Palmer News

[ED9man]

Palmer race track settles for $250K over wetlands damage

By: Mass. Lawyers Weekly Staff August 21, 2015

The owner and the builder of a sports car race track in Palmer will each pay $125,000 to settle allegations that they irreparably destroyed or damaged wetland resources, altered or destroyed breeding habitats for protected species, and violated the terms of permits issued for the project, the Attorney General’s Office announced.
The owner will also grant to the Department of Fish and Game permanent conservation restrictions on 309 acres of land surrounding the track to protect the natural resources that remain there, and will restore those areas at the project site that were not irreparably damaged.
According to the complaint and consent judgment filed Aug. 20 in Suffolk Superior Court, Palmer Motorsports Park and J. Read Corp. will also each pay $100,000 to acquire approximately 200 acres of additional land bordering the project site. The land will be given to the commonwealth for conservation as wildlife habitat and open space.
The consent judgment settles a lawsuit brought by the AG’s Office alleging violations of the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, the Clean Waters Act, the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, and associated regulations during construction of facility.
According to the complaint, the approximately 480-acre site was originally characterized by steep and rocky wooded hillsides and had several protected wetland resource areas and breeding habitats for the Blue Spotted Salamander and the Orange Sallow Moth, including some vernal pools that were completely destroyed by the construction of the 2.3-mile race track and amenities around it.
Palmer Motorsports and J Read Corp. must implement a comprehensive plan to restore some of the damage done to the habitat when they cut down trees within conserved wetlands, drove heavy machinery outside the allowable area and filled streams at unpermitted locations to avoid the construction of more costly bridges.
The case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Frederick D. Augenstern of the Environmental Protection Division, with assistance from the Jane A. Rothchild of the Office of General Counsel, Beverly M. Vucson of the Department of Fish and Gaming, and other environmental officials.

The town and the state are both after the track! I wonder how much of these legal costs will be passed onto the clubs. As long as it stays open!

[RPM]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/275371457/Pal ... orts-Order

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... almer.html

[breakaway500]

Like there aren't literally thousands and thousands of desolate acres of swampland left in Massachewshitts for the Yellow Bellied Sap-suckers to play in…???? Whiskey Hill would still be an unused tract of land for breeding mosquitoes and ticks if it had not been developed into the paradise it is now.
I really HATE the fact that a few people in positions of authority find it necessary to enforce every letter of the 'law" verbatim when anyone tries to build something in their precious tadpole muck holes,just because they don't see anything useful or beneficial about a race track! GRRRR…

I was once on the Conservation Committee in town till I realized all they wanted to do was "preserve" every single rock,tree and puddle regardless of what was being done. The only progress they wanted was into their pockets..they would levy fines for violations,charge fees for everything and then use the money to give themselves raises and bonuses.

Whiskey Hill is the BEST thing that has ever happened to Ma since I have been alive. A gleaming beacon of driving nirvana for every speed enthusiast to enjoy. If this had been built down south they would have made Fred Ferguson mayor of the city!!

Tree humping Bastards…!!!!!!

[962porsche]

Mark you are smart enough to know how to play the game .
when I was racing off road motorcycles i joined a couple of tree hugging groups for one reason it's best to fight them from the inside then outside .
the question did it work ?
hell yes we kept some riding areas open that would have been closed .

the sierra club would get really screw up when there were more members that road dirt bikes showing up for meeting then tree huggers .


the same has to hold true for the tree huggers that want to close up race tracks or make it hard for them to operate .

I'm sure palmer did break some wet land rules or the tree huggers would not have a leg to stand on .
rules are for a reason and no matter how much we want a new track there are other that don't want it just as much .
kind of like gun control !
so you do have to find a happy medium no matter how the track will bring in more revenue to the surrounding area .
your going to get people not liking the extra traffic , noise and other thing they think are bad .

one thing about palmer is it will never have pro racing their .
pro racing brings in lots of money . money to fight land groups with .
if a land group or groups get a bug up there butt they can drain a small track of funds real quick .
running at Palmer they opened to early and my guess as to way is they needed to start taking money they were laying out to build the track .
so now by hitting them when they are strapped for cast flow you could put them into bankruptcy .

so them what do we do a save Palmer fund ? every one donates money ? I would give to a fund like that !

[ED9man]

The moth they are trying to close the track over, only in Massachusetts.

Palmer should get some SCCA Track Night type events going, I know it's a little more remote than Thompson, but the demand is huge. I talked to the organizer at Thompson and he said they could easily sell out an event like that every week. Laid-back event, $150/driver, 90 entrants, only have to staff for a half-day.

[zchris]

Everyone relax, this is old news and Fred felt that sting long ago. Though if you want to send him money, I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

[breakaway500]

The problem with government agencies is the only way they compromise is when you throw lots of money their way! They get super malls up and running in record time with NO delays or back door demands because the developers kiss their golden asses right up front! Take a ride over to the new Cabelas in the Highland Commons shopping center in Clinton,built on a large swampy hilly area...(I grew up not far from there) That place went up in record time all because the town/state was paid up front hundreds of thousands of dollars to "save" the creeping slimy wolly worms feeding ground..or something like that..
There is PLENTY of wetlands left in Ma...hell..most of whats left (reasonably priced) IS wetlands. You pay, you play. It just seems most public opinion in Ma sides with the EPA, Conservation committees etc. Let's face it, Motorsports is not popular in Ma. You can't even ride a dirt bike on "public" land any longer..and if "they" had their way..they would ban any motorized activity even on private lands...or make it almost impossible with some restriction like you need to be more than 5 miles from an occupied dwelling. The only other motorsports track left in Ma is Seekonk and that may as well be in RI...

Bastards!!

"The moth they are trying to close the track over...."

How nice..I pick at least a hundred of those things out of peoples grilles every week...they certainly aren't rare!!!!!

[boltonite]

I try to avoid public controversy but I will say a few things since it does concern (pertain to) me.

• 1. Wetland violations did occur. Which we SELF-REPORTED. We opted to settle. We are open. Period.

• 2. The "disturbed" 70 acres is dwarfed by the 600+ acres undisturbed, a fact not lost on those who truly care.

• 3. I'm grateful: we built an amazing track that is bringing into the area money, jobs, visitors, & racing bliss!

[brucesallen]

It was just a salamander shakedown. Palmer town management has always been very supportive.

[breakaway500]

Fred,glad to hear all is well!! I'll stand down to defcon 5... Any threat to WH is a threat to my peace of mind.

[MiataSteve]

Nice Fred. Good to hear it from the Horse's mouth... And can I just my thanks for making this happen!

[TroyV]

Go Fred!

[n1gzd]

Fred is a rockstar!!

[brucesallen]

thousands of tons of rock

[MiataSteve]

Palmer is on Road &Track's list of 10 tracks to visit.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports ... -to-visit/