The recent commentary by Justin Ruhge, “Lompoc is at a very dangerous crossroads,” Oct. 6, was almost completely absent of facts. Unfortunately, the Motorsports Park has become a political football to be kicked around.
The park project began in 2010 with the formation of the Motorsports Committee as part of the Lompoc Valley Parks Recreation and Pool Foundation Inc. The foundation partners with the city to build and improve recreation including the dog park, disc golf course, BMX bike park, kids moto park, and soon a fallen warriors memorial.
In 2011 the committee gathered more than 10,000 signatures of support for the park, which will include seven motocross tracks and a 1/8-mile drag strip. In May of 2012 the committee presented a $10,000 professionally prepared business plan for the park at the airport to the Lompoc City Council.
On Nov. 19, 2013, the City Council unanimously approved the grant application to California State Parks. Both Councilmembers Bob Lingl and Dwayne Holmdahl voted yes. On Feb. 25, 2013, the city and the foundation entered into the first of several memorandums of understanding to build the Kids Moto Fun Park at River Park. When the city was awarded the state grant the council, including Lingl and Holmdahl, voted to accept the state grant and its terms.
The park has always been planned to be on the northwest corner of the airport on a 37-acre parcel, which is 10 feet below the airport and 275 feet from the runway. The area was formerly used by industrial and commercial businesses and has numerous debris piles and abandoned underground storage tanks. Across the dry river is the prison cornfield. The nearest homes are on Central Avenue about 1,000 feet away and 10 feet above the park. The park site at the edge of the airport can’t be characterized as the “middle of Lompoc.” It’s difficult to imagine that a park that can neither be seen nor heard will affect home sales prices in a market short on properties. The landing area for Sky Dive Santa Barbara is being resolved by the city and the FAA. The entrance to the park will be from North V Street.
Like all grants the city has with the state, the city pays for project expenses and submits bills to the state for reimbursement. The city could have asked for an advance of up to half the grant funds but chose not to. The foundation provides the 26 percent match for the grant. The grant also covers all city staff and other costs and provides the city an additional 15 percent on top of reimbursement requests. The foundation has paid the city more than $151,000 with another $12,600 due at the end of October and November. To date the city has used less than one-third of the grant match dollars. The foundation has never asked for city funds to be used and paid for city staff time before grant funds were available. On May 10 Mayor Lingl moved to cancel the park and that passed on a 3-2 vote. Fortunately on June 7 over Mayor Lingl’s objection the council voted 3-2 to again move forward with the park. Had the park project not been reinstated, the city would have defaulted on the grant and not been able to recover the $174,000 already spent. The move by Mayor Lingl to kill the park came just seven days before the Environmental Impact Report (EIR)was to be released to the public and would have prevented the report from ever being seen.
When the draft EIR was released it was very detailed at more than 600 pages. It found NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS after mitigation for all but two categories involving greenhouse gas emissions for vehicles visiting the park. Because of a calculation error in the average local trip distance, the emissions were overstated by 86 percent.
The final EIR, for council review and certification will have this and a number of other errors corrected. It will be out about
Nov. 1 for public review. Hundreds of successful decisions were made in the park design to minimize impacts.
Noise has been a big concern in the community. To reduce noise, the committee decided not to allow cars on the drag strip that use nitro methane and other exotic fuels. The sound study conducted by the city’s consultant found that at residences both south and east of the park, noise from the park would be about the same as existing street noise. Because some in the community questioned that study, the committee notified surrounding residences and provided a simulation of noise study on Saturday, Oct. 1. Monitors at key locations could not even hear the loudest vehicles that will run in the park for six-second races.
Insurance for the Motorsports Park will be provided by the foundation and is required by race sanctioning organizations. The foundation is not a business, it is a 501c3 public benefit corporation that provides recreation to the Lompoc Valley. Foundation projects are largely built by volunteers and contributions of materials and equipment from local businesses. In fact, in addition to the $176,000, the committee will also provide to the city more than $650,000 in labor and materials to construct the motocross tracks.
The park will provide a riding area to replace riding in the Santa Ynez River, which was closed. The park will provide an alternative to illegal street racing, which goes on every week and has taken many local young lives. Drag strips in other areas have studies that show street racing declines by up to 90 percent when a drag strip is available. Santa Maria High School has had a drag racing team for many years, and they are ready to bring their program to Lompoc schools. A nonprofit has operated a similar drag strip at Qualcom Stadium San Diego for decades with great results.
We invite everyone to join the committee and provide new recreational opportunities for the youth of Lompoc and the Central Coast at racelompoc.com.
Carl Creel is the chairman of the Lompoc Motorsports Committee. Send comments to the editor at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 20-27, 2016.