KINGFIELD – Selectmen met with Les, Jonathan and Richard Jordan and Wade Browne, all of Jordan Lumber Co. Inc., to discuss complaints about the company’s Kingfield go-cart race track.
The company has been running go-cart races on a lot that was formerly used as a gravel pit for “about four years,” said First Selectman John Dill, and received a permit from the town Planning Board prior to starting construction. According to Dill, abutting landowners have been complaining to the town for the past year about issues ranging from excessive noise to the apparent commercialization of the property, which is currently zoned as an industrial area.
Their primary concern “seems to be regarding the noise,” said track operator Browne. Although the noise coming from races is “within the decibels that we had asked” the Planning Board to allow, Les Jordan admitted that requiring mufflers might lower the noise level considerably.
The noise level agreed upon by the Planning Board and the Jordans at the start of the project was 94 decibels, which Les Jordan described as being the level of noise made by a lawn mower. According to selectman and former Planning Board member Neal McCurdy, that comparison caused some confusion among board members.
“Ninety-four decibels is the noise it makes when you have your ear right up to the mower,” he said, adding, “We were thinking, the sound it would make if you were a normal distance away.”
Selectmen asked that the company prevent carts from racing without mufflers, and recommended that it research the effectiveness of putting in a sound-screen.
Selectmen touched on a meeting scheduled for today with the Franklin County Commission, during which they plan to discuss the amount of subsidy to be paid to Kingfield by Freeman and Salem townships for fire service.
“They’ve always paid us $5,500, and we always budget around that,” said Dill. He explained that after this year’s budget meeting, the townships voted to reduce that amount to $1,500.
“We’re going to go talk with the Franklin County commissioners, see if they won’t reconsider. If not, we’re going to have to make an unpleasant decision,” said Dill.
Kingfield/New Portland Transfer Station board members voted Monday to re-elect John Dill of Kingfield as chairman. Doug Archer was voted secretary, and Heather Moody was appointed co-chairwoman.
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