During a 9 a.m. special called meeting Wednesday, the commission unanimously approved racing of stock cars and trucks, go-carts, four-wheeler bikes, motorized and nonmotorized bicycles and Legends race cars at the Albany Motor Speedway Racetrack at 1303 Williamsburg Road.
The situation between the Radium Springs Neighborhood Association and the track originally sprang up about 10 years ago, and was revisited recently when track owners applied for rezoning to allow for the racing of vehicles other than Legends cars.
The issue comes down to one of noise, which residents say is intrusive and diminishes their quality of life.
At Wednesday’s commission meeting, there were no representatives from the association.
“We were expecting the outcome based on conversations with my county commissioner (John Hayes),” said Kay Kirkman, chair of the association’s zoning committee.
“We are very disappointed that the commission did not support us on this issue,” she said. “We think that they did not seriously investigate the use of mufflers. The report addressed the issue of noise reduction ... not whether noise was incompatible to a neighborhood area.”
The commission’s approval for racing hinged on five standards, as presented in a June 2 letter from businessman Bob Brooks to planning and development services:
• That hours of operation be Fridays, Saturdays and holidays from 9 a.m.-11 p.m. unless delayed by rain or to finish a race already under way;
• That all motorized race vehicles be fitted with a Schoenfeld muffler (model 111535) or with a comparable noise reduction device, and that late-model motorized race vehicles with muffler or exhaust failure be removed from races;
• That off-duty police or security personnel, emergency medical technicians and firefighters be present at races;
• That prior conditions of a 100-foot buffer on the east and north property lines and a 10-foot wide landscape buffer be removed.
Brooks in his letter stated that loudspeakers would be redirected “as to lessen the voice sound projection toward the (Radium) neighborhood,” but County Attorney Spencer Lee said such an effort was not a standard, rather a condition that needs to be addressed.
In a Tuesday e-mail to Hayes, which was copied to Dougherty County Administrator Richard Crowdis, Kirkman wrote, “We expect a reasonable resolution would have to address the level of noise, include monitoring noise levels and enforcement by the county. The extended hours during the day and the permission to operate later than permitted, if there is rain, is simply not satisfactory.”
As the decision was unanimous, it was thus approved by Hayes, whose district includes Radium Springs.
“From what I know about the Radium Springs Neighborhood Association, they will understand the decision today ... and know that it was in the best interest (of the community),” Hayes said following the meeting.
While in session, Hayes lauded the civic involvement of the association’s members.
“In the process of all of this, some people have unnecessarily taken hits,” he said. “When we have citizens who are engaged ... I really take issue with some of the uncanny remarks.”
He said later, “They didn’t raise this issue for any other reason than quality of life.”
Radium Springs homeowner Sue Johnson said it’s quality of life that brought her family to the neighborhood, much of which sits along the Flint River.
“I was never in favor of closing the track. People need recreation, and I don’t think it was the intention of any of the residents in Radium Springs to take away anything pleasurable from other people,” she said Wednesday afternoon. “We wanted to enjoy our homes.”
While Johnson said race noise at her property isn’t as loud as at that of others, “On the weekends, when you have guests over and you go outside and sit on the deck on the river, and we have to listen to the vroom vroom, it almost is embarrassing.”
Kirkman and fellow Radium resident Tom Barclay said the noise issue wasn’t studied as it should have been.
Sound, said Barclay, an engineer, “is fairly complicated, or at least not an intuitive science.”
Experts with the Georgia Institute of Technology who conducted the recent study (a University of Georgia study was conducted about a decade ago) took noise readings at the track and from several locations throughout the neighborhood.
What they didn’t do, Barclay said, is take simultaneous readings.
“So the probability is — if ambient conditions change or (there are) conditions accidental or on purpose, or (if) drivers are driving at different speeds or the grouping (of cars racing isn’t) the same — then there is no good correlation between the noise made at the track and the noise detected at the neighborhood,” he said.
“The Georgia Tech people did not make any effort — it wasn’t in the purpose of their study — to evaluate or recommend what would reduce those noises.”
Barclay, while an engineer, noted that he isn’t an acoustical engineer, added that, “the study was interesting, but overall, it was pretty inconclusive scientifically.”
Kirkman said the matter won’t die with Wednesdays vote.
“I think all the commissioners ducked their responsibilities,” Kirkman said. “We are seeking legal counsel.”
In her Tuesday e-mail, Kirkman wrote that, “As you know, we felt betrayed by the commission in their failure to act responsibly on this matter. ... Regardless of the position the county takes tomorrow, it appears that this issue will not be over for them.”
Of her efforts and those of her colleagues, said Commissioner Muarlean Edwards, “This has been handled in the most professional manner.”
“I think they did the best they (commissioners) could overall,” Barclay said. “They tried to take into consideration the residents’ needs as well (as that of the track owners and visitors).”
Still, he said, “I’m disappointed in the outcome. I don’t want to have to hear the racetrack on any weekend they feel like racing.”