NASCAR isn't agriculture: Altamont Speedway doesn't belong in protected open space

Is a 365-day-a-year NASCAR-sanctioned track the way to protect Alameda County's agricultural lands?

The Sierra Club believes that such a land use is illegal as well as foolish. Alameda County Planning officials on the other hand, seem to see nothing wrong with such a land-use application - even though the landowner and the existing track have a long history of illegal operations at the site.

The Altamont Speedway, between Livermore and Tracy in the rural Altamont Hills of unincorporated Alameda County, has operated sporadically for the past 42 years.

In 1972, after the infamous Rolling Stones concert, the county Board of Supervisors revised its agricultural-zoning ordinance to bar race tracks from agricultural districts. This prohibition was intended to "promote the general plan land use proposals for agricultural and non-urban uses, to conserve and protect existing agricultural uses, and to provide space for and encourage such uses in places where more intensive development is not desirable or necessary for the general welfare." In 2000, Alameda County voters passed Measure D, the Save Agriculture and Open Space Lands Initiative, to further protect the county's agricultural lands. Nonetheless, even after 1972 the Planning Department has continued to entertain and issue conditional-use permits for the track.

In late 2005 the racetrack was sold to a new owner, who claims to have spent more than $1.8 million on improvements, some without required building, grading, or paving permits. In February 2006 the track's conditional-use permit expired, but the track applied for a renewal, and the county has allowed it to continue operating.

In that 2006 season, the track hosted over 117 events, a drastic increase over the average of 22 events a year in the preceding 38 years. The track added additional track configurations and held overnight-camping and motorsports events that were not permitted even under its expired conditional-use permit.

In the spring of 2006, a group of neighbors formed Community for a Better Altamont to oppose the racetrack's new way of doing business. They hired attorneys and challenged the track's application for a permit renewal. They cataloged over a dozen use-permit and county-code violations including violation of Alameda County's noise ordinance.

In response to these challenges, county planning staff eventually reversed their position and determined that the track would need to apply for a rezoning as a Planned District and that such an application would require a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

The applicants now propose expansion to a NASCAR-rated track, drawing up to 8,000 people up to seven days a week until 11 pm, with seven different track configurations, drag racing and drifting racing, concerts, and racing schools. Measure D's language requires voter approval for a zoning change, but the county Planning Department has said that voter approval would not be required because the track is a pre-existing use, even though the proposal represents a significant expansion. Altamont's planned-district application represents an attempted "end run" around Measure D.

The draft EIR is anticipated to be released some time this spring.

The site has natural wetlands and sits in a corridor used by the California kit fox. Other endangered species include the burrowing owl, California red-legged frog, and California tiger salamander, and there could be rare plants such as caper-fruited tropidocarpum, showy Indian clover, and large-flowered fiddleneck. The track would also disturb habitat for various raptors including golden eagles.

WhatYouCanDo

Contact Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty (whose district includes the track) and your own district supervisor at:

Alameda County Board of Supervisors
1221 Oak St., Fifth Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
(510)272-6691.

Urge the Supervisors to deny the Planned Development application for the Altamont Speedway.

To work with the Sierra Club on this issue, contact or call (510)848-0800, ext. 316

For more information see the web site of Community for a Better Altamont

Karin Rivard