GRANITE FALLS — Opponents of an off-road motorcycle track northeast of Granite Falls filed a lawsuit against Snohomish County on Thursday over decisions to approve the project.
The nonprofit Mountain Loop Conservancy filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court, along with Ginger Amundson and Martin Robinett.
The suit challenges the Snohomish County Council’s 3-0 vote on March 6* to deny their appeal of an earlier hearing examiner decision.
The decisions from the hearing examiner and the council would allow the track to be built, subject to a 14-page list of conditions addressing noise, pollution and other issues. The council did add a requirement for would-be track operator MXGP of Kirkland, to build a sound-dampening berm around the facility.
Two council members recused themselves to avoid the appearance that they’d been influenced by track supporters, who sent them hundreds of emails before the vote. Motocross enthusiasts also brought signs to hearings urging council members to vote in their favor.
The council members were supposed to be acting in a quasi-judicial capacity. Their job was to review the hearing examiner’s December approval of a conditional use permit and a rezoning request for the 437 acres of forestland where the track would be built.
The lawsuit also challenges the county hearing examiner’s decision not to require MXGP to prepare an environmental impact statement. That issue was not appealable to the County Council.
MXGP since 2007 has been seeking approval to build the complex of motocross tracks on timberland owned by Bascom Pacific of Portland, Oregon.
Correction, March 30, 2015: The County Council voted March 6 to uphold a hearing examiner’s decision allowing a motocross track to be built near Granite Falls. An earlier version of this story referenced an incorrect date.
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