TrackRacket was formed to identify and document how the excessive noise generated by the NJ Motorsports Park affects the quality of life and property rights in the surrounding communities.
Membership is open to all those who share our goal to reduce the excess noise levels we are currently experiencing.
5-19-2011
In years past, one had to win free tickets. Now they appear to be flinging tickets about like shiny baubles at Mardi Gras. One can only surmise if this Is "Good Will" or "Desperation?"
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9-24-10
At our Town Hall Meeting held on Thursday, September 23, Dan Rieck told NBC40 news: "Everybody has to be willing to suck it up a little bit, endorse something that is not quite perfect, and look at the big picture, which is jobs," said Green Flag Committee Co-Chair Dan Riech.
Thanks for the advice. However, we've been doing that for the last 2 and a half years by allowing our outdoor activities to be interrupted, homes invaded by the annoying anad relentless noise, dealing with it even with the windows closed. It's time for the NJMP to do the sucking.
The ball is in their court. TrackRacket lawyer Oliver Griffin has opened the door and offered to partake in more Town Hall type meetings to help get all the issues in the open. But will NJMP play? Not according to the track's lawyer, Jeff Delizzaro. "It's (town hall meeting) really not an appropriate forum for us to discuss these issues." -Daily Journal 9-24-10, Depostitions to begin soon in racetrack suit.
And what about the Commissioners? Apparently they didn't care enough to come hear what residents have been dealing with for these 2 and a half years. They said they couldn't attend due to pending litigation. But whose litigation? TrackRacket's claim against the city was dismissed back in August, so it wasn't that. Oh, that's right, it's from their side of the fence.
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Fix the Fix
Our hope did not last long when we finally got to read the contents of the ordinance. Try as we could, we found few items in the document that spelled out relief from the excessive noise we have to endure on any given day. The best the City could negotiate was for the NJMP to give their "good faith effort" to control the PA system and to "encourage lower exhaust sound emissions." This is quite sad as the City has the power to
The two positive items in the document were 1) no engine is to be started before 8:00 am. Before, the rules read: no cars on the race course before 8:00 am. 2) Ambient noise levels are to be taken each time sound monitoring is performed. Previously, the sound "experts" hired by the NJMP did not do this, even though it is standard protocol for professional sound monitoring.
That is hardly a "noise fix." The major fix they touted was dealing with start times. They boasted they moved the start times back to give us relief in the morning. Sounds really great and very generous. On close reading of this, it is only a 1/2 hour move (8:20 as opposed to 8:00) and pertains only to clubs and not to the really noisy spectator events. And, there are many exceptions to that rule.
During the public comment portion of the last meeting, it was asked to the commission if amendments could be made to this agreement before it is voted on at second reading. Commissioner Derella said he would welcome them and would take them under consideration.
The Porreca Drive Homeowners Association in conjunction with TrackRacket submitted a list of amendments that would help reduce the noise levels. It was submitted to City Hall on Thursday.
Click Here for the original Ordinance
Click Here for the submitted Amendments
Click Here for the HMM&H Review
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8-4-10
An ordinance was brought before the Millville Commissioners on Tuesday night for first reading. This ordinance outlined the negotiated "noise fix" that is supposedly a quid pro quo to let the NJMP move the ATV/motocross track into existing park and closer to heavily populated residential areas.
The City, NJMP and the local newspapers were painting this agreement to be "THE noise fix", the agreement that solves the noise problem.
Read the Ordinance
Read Michelle Post's comments at the Commission Meeting, Aug 3.
Read what others said that night.
The majority of the citizens that attended were opposed to the noise and moving more noise into their neighborhoods. They let the Commissoners have it with both barrels. Well over a dozen aggrieved residents spoke up at the public comments portion of the meeting. Special kudos go to Jack Kontes who forcefully asked questions pertaining to the ordinance that the Commissioners couldn't answer. Mr. Kontes loves cars and racing and would like to go to the NJMP but he refuses to do so on the backs of the nearby residents.
