Neighbors sound off on Speedway noise

Roseville residents and business owners involved with the All American Speedway faced off at a community forum Monday night at the Placer County Fairgrounds. District 1 Placer County Supervisor Jack Duran spearheaded the event to help develop short and long-term solutions to excessive noise complaints at Roseville's one-third mile NASCAR-sanctioned racetrack. "There has been these nights where it is so loud. You can't sit outside. I don't understand it," said Roseville resident Amy Evans. Evans said she lives east of the track near the Sierra View Country Club.Luke Saxelby, a noise consultant from J.C. Brennan and Associates, released results of a Placer County Fair Association sponsored study that compared the sound levels coming from the track at eight neighborhood surrounding sites at peak times."We're trying to find a baseline that is acceptable," Saxelby said. "The overall levels vary. Right now, we are just trying to show the change from 2007 to now."They first took sound levels measured in decibels, or dBs, in September of 2007 to compare with readings taken two months ago. The site near Evans's neighborhood showed a decline of sound by 2 to 4 dBs which is nearly a noticeable change, according to Saxelby. Saxelby highlighted the neighborhood directly south of the track which had cut the level in half."The sound was negative 10 dBs, which is half as loud," Saxelby explained.Greg Suba, who lives three blocks from the track, said he didn't think it was half as loud. "Sound does not behave," Suba said. "Be a good neighbor."Sound levels from the Diamond Oaks neighborhood north of the track actually increased by 5dBs — a noticeable change, according to Saxelby.That was no comfort to Diamond Oaks resident John C. Smith who complained racing goes on past the fair grounds-imposed curfew of 10 p.m."It keeps you from sleeping," Smith said. "We didn't have noise before they expanded the track."That perception was acknowledged by Don Lunsford, director of the Placer County Fair Association, who told the packed crowd of nearly 160 that his association removed the sound walls in late 2006 and didn't replace them for financial concerns."The new safety fence was put up but there was no money in the project to redo the sound wall. We started racing without a sound wall," Lunsford said. "The noise complaints started coming in."In February, the Placer County grand jury released a report revealing that improvements made in 2007 were never approved by the county. The jury also alleged that the modifications were made so the racetrack could qualify for NASCAR-sanctioned events under the guise of "safety and maintenance improvements."Lunsford defended the improvements and said the association never had a chance to respond to the investigation."No one from the grand jury, that we could find, talked to either a Speedway official or the Placer County Fair Association to get our take on why we did certain things," he said. "There was assumptions made about our motivations."The motivation, he said, was based on the safety of the drivers. He said they reworked the pit area, added 90 feet of track and reworked merging lanes to protect drivers. "We were concerned about the crash walls literally falling down around here," Lunsford said. Now the county and the fair association are working on a new operating agreement that will govern the use of the track. Placer County Fair Association CEO Joan Bartosik said right now, they are operating under the previous agreement."(The old) agreement calls for racing activities to occur every single day of the week," Bartosik said. "We recognize and we heard what you folks are telling us. We voluntarily said we are going back off from that."To minimize the noise they modified the public address system to face the crowd instead of the surrounding neighborhoods, constructed sound walls and removed cars from the track that exceed 90 dBs, or the sound of a motorcycle. Hearing loss occurs at this level. Sacramento resident Gordon Chastain, who said he was hearing impaired, removed his hearing aids before scolding the crowd for the frivolous complaints."I know some of you are upset because you have a hearing problem," Chastain said. "I wish I had your problem, count your blessings."Race enthusiast and San Joaquin County resident Carol Noceti said Roseville residents should be cautious about the added pressure that could put an end to the speedway."There has got to be a way for all of you to come together and find something that is going to work because if you lose this racetrack you will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars and lose businesses as the result of it," Noceti said.Penney Racing Supply business owner Jeff Munro said he's personally paid $115,000 in sales taxes in the last five years and wanted the residents to calm down."I want you to know we hear you," Munro said. "We probably hear you better than you hear us."Munro said muffler developers even have a model called the Roseville Muffler to address noise issues for racers using the track. "We've worked with companies that develop mufflers especially for us," Munro said.Racing business owner Ron Sutton said the solution has to come from making the cars run quieter if anything is going to get better. "We went and did the research and got the diffusers and brought the sounds down," Sutton said.Former Placer County Supervisor and Diamond Oaks resident Phil Ozenick said he called for the county to find a better spot for the speedway 20 years ago."I recommended that we move the fairgrounds and the racetrack out of Roseville, that is going to be the solution and I think the supervisors should work that plan," Ozenick said.Duran admitted closure could be a long-term solution but parties he brought together should work on short term goals now. "I think all of us recognize there is a lifetime here and an end life," Duran said. "We've taken the bull by the horn to make things better in the short term." Duran said environmental studies are expected to be concluded in December with an operating agreement ready for the public and Board of Supervisors' review by February.