Surrounded by acres of wildlands, vineyards, and the ocean, many residents view Lompoc as a bucolic hideaway that’s far enough away from the traffic and general busyness of nearby larger cities. The weather is often ideal, moderately warm temperatures with a cool, moist breeze that is loved by residents and pinot noir grapes alike.
Often enough though the revving of a car followed by the roar of an engine peels through the quiet as local youth with fast cars test out their speed in various locations outside of the city. Sometimes it’s near an artichoke farm or maybe a vineyard, but wherever it takes place, the activity is dangerous and illegal. Giving those kids a place to race is one reason a group of residents are pushing for the completion of the Lompoc Valley Motorsports Park at the Lompoc Airport. The other reason: a love of speed and all things car-related.
The park would include an off-road vehicle portion of the park open to motorcycles, quads, and karts, and it will eventually include an International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) drag strip. Lompoc Valley Motorsports Park Committee members say the park will be affordable, accessible to all, and family friendly. The drag strip portion will mainly be a nonprofessional or “sportsman” strip, but there will be five two-day drag racing events and five one-day events. Those events will bring in funds to operate the strip making it accessible to the community all year.
For now it’s the off-road vehicle portion of the project that is moving forward thanks to a state grant. The drag strip portion will occur down the road after committee members determine its cost and raise the money to pay for it.
Not all Lompoc residents are onboard with the $1.6 million project, however. Many agree that the project is worthwhile, they just don’t agree the location is appropriate. Others are concerned that the city is setting itself up for potential financial liability with its involvement.
For now all that stands in the way of the park’s completion this fall is an environmental impact report.
Keeping the peace
There is a soft veil of quiet that hangs over homes at the north end of Lompoc. Positioned slightly above the din of traffic and bustle of the downtown areas, the neighborhood seems to hush out the extraneous noise while amplifying more pleasant sounds, like the chirping of birds and the slight whistle of the breeze.
The quiet peace is one of the reasons that Steve and Jennifer Tribble moved to the Lompoc Valley. It’s also one of the main reasons they have expressed concern over the motorsports project.
“You can still take a nap with your door open and hear the breeze,” Jennifer said.
Jennifer, who is originally from Texas, said when she first came to the area she was concerned because Texans are so friendly and she wasn’t sure what to expect from Californians. She was quickly pleased to discover that Lompoc residents were quite friendly and outgoing.
“Everyone is friendly, I love my neighbors, I love the locals,” she said.
Steve grew up near the beach in Southern California. He loves living so close to the beach without having the weekend traffic, and not having to pay upward of a $1 million to live so close to the ocean—two things that were a fact of life in Southern California. So he and his wife figured they’d be putting down roots in Lompoc.
“What I loved about where we purchased is changing,” he said.
The Tribbles addressed the City Council recently during public comment to air their concerns, namely: the potential effect of noise from the park, and that not enough people—especially from nearby neighborhoods—are aware of the project and the possible noise and traffic that may accompany it.
“I can go out and ask all my neighbors—no one knows about this. They should be upfront and put a sign out there saying, ‘Possible future home of Lompoc Valley Motorsports Park,’” he said.
The Tribbles said they don’t want to make enemies in the community and they admit that they might even support the project if it was located somewhere else.
“The foundation is doing great with the project. It’s the location within the city limits,” Steve said.
As the project has progressed, several people have addressed the council during public comment about a concern for noise that may be caused by the park.
John Linn, chairman of the Lompoc Parks, Recreation & Pools Foundation, of which the Lompoc Valley Motorsports Park Committee is a part, said they’ve done tests and had consultants come to the site and their research showed noise levels wouldn’t be an issue. He said many people who are concerned about noise have compared it to the Ventura or Bakersfield drag strips. He said the off-road portion will require all vehicles to have mufflers. And most, but not all, vehicles on the drag strip will be muffled as well. Lompoc Valley Motorsports Park Committee Chairman Carl Creel said they will also prohibit cars using nitro methane like the ones at the Bakersfield track, which can be heard for miles.
“Because of that and the extreme noise that nitro creates we won’t allow that,” Creel said.
As an example of what representatives actually expect there, Linn said just traffic noise on a busy street is in the 70-decibel range. “By comparison the loudest drag car we’re going to have is about equal to you standing next to your lawn mower, except the nearest houses that have a line of site are more than 4,000 feet away.”