The attorney for the NJMP, Jeff DiLazzero, as well as the new attorney for the City of Millville, Katherine Morris (TrackRacket lawsuit), was at hand but only DiLazzero got up to say anything. His only fall back was the economic benefits the track brings to the area. Nothing about the amount of noise the park generates and how little they are doing to lessen it. Morris took lots of notes. She will be billing the City for her time to be there no doubt.
We want real reforms. Real agreements that are codified by a legal settlement and able to hold them accountable when they falter. How can you hold someone accountable who promises “good faith efforts?”
7-10-10
"Quid Pro Quo- But for Whom?"
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What was really in the HMM&H report
Dr. Kim Ayres talked at length during the May 18 commissioners meeting regarding the Sound Study Review undertaken by Harris, Miller, Miller & Hanson. This company was hired by the City to evaluate the original Sound Level Assessment prepared by Shropshire & Associates on behalf of the New Jersey Motorsports Park that was part of the approval process for the NJMP project. This study was to determine how much noise the track will produce and what the projected levels would be at the closest residential property line. They also evaluated the two sound studies undertaken by the City of Millville and the New Jersey Motorsports Park for the year 2009.
She stated that HMM&H had “professional or protocol differences” with Shropshire’s report. She said that while the differences were accepted protocols, they offset each other. But she left this out: “While the two simplifying assumptions used in this analysis may offset each other somewhat, we don’t have much confidence in the Leq (decibel average) values projected for the NJMP site.”
Huh!? You mean to tell us that the NJMP was approved on faulty data?
But there was more in there than that. HMM&H stated that the Shropshire’s Sound Level Assessment included measured noise from the Millville Airport during an Air Show. “While area residents have experienced such relatively high sound levels periodically in the past, air shows are events that typically occur only about once per year, and are well publicized. Because these event are infrequent, residents will have a very different degree of tolerance to the level of noise generated from them than they would to events that might occur several times a month or even several times a year.”
They go on to say that the report “only compares the projected noise levels to the 80 dBA Leq criterion established by the City. No comparisons to existing background (quiet period) noise levels are provided, only to other maximum events. While it could be argued that such a comparison may not be legally required, community reactions to new noise sources are strongly dependent on how the new noise compares to the existing background noise environment. Further, the Sound Level Assessment report makes not one effort to evaluate the likely community acceptance of or reaction to the noise from racing.”
To the City of Millville’s credit, the sound studies conducted by Wayne Caregnato from June through October did include the ambient readings with the report. However, HMM&H went on to say that according to the City’s report “maximum sound levels in the residential areas during racing reached the high 60’s with the ambient levels in the 30’s and 40’s, so louder racing events would be heard very clearly above the existing background in the areas with sound 4 to 8 times as loud as the background to the average person. We conclude that such increases in average noise levels are high enough such that complaints about the noise would be forthcoming in communities newly exposed to such noise. Generally, increases in average noise levels in communities in the range of 5 dB to 10 dB are enough to generate complaints, particularly if these noise level increases occur on a regular basis.”
When you apply simple math to the above statement, we were receiving noise levels between 20 and 30 decibels higher than our ambient- what we normally hear at our homes. I’m sure if we look closely at the true numbers this gap may close, but if HMM&H states that 5 to 10 decibels are enough to generate complaints, what does 15 to 25 decibels generate; what would 20 to 30 decibels generate????
WHERE
WAS HMM&H WHEN WE NEEDED THEM? The city 's spin on this report
clearly shows their intention to diffuse the damning evidence this
report contains. The NJMP facility was approved on faulty and
insufficient data and we are the ones who have to live with this noise
polluter in our backyards and into our homes.
The big question is-
Is Shropshire & Associates merely incompetent or was their Sound
Study Assessment written to intentionally mislead the Planning Board and
the fine citizens of Millville?
Read the full HMM&H report here
(Aside from filing an OPRA request, this is the only place where this is available)
To read the full statement by Ms. Ayres click here.
