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County delays raceway vote

• The Dougherty County Commission tables a vote on a request to allow racing by certain vehicles at a local speedway.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — And so the racing vs. noise debate will rage on for two more weeks.

The Dougherty County Commission prolonged the question of permitting racing by various types of vehicles at the Albany Motor Speedway Monday at their business session when commissioners voted 6-1 to table the vote until their next business session in two weeks. Commissioner Chuck Lingle cast the lone dissenting vote.

“I wish there was a simple solution in this matter, but there is not,” District 2 Commissioner John Hayes said. “I think, therefore, it is prudent that we made this decision. We’ll be able to take more time to study the issue.”

The raceway, located off U.S. 19 at 1303 Williamsburg Road, lies in Hayes’ district. Residents in nearby Putney and Radium Springs neighborhoods have petitioned the commission not to allow the racing of stock cars and trucks, go-carts, four-wheelers, motorized and nonmotorized bicycles and Legends race cars, which current owner Bill Farnsworth is seeking.

Sale of the speedway to businessman Tim Pafford, who once served as a managing partner at the track, is contingent upon approval by the commission.

“This is a very difficult and touchy issue,” Commission Chair Jeff Sinyard said after the vote to table. “If there is room for compromise, that would be wonderful. We as a commission are concerned greatly about this issue. We always support business in this community, but we are just as concerned about the rights of our citizens.”

Pafford said after the meeting he welcomes the opportunity to provide more data for commissioners.

“Certainly I would rather have seen a vote today, but I look at this as a good thing because it gives me an opportunity to get more information to the commission,” he said. “We’ll monitor the noise at our (weekend) races and get more data for them.

“I still say many of the complaints that are coming in have nothing to do with noise. If that were the case, where have these people been the last seven years? This is a personal vendetta against me, but I’m confident the County Commission will do what is right.”

Commissioners encouraged staff to work with persons on both side of the issue to see if any kind of “give-and-take” might be feasible. Commissioner Muarlean Edwards recommended that Hayes and Commissioner Jack Stone meet with both sides in an attempt to facilitate compromise.

“This issue is a two-edged sword,” Stone said. “We certainly will look at both sides of the issue, from a business standpoint and to the needs of our citizens.”

Pafford said he has already agreed to a number of stipulations designed to cut down on noise at the track.

“We’re willing to require mufflers on all cars; we’ll shut things down at 11 p.m.; and we’ve agreed to limit racing to Fridays, Saturdays and holidays,” he said. “We’re just asking for a level playing field, to be given the same opportunities that others have.”

Hayes said the fact that the U.S. 19 Dragway is located adjacent to the speedway adds another element to the discussion.

“We have a paradox,” he said. “There are race tracks on both sides (of Williamsburg Road), and it becomes a question of how we say one can’t (race) when the other one can. We’ve got to figure out how to squeeze fairness into the equation.

“I was out there yesterday, and I’ll admit that there is huge noise. Where this will end up, for me, is an issue of how we achieve fairness.”

In other action at the meeting, the commission approved a one-day alcohol license for an April 25 fundraiser at the Flint RiverQuarium, OK’d the nomination of Dr. Temp Phillips to serve an expired term on the Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful board and voted to accept a $10,000 local assistance grant in funding the Southeast Dougherty Park lighting project.

Commissioners also approved special-purpose local- option sales tax and budgeted Capital Improvement Project funding for two John Deere tractors ($34,575 and $18,043), a pull-behind mower ($3,700), a Peterbilt cab and chassis ($87,911 and $103,587, respectively), a 192-inch dump body ($16,716) and a low-boy trailer ($48,380) for Public Works; a Chevrolet Impala ($16,645.18) for Juvenile Court; a Peterbilt cab, chassis and hook lift ($80,210 and $38,131, respectively) for Solid Waste; and a $63,138 contract to Quality Compliance Co. for the Public Works welding shop.

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