Published in the Asbury Park Press 8/27/04

By JAMES QUIRK
STAFF WRITER
OLD BRIDGE -- Amid shouting and booing, general chaos ruled early this month when hundreds of people gathered at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters in Manalapan to discuss complaints of noise raised by those living near Raceway Park in Old Bridge.

In contrast, it was only the steady chirping of a chorus of crickets that accompanied the laid-back discussion last night between roughly 20 neighbors of the speedway and Assemblymen Michael J. Panter and Robert L. Morgan, both D-Monmouth.


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Held at Karen Lichter's house, the meeting -- which was not open to the general public -- was intended to be the calm, civil dialogue that didn't happen when Panter and Morgan organized the meeting at the library in August.
Many of the people who gathered on the Lichters' porch said they felt intimidated by the crowd that gathered at the Aug. 5 meeting, and opted not to speak out against the raceway. Through mass e-mails and a message on the speedway's Web site, supporters of the racetrack came from far and wide to hold signs that declared, "I (love) to race, and I vote."

The group present last night calmly discussed what can be done to address excessive noise made by the vehicles.

"It's not an impossibility to change things," Morgan said. "Around the nation, many communities have confronted similar problems."


A law with exemptions
Panter and Morgan, as well as most people at the get-together, contend the New Jersey Noise Control Act of 1971 is aimed at allowing residents to live in an environment free of excess noise, which can degrade their quality of life. The act provides specific noise thresholds that cannot be exceeded, but exempts certain entities, including automobile raceways such as the drag strip at Raceway Park.
In 1981, an appellate court ruled that racetracks should not be exempt from the 1971 act. The court concluded Raceway Park should be forbidden from emitting noise exceeding 70 decibels during the day and 60 decibels at night. This ruling and a similar one in 2002 have not been enforced, Panter and Morgan say.

"If you could only get them to adhere to what's on the books, that would be a step forward," Arnie Feldman of Manalapan said.

Some who spoke last night said the best course of action is to have the speedway exemption to the Noise Act removed, which theoretically would force Raceway Park to prohibit much of the noise that occurs there.

"We've all agreed that we can't put them out of business, as lovely as that would be," Karen Lichter said. "So what should be our goals?"

Lichter suggested that the group talk to the owners of the speedway to convince them to build effective sound barriers and to prohibit large concerts. The recent visit by the annual Warped Tour -- held at Raceway for the first time Aug. 8 -- attracted more than 30,000 fans, much to the horror of those living nearby.

"People are prisoners in their homes when they have those big events," Lichter said.


Lawmaker, owners met
Panter said he has toured Raceway Park with the owners and discussed at length what can be done to alleviate neighbors' concerns about noise.
According to Panter, a study done in 2001 by Eric Zwirling, director of the Rutgers University Noise Assistance Center, suggested that a full sound barrier be constructed along the racetracks and pit area. This could reduce noise by 15 decibels.

Some insisted a wall will not be enough, however.

"We all know that a wall isn't going to block the noise of a jet car at 200 decibels," said Jamie Sernoff of Manalapan. "To throw up a $1 million wall would be a big joke. The real goal here is to lift the exemption and make them use mufflers."

"If you tell them they can only race street-legal cars, we'd be putting them out of business," argued Mark Levy of Manalapan. "And it's not fair of us to ask that."

The group ultimately agreed the best option is to bring all sides to the table. Lawsuits and forcing the speedway out of business were quickly dismissed in favor of finding a solution with which everyone could agree. Finding a way to enclose the speedway, or to at least build larger sound barriers, was a definite favored option among those present.


Striving for a solution
Panter and Morgan said they plan to review all the options discussed last night. Any new legislation would have to be carefully crafted so as not to simply create harsh restrictions that would force Raceway Park to shut down, Panter said.
"Having a core committee of people who are willing to stick with this issue is more productive than sending out a mass e-mail and having a big meeting where everyone just blows off steam," Morgan said. "It's about being good neighbors. Do we want to go down the path of endless litigation, or do we want to come together and deal with this?"

James Quirk: (732) 308-7758 or jquirk@app.com