News release provided by Focus:Tamworth

Tamworth — November 8, 2006 — At a meeting Wednesday night, five members of the Tamworth Planning Board voted to deny a Special Use Permit to Club Motorsports Inc (CMI), which wants to build a private three-mile racetrack for fast cars and motorcycles on the north face of Mt. Whittier. One member abstained.

The permit is required under the Tamworth Wetlands Ordinance because the project will have an adverse impact on several wetlands areas of CMI’s 251-acre site.

By denying the permit, the Planning Board confirmed the unanimous opinion of the Tamworth Conservation Commission that the project as currently designed cannot be built in Tamworth. Public testimony at a two-session hearing was also strongly against granting the permit.

This is the second Special Use Permit application that CMI has submitted. The first was filed in the summer of 2004, but CMI withdrew the application before the Planning Board had an opportunity to vote, saying that the ordinance “exceeds our permitting needs.”

The NH Superior Court ruled in December of 2005 that CMI must obtain a Special Use Permit before beginning construction. CMI submitted its current application in August of 2006.