The owners of an illegal motorcycle racetrack outside Monroe will be given extra time to find a new location, a Snohomish County hearing examiner decided Friday.
“While we’re pleased, we have work to do,” said Thomas Adams, an attorney for Dave Remlinger and Steve Davison, who own the racetrack property under the name Academy Holdings.
That work includes finding a new location for the track, Adams said.
Neighbors of the racetrack, built on farmland near 177th Avenue SE, have complained about the noise from racing motorcycles since June 2003. County officials ordered the track shut down because it was built on farmland without permits.
But the owners of the property asked the county to give them until May 31 to remove the track, because other groups that have built sports fields without permits on farmland have been given until then to remove the facilities or get permits.
Neighbors said they’re not surprised the racetrack won’t be removed immediately.
“When we walked out of that hearing office … we pretty much knew it didn’t look good,” said Denise Beebe, a berry farmer who lives near the track.
The racetrack is owned by MXGP Inc. Company owner Gary Strode has said he has spent about $250,000 on improvements to the property, and the company needs the deadline extension because the racetrack will host a nationally sanctioned race in mid-May.
Track supporters say it fuels Monroe’s economy and brings a needed boost to restaurants and businesses.
But Beebe said the bottom line remains: The track was built illegally and violates county code.
Although racetrack owners will continue to look for a new site, track supporters say they’ll also lobby for a change in the state’s Growth Management Act. That law prevents farmland from being used for recreational facilities such as ball fields and racetracks.
In his decision, county hearing examiner Robert Backstein wrote that some neighbors who complained about the track said they didn’t oppose a May 31 deadline.
Backstein said the illegal track is “a very unusual case,” but giving the racetrack owners until the end of May “will allow a reasonable time … to either cease operation of the track, find another location or attempt to have zoning changes.”
“To do otherwise would involve, in the examiner’s experience, extended delays and costs,” Backstein noted.
The county has a deadline of Jan. 31 to appeal Backstein’s decision in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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