Persson also proposes that all rides on the track would be coordinated to prevent accidents. He explained that, every year, there are a surprising number of deaths related to illegal motocross or unsupervised rides.

Persson envisions the track having a beneficial effect on the community. In addition to the estimated 40 or so people that will come to use the track daily during the peak summer season, filling up their gas tanks and eating at the local establishments, he expects to see 1,000 people drawn to Alton for the events, coming from all over New England, and they will have to find a place to stay, eat, and get their machines up and running for the events. That is a draw that could not only impact Alton's economy but it would boost the economy of the Lakes Region, he said.

On Jan. 3, Persson will be taking his proposal before the zoning board. The meeting will take place at the school to accommodate all the people who are likely to attend.