To read how the newspapers covered this story click Daily Journal and The News
3-26-2010
Matt Blake of the American Littoral Society voices his solidarity for our cause and provides another viewpoint about the adverse effect of noise pollution in our environment.
"As evidenced by a recent lawsuit brought on by the local citizens’ group TrackRacket, many believe they’re already being forced to live with more noise than anyone bargained for. If Phase II comes to fruition and woodlands are cleared to make way for a new oval track, ATV and motocross park, things will certainly get even louder, and for a larger affected area. Having heard the unending roar of engines from a kayak just north of the Mauricetown Bridge, well south of Millville city limits on a now diminished Wild and Scenic River, it’s not hard to sympathize with this group’s dogged efforts to seek concessions to reduce present and anticipated noise. Indeed, the numerous noise complaints being reported across city limits and beyond indicate that there are many variables involved in how and where unwelcome sound travels. Distance is an important factor, but it is greatly influenced by elevation, weather and prevailing winds...
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1-23-10
8-29-2010
“When it comes time, the issues need to be addressed clearly and the emotion must be taken out. Let’s realistically talk about the facts. It’s not noise every weekend or 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We receive as many calls from people saying the noise is not a problem. It doesn’t bother one set of people, and another set it does. We will try to find an amicable agreement.
No, Mayor, it is only 10 hours a day, 7 days a week for 10 months out of the year. So in your opinion, it would be a problem for you only if it was 24 hours a day?
“Regarding the Planning Board, there is a process that the developers go through and the board has a public hearing where residents voices can be heard.” Really? Residents, as well as expert consultants did beseech the Planning Board and voiced their concerns about the noise and quality of life- and what good did it do? They wouldn't even listen to the top expert in the field of noise- what makes them want to listen to residents? Is he naive enough to think that the outcome would be different this time.... (Keep this thought in mind- to be continued)
We can choose to, sit back, do nothing, take it on the chin and let the noise eroding our quality of life, our property values and our peace of mind, internalized our stress every time we hear the whining engines that screech and scream.
WE WERE HERE FIRST AND THAT NEEDS TO COUNT!
It was very interesting to read Mayor Shannon's take on himself: "I’m the same dummy I was eight years ago, and no one called me then to solve their problems.”
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TrackRacket Meeting at the Library!
Below is the May 11, 2009 Letter to the Editors-
(printed in the Reminder, but NOT by The News or The Daily Journal):
Regardless what the newspaper and the newspaper forums say, the confusion at our meeting on Thursday night stemmed from miscommunications between me and Irene, the library director. I had stated that we were a non-profit group wanting to hold a formal meeting. At that time it was not brought to my attention as to the distinction between the 503c3 and 503c4. Only after our meeting did I find out that the library does not allow a political organization hold meetings there and if meetings were held that they would be public in nature. I truly didn't know there was this requirement in their policy. And unfortunately, she didn't ask as to our non-profit distinction. To add to the confusion, the meeting went on record on the Library's web site as a "Town Hall Meeting." (View actual application)
My press release stated clearly that we are holding our first formal meeting, not an open public "Town Hall Meeting." I want to thank Mr. Fauerback for jumping at the chance to come to this meeting, however if he exhibits such enthusiasm to start a dialog, I want to let him know that I have been waiting for the invitation from him and Mayor Quinn to do so in the proper setting. It takes more than one to tango.
There is obviously a need for an open dialog and it has to begin somewhere. TrackRacket will make themselves available to meet with the track officials and the new slate of commissioners at their convenience. Until then, I remain,
Very truly yours,
Michelle Post
Founder- TrackRacket
PO Box 115, Millvllle, NJ
www.trackracket.org
609-577-0352
UPDATE: As of JULY 1, 2009, we have not been contacted to participate in an open forum or any other such consortium between us, City Officials and officials from the NJMP.
UPDATE: As of August 13, 2010, we have not been contacted to participate in an open forum or any other such consortium between us, City Officials and officials from the NJMP.
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