City passes amendment allowing motorsports facilities

Dec. 15—HENDERSON — In a 6-2 vote, Henderson's City Council passed a law that will open the door for the construction of motorsports facilities within the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction.

A full copy of the law — a text amendment to the city's land-use rules — can be found on The Dispatch's website.

Before the City Council voted, members gave the public a chance to share their thoughts.

Devin Anderson, a member of local racing club Henderson Drag Strip Racing and one of the petitioners who brought the amendment to the city in July, said the racetrack is "way bigger than racing." Members of the club are more than racing enthusiasts. Anderson is a lumberjack and arborist, for example.

"So, we can teach these youth all these trades that we do along with bikes — changing oils, spark plugs," Anderson said.

"So we just want to bring that towards the city and help our youth."

One of those youths spoke at the meeting, saying the club's main goal was to youth safe and to give them a place to "have fun." He has also learned about motorbikes and their workings.

HDS Racing uses a racetrack on private land in the county. The amendment will give them a guideline for how to operate a racetrack, Anderson said.

Justin Davis, a member of HDS and another petitioner, advocated for it during the public hearing.

"I am in this community every day doing what I can to change and fix the housing issues, sponsoring individual kids every year at Christmas," Davis said. "They [haven't had] the best housing conditions for the past several years.

"I see the violence and the lack of resources we the people have," he continued. "Here we are telling you all what's needed in the community to assist and help make the community better. A track that ain't doing no harm to anybody might have the chance to bring the local Black community together and many others.

"We are a minority in a city where we are the majority. This could be an outlet for many youths and teens to legally give them something to do in this area, to keep them out of trouble."

The Rev. Calvin Brooks spoke alongside Anderson and Davis.

Anderson "is an outstanding young man," Brooks said. "He's a product of this community and he doesn't take things lightly. So everything that he does is calculated, everything he is doing now is going to actually benefit this community. We constantly hear in the city people talk about what we can do in the community to make things better for our young people.

"And it's not just young Black men, it's our young people. So what he and some of his friends have done was come together and find some way that it could bring something for the young people to do that is constructive and to give them an opportunity to think and to use their hands."

He said Anderson and other younger people are trying to do something "positive" and encouraged older citizens to go out into the community and "see what we can do to help our young people."

Malik Opiyo, who works for HDS as their security officer, said he's an "example of making positive choices to escape [his] environment."

"It's hard coming up without good direction," Opiyo said. He said his passion for motorsports and engineering kept him from becoming "another statistic and nuisance."

Opiyo and a team of six to eight others as well as trained emergency medical technicians keep the club safe, he said.

Pastor John Miles said the club isn't causing any problems and that "these young folks, they're doing something positive." He urged the council to "give them the opportunity to make this work."

The City Council chamber was full to bursting with Henderson citizens awaiting the vote. Not all present were in favor of the amendment, including Brian Boyd of Boyd Chevrolet.

Boyd spoke against the text amendment on the grounds that it would "further compromise the due diligence process of the development for homes and even businesses wanting to locate in Henderson's [extraterritorial jurisdiction], which holds the most open ... land for residential development."

"Noise, traffic, interrupted peace and quiet along with other waste byproducts" of large events like races would "take away from the city's appearance and welcoming appeal," Boyd said.

A racetrack would also take up more of the city's "already-stressed and limited resources" and that the city should take more action in addressing the "blight it has allowed to exist."

Additionally, he said an accident at a racetrack "could be seen as a sponsored mishap supported by the city" and thus the liability could fall on the city for passing the amendment.

The extraterritorial jurisdiction is land outside the city that nonetheless remains subject to city land use rules. In decades past it would have been considered a likely annexation target, but changes in state law made early in the 2010s have complicated that.

State law forbids people under 16 from riding all-terrain vehicles with an engine larger than 90 cc, which would disqualify efforts to make the racetracks for young people, he said. Greg Etheridge, president of Gupton Services, noted this during his address and added that "if you don't know what 90 cc means, you aren't prepared to vote on this tonight."

Etheridge continued, saying that the amendment doesn't adhere with the city's Comprehensive Plan, which is meant to guide the city's development and land use. He said the City Council must make a statement explaining why passing of the amendment is "responsible and in the best public interest."

"Is it good policy to allow dirt-style racetracks to occupy these limited but opportune areas for development?" he questioned.

Deborah Ferruccio, a Warren County resident and longtime environmental activist, spoke against the amendment as well on the grounds that noise would be too invasive. She acknowledged that the "youth need a place, we need places for our kids to go," but that the council should further research the topic before voting.

Ferruccio cited a racetrack in Warren County that selected a large site and shaped the land so the "sound did not destroy property in miles in every direction."

She urged the council to table the vote and further develop it to include site selection criteria and "those kinds of things that would ensure a better choice of property." She said that the HDS members were "good-faith kids, young people that were wanting to do something for their own community of kids" but that any future racetrack would be shut down by noise complaints.

Another Warren County resident spoke against the amendment, saying the arguments were similar to the ones in his home county.

"But, this is what you get," he said, and proceeded to play a video on his iPad to the council. It's unclear what was in the video, as it was angled away from the crowd, but he referred to "the gambling, the drinking." Rap music accompanied whatever was being shown.

He also said noise would impact negatively the properties around a racetrack and added that racetracks should not be located within city limits but could be built elsewhere in the county.

The ordinance limits racetracks to the ETJ, Mayor Eddie Ellington said.

"What does that have to do with this," one crowd member said. "That's Warren County," said another.

Ellington added that "it's hard to compare another community to ours."

Councilwoman Melissa Elliott moved to approve the amendment, Councilman Lamont Noel seconded. Members Michael Rainey and Garry Daeke voted no. Elliott, Noel and members Sara Coffey, Marion Williams, Ola Thorpe-Cooper and Jason Spriggs voted yes.

It passed. The crowd applauded. Some of the speakers shared their thoughts after the vote.

"I feel good, man," Anderson said. "It feels good to finally get passed... we're thankful for it. We're ready to bring big things toward Henderson, North Carolina. Lot of things coming."

The club's first race will be in March, he said. Later, they plan on implementing a youth program — teaching kids about how bikes operate for safety purposes, not having them race yet.

Etheridge reiterated that the city would need to make a statement justifying their decision.

Boyd said, "I think it's so important that we keep policy at the forefront. Personal matters are super important, but we never want them to ultimately persuade the policy, because the policy is going to outlast any person."

He said the policy won't just apply to the petitioners, a "group of young entrepreneurs with an idea and a vision," but anyone who wants to open a similar business in Henderson.

"It is so important then to make sure that your policy is sound and considering all the realities that can ultimately come from that so it contributes, ultimately, to the good," Boyd said. "We will just see what comes from this and let's hope that it's ultimately good things for the city."