Claremont
About 20 people, including Conservation Commission members, attended the site visit, but none of the stiff opposition to the proposal that characterized a recent meeting was in evidence, due to ground rules set by interim City Planner Mike McCrory.
“This is for general fact finding for the seasonal campground,” McCrory said with everyone gathered in a lot where race cars park during weekly racing, before venturing into the thick brush.
McCrory invited people to ask for explanations of the plan but said comments for or against the proposal would be taken at the ZBA hearing on Aug. 1.
“We will be taking testimony at the hearing,” McCrory said.
With those instructions, many broke off into groups of two or three to walk the site, orienting themselves with a drawing of the plan. Most of where the campground would be located is flat, but the backside has a steep drop off to the west and south.
The speedway is in the rural residential zone and because a campground is not a permitted use, the ZBA has to approve a variance.
Heather McNamara, a Bowker Street resident whose property abuts the area where 88 of the sites would be located, walked far into the knee-high brush that has grown back since the area was last logged. McNamara pointed to a fence that divides the properties and said her concern is about noise and trash being dumped on her property if the RV sites are allowed, despite a new six-foot fence that would be built. She has obtained 25 signatures on a petition opposing the campground.
The other 61 sites are on the southern edge of the speedway property.
One of the staunchest opponents of the plan, Charles Egbert, who has lived next to the speedway entrance on Thrasher Road for 35 years, was disappointed he could not comment to the ZBA members on the proposal.
“I am totally against it,” said Egbert after everyone had finished walking the property. “It will destroy the neighborhood and we will lose all privacy.”
If a variance is approved, the speedway would next need site plan approval from the Planning Board.
“We would then need an alteration of terrain permit from the state so we could pull out stumps and start putting in a road,” said Jim Ambrose, one of the speedway’s three owners, who bought the property in December 2014.
Ambrose said little work could be done this construction year if all approvals were received.
Ambrose also said the location of the recreation hall and some other things that are part of the plan would depend on where the septic system is built.
Jonathan Halle of Concord-based Warrenstreet Architects was at the site visit, to answer questions from the public and zoning board members.
The ZBA members and others also viewed where a new entrance to the speedway would be constructed on Thrasher Road, just west of the current entrance.
Halle said the place for the new road would give people leaving the speedway 280 feet of visibility in either direction. But Rev Ford, who lives on the opposite side of Thrasher Road just west of the entrance, said the problem will be people turning into the entrance coming from the east and having to cross the other lane.
Ford said they will not be able to see cars coming from the west around a corner until they are in the other lane.
“I have no problem with the campground. I think it is a great idea,” Ford said. “But I want people to be safe.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
