EVERETT — A lawsuit over an off-road motorcycle track once planned near Granite Falls seeks tens of millions of dollars in damages from Snohomish County, alleging that officials there are to blame for the project falling through nearly two years ago.
The legal complaint from MXGP of Kirkland also makes an unusual claim about the track’s business model: That it expected to turn much of its profit not from dirt bikes, but from the dirt itself by accepting construction fill for a fee.
The lawsuit was filed Feb. 24 in Snohomish County Superior Court. Attorney Patrick Vail of Seattle is representing the plaintiffs.
The suit doesn’t specify a compensation amount, but a related damage claim the county received earlier does: $38.3 million.
The bulk of it —nearly $32 million— allegedly would have come from a business relationship with Lake Stevens company, Halo Resources. The plan was for Halo to pay MXGP to accept fill dirt delivered from construction sites in Seattle and elsewhere in King County, according to the claim. The dirt would have been incorporated into the track’s sound-proofing berm.
MXGP estimates it spent about $1.1 million out of pocket on the failed project, put in another $824,000 in work hours and missed out on $4.4 million in profits during the first five years of track operations.
Snohomish County’s attorneys have received MXGP’s complaint and will respond accordingly, said Jason Cummings, the county’s chief civil deputy prosecutor. In court filings, the county asks the court to dismiss the case and order reimbursement for its costs. No trial date has been set.
MXGP started operating a racetrack near Monroe in 2001. The course occupied part of a property near the Monroe Correctional Complex that was shared with soccer and baseball fields. County code-enforcement officials tagged the racetrack and ballfields for violations in 2004, saying they were illegal uses on land zoned for agriculture. That track closed in 2005.
Council members worked to help the backers find a new venue in Maltby, according to the lawsuit. MXGP entered into an agreement to buy a sand and gravel pit. The company claims it spent more than $100,000 only to have the county upend the plans. After some neighbors complained, the County Council changed the zoning to exclude racetracks, forcing the motocross community to look elsewhere, in MXGP’s telling.
The company says it decided not to sue in 2006 because county officials agreed to help find a new site. Then-County Councilman John Koster and his colleagues steered MXGP toward a property on the Mountain Loop Highway, about 6 miles outside of Granite Falls, according to the complaint.
With MXGP’s help, the council drafted a new ordinance for motocross racetracks and passed it unanimously. In 2007, MXGP applied to build its project. It would have covered 65 acres of a 437-acre wooded property.
The response from Granite Falls city officials and business owners was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, given the potential economic benefits in town.
But many immediate neighbors and outdoor enthusiasts were upset. They feared the track would scar the landscape and ruin the area’s tranquility. They raised issues about landslide risks, harm to nearby Canyon Creek, oil spills polluting ground water and the potential for engine noise to harm populations of the marbled murrelet, an endangered seabird that nests in old-growth forests.
The approval process dragged on another seven years as consultants and planners hashed out ways to dampen noise and protect wildlife.
MXGP co-owner Gary Strode said the county’s restrictions would limit him to a mom-and-pop operation, a far cry from the racetrack hosting national events he had imagined at the outset. Still, he was eager to move ahead.
In late 2014, the county hearing examiner approved the track plans, subject to a 14-page list of conditions to limit noise, water runoff, dust, light pollution, fire danger, traffic and more. The council upheld the decision, but added a requirement for a sound-dampening berm.
Neighbors and the nonprofit Mountain Loop Conservancy filed a land-use petition to challenge the plans. King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North agreed, ordering the council and hearing examiner approvals vacated. In his ruling, North said the county improperly rezoned the land and failed to demonstrate why a zoning change was necessary. The county never filed an appeal. The track was dead.
In its lawsuit, MXGP alleges negligence and misrepresentation on the part of the County Council, the hearing examiner and employees in the planning department.
County attorneys counter that MXGP had lawyers present “during all relevant times in this matter” and could have taken further action to pursue a superior court appeal. They contend that county officials acted with good faith and within the scope of their duties, making them immune under state law.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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