The ins and outs of why Bruton’s drag strip was voted down

W. Brian Hiatt has served as Concord's City Manager since 1998. He came to Concord from Hickory where he served as Assistant City Manager for over 10 years. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in History and Government Service from Appalachian State University where he was a summa cum laude graduate, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Hiatt serves as the Past-President of the Concord Rotary Club and is currently on the board of directors of the NC League of Municipalities as well the Board of Directors for the Economic Development Corp and the Academic Learning Center. 

Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com spoke with Hiatt on Tuesday morning, following the City of Concord’s decision to create a zoning ordinance preventing drag strips in their city.

CP:  I understand last evening that the area that the drag strip was to go into was rezoned and no longer will allow drag strips.  Is that correct?

BH:  That is correct, yes.

CP:  Was this decision based solely on the opposition from local residents or were there other people opposed to this?

BH:  Basically, the council had asked up front for information related to noise studies to determine what kind of impact it had on surrounding properties and whether or not there could be anything done to medicate that noise with any improvements and such.  They had also asked for specifics on how many times per year the track would be used and they did not receive any information related to that.  They did decide to consider changing the zoning and had a public hearing and there were most of the people who spoke in favor of changing the zoning were from residential areas.  There were a few from other areas, but the primary region was residential property owners from not only the immediate area but some of them were from a little bit further beyond.

The ins and outs of why Bruton’s drag strip was voted down

W. Brian Hiatt has served as Concord's City Manager since 1998. He came to Concord from Hickory where he served as Assistant City Manager for over 10 years. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in History and Government Service from Appalachian State University where he was a summa cum laude graduate, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Hiatt serves as the Past-President of the Concord Rotary Club and is currently on the board of directors of the NC League of Municipalities as well the Board of Directors for the Economic Development Corp and the Academic Learning Center. 

Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com spoke with Hiatt on Tuesday morning, following the City of Concord’s decision to create a zoning ordinance preventing drag strips in their city.

CP:  I understand last evening that the area that the drag strip was to go into was rezoned and no longer will allow drag strips.  Is that correct?

BH:  That is correct, yes.

CP:  Was this decision based solely on the opposition from local residents or were there other people opposed to this?

BH:  Basically, the council had asked up front for information related to noise studies to determine what kind of impact it had on surrounding properties and whether or not there could be anything done to medicate that noise with any improvements and such.  They had also asked for specifics on how many times per year the track would be used and they did not receive any information related to that.  They did decide to consider changing the zoning and had a public hearing and there were most of the people who spoke in favor of changing the zoning were from residential areas.  There were a few from other areas, but the primary region was residential property owners from not only the immediate area but some of them were from a little bit further beyond.

CP:  How long was the drag strip given to prepare this information?

BH:  It’s been at least a couple of weeks and as far as my knowledge there has been no indication, no formal indication, that there would be any information prepared.

CP:  When Lowe’s Motor Speedway was built, did they have to go through the same things providing the noise research and things like that?

BH:  I’m sure they didn’t, that was in 1960 and Charlotte Motor Speedway was in a very rural area.  They were not inside the city of Concord.  Later they asked to be annexed into the city of Concord in order to get utilities, particularly sewer, they were having some major problems with sewer out there.  Of course even being as the Charlotte region has urbanized obviously there has been a lot more and there are a lot of residents and businesses located near the speedway.  In 1960, of course the University of North Carolina - Charlotte for example, it is nearby and was almost non-existent and it has turned into one of the largest colleges in North Carolina so changes have occurred, obviously, in 40 plus years. 

CP:  Was this a decision that was made with the interests of the local businesses, were they even contacted on this?

BH:  City council got a lot of input from everyone.  Last night was a public hearing so that anyone could come and speak.  They also received I know a whole lot of e-mails, letters, and calls so they did get a lot of input.

CP:  From the businesses in town?

BH:  I assume that they did, but of course I’m not a city council member.  They certainly got a lot of calls.  The businesses had every opportunity to not only call them, e-mail them, but also come to the public hearing.

CP:  Do you feel in your position that the burden of proof was unfairly put on the shoulders of the track and not all the local residents had to prove is they didn't want the strip there?

BH:  I think obviously a governing body, in trying to evaluate a project, needs to have all the information before they can let it move forward.  It’s possible that the lack of information here is more of a problem than the project itself because nobody really has a handle of what the impact would be.

CP:  If it’s proven that the noise is the main issue here, is that really what it is?

BH:  I think it’s the noise and the actual dates it would be used.  There were some concerns about the fumes, there were some environmental issues with the fumes that came up last night.

CP:  Would there be considerably more fumes than there would be in a NASCAR race?

BH:  We don’t know.  Some people would say that there would be but I certainly couldn’t say that.

CP:  Is this a decision that could be reversed with information?

BH:  The city council if they so choose could change their decision, yes, in the future.

CP:  Is there a limit number of dates that would make this acceptable?

BH:  That would be up to city council.  Some of the residents said the number of NHRA dates of a major race for one that’s being proposed and for two if its ever expanded.  Some of them said that they could perhaps live with that but getting into something that would be a weekly occurrence would be a concern for them.  City council had to make that decision; it’s not up to any one resident or business.

CP:  Anything else you’d like to add that we didn’t cover?

BH:  Obviously this is a very difficult situation because our area has been, and has always worked very closely with the motorsports industry and we have such great employers in the industry outside even the speedway.  We would like that to continue this is just one of those where the council was faced with the lack of information and as a result felt they had to take this action.