Racetracks, future of Budget Committee in Winchester

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

WINCHESTER — Petition articles to regulate racetracks, an operating budget of more than $3 million and an article seeking to dissolve the town budget committee will top this year’s warrant at the deliberative session Saturday.
Resident Robert E. Davis, spokesman for the Winchester Noise Coalition, said Wednesday he submitted the two warrant articles to regulate racetracks because he and his fellow coalition members are at their wits’ end.

“This is our attempt to put in some bylaws under the state law just to give some relief from the noise of the racetracks,” he said.

The racetracks he is referring to are Monadnock Speedway, Winchester Motorsports and Winchester Speedpark.

He said some people who have joined the coalition say the noise has gotten so bad that their children can’t sleep at night when the tracks are hosting events.

The coalition, which was founded in 2007, has 131 members — all of whom live in Winchester — he said. Members have gone to selectmen in hopes of addressing the problem through further regulation, but with no success, he said.

The group did get the town to pass a noise ordinance in 2008, ( Selectmen made the tracks exempt, saying they were 'grandfathered in" ) but more needs to be done, he said.

One warrant article asks voters to require selectmen to adopt bylaws for the regulation of racetracks that address hours and days of operation; limiting the number of race practice days to one four-hour slot per week; limiting the number of event days per year; and developing permit requirements for operators of the tracks.

A second warrant article seeks voter approval to activate temporary racetrack regulations that would be valid until the next annual town meeting.

Those regulations would restrict racetrack hours to between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m., and restrict races, practices or any other motor vehicle competition or event to between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., except on Sundays, when there would be no activity on the track.

Racetrack owners would also be required to install sound-engineered noise barriers and ensure every participating vehicle has a muffler that meets or exceeds the manufacturer’s specifications to reduce exhaust and engine noise, according to the warrant article.

“We aren’t out to put the racetracks out of business, we just want to make them better neighbors,” Davis said.

Other articles

Selectmen have recommended a warrant article to abolish the town’s budget committee.

Selectmen Chairman Roberta A. Fraser said Tuesday that if the warrant article passes at town meeting in March, it would put the budget process back under the control of the selectmen.

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

John Adams

“It’s not that we don’t think the budget committee is a good idea. We think it just needs to be re-looked at,” she said. “Somehow, the board and the budget committee need to get on the same page.”

This year, the budget committee has proposed an operating budget of $3,384,489 for 2015-16, which is $43,478 less than the selectmen’s recommended budget of $3,427,967.

The budget committee’s proposal is an increase of $85,872, or 2.6 percent, from the 2014-15 operating budget of $3,298,617 that voters approved last year.

As an official-ballot town, Winchester residents are allowed to discuss and amend town meeting warrant articles during the deliberative session. The meeting will then be adjourned until Tuesday, March 10, when residents vote by ballot on the warrant articles.

The deliberative session will be held Saturday at 9 a.m. at Winchester Town Hall.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.