They also have done a lot of things to minimize noise, including limiting the OHV park to motorcycles, quads, and karts to meet the exhaust requirements approved by the Off Highway Vehicle division of California State Parks. They also designed it to provide more than 4,000 feet from housing to the northeast and across Central Avenue to the south; designed the strip to benefit from the 10-foot-high airport embankment noise buffer; designed the race direction to run from west to east so the sound is naturally projected to the west; prohibit nitro methane fueled vehicles; and commissioned the environmental review with a detailed nose study.
At the Feb. 16 City Council meeting some residents expressed support for the project. One resident, said she didn’t live near the park but that she did live under Vandenberg Air Force Base’s flight pattern and does experience loud noise from the planes flying overhead. She said providing opportunities for young people to recreate was important enough to support the park. Another speaker suggested that residents near the park be open to alternative means of shutting out the noise during the hours of operation, in exchange for something that may be a positive to the community.
Linn told the Sun that he wished people would wait until the environmental impact report (EIR) is completed. “This noise study is going to let us know for sure if what we did made a difference,” he said about the noise mitigating efforts. “We’re confident it will but the noise study will get us there.”
But Jennifer Tribble said it was hard for her to accept the potential impacts of the park because they weren’t there when her family bought into the neighborhood. She said she is open to the EIR process but the real effects won’t be known until the park opens.
“Unfortunately we won’t know the project’s effects until it’s completed,” Jennifer said.
Steve Tribble said the couple did a lot of research before forming their objections. They looked at similar parks and found that few of them were built near residential neighborhoods. Of the ones that were located near homes, in some cases the neighborhood was built after the park was in place. He added that they couldn’t find an instance in which a motorsports park elevated the values of homes.
Noise, traffic, and proximity to homes aren’t the only objections some residents have had.
Some residents have expressed concern that certain members of the current and former council have had an interest in getting the park project completed.
When Linn was mayor he left his position on the foundation board to serve on the City Council. At the time Jim Mosby took on Linn’s position on the foundation board. Then when Linn left office and Mosby was appointed to a council position, Linn reassumed his role on the board and Mosby left the board.
Linn said everyone has interests before they are elected. “We all have things we want to accomplish. That doesn’t have anything to do with how you vote,” he said. However, some community members have disagreed saying it can create a bias.
The timeline
Though there has been a desire from several longtime residents to bring a motorsports park to Lompoc the recent park started with the formation of the Lompoc Parks, Recreation & Pools Foundation, which has an overarching mission to bring recreational activity to Lompoc.
The foundation has built the city’s dog park, BMX track, Kids Moto Fun park, and a successful bike skills park. It now also has 90 acres to build a mountain bike park, and through the motorsports committee, it’s also trying to complete the motorsports park.
Linn said the foundation signs an agreement with the city, which gives the foundation the property to work on. When the foundation completes the project, the city accepts it as completed and it becomes a city park, and the foundation continues to maintain it.
But in helping start the foundation, Linn had always wanted to be a part of the committee to bring a drag strip to the city. Linn said there are a lot of kids that have fast cars and they race them.
“The committee that was my desire is the drag race committee because for 26 years I owned the towing company in Lompoc. And I still drive by corners and still see the dead kid there,” Linn said.
Of course that isn’t the only reason. Santa Maria High School’s drag race team has already expressed an interest in using the drag strip, and Creel said one of the committee’s goals is to have all the surrounding high schools put together drag race teams.
Barring any immitigable circumstances when the consultants return the EIR, the off-road vehicle portion of the motorsports park has a good chance of being completed.
The city has a $999,000 grant from the OHV division of the state, and the foundation will provide goods and services of about $600,000 for the off-road vehicle park.
In order to get that grant the project must be in construction by December.
Upon completion the city will own the park and the foundation will operate the park under a lease agreement with the city.
The drag strip portion won’t happen until the foundation raises the money to pay for it.
Still, no matter how confident foundation members are about the two projects being completed, some residents are concerned about the city’s involvement with the OHV portion of the park and the possible financial liability that position could entail.
Currently the city is obligated to pay for half of the environmental contract amount or approximately $118,000, and the foundation has agreed to pay the city back that $118,000 of the amount and has already paid $40,000, according to Lompoc Planning Manager Lucille Breese.
“If everything goes according to our schedule, the off-highway vehicle portion of the project is completed by December 2016 then the city would not be required to potentially pay any money back. If we’re not completed with the EIR then … we’d have to have discussions with the state regarding our having to pay back funds that were forwarded or that we charge,” Breese said during the Feb. 16 City Council meeting.
Linn said that while Breese is technically correct about the city’s potential liability, it’s not likely that the city would get stuck holding the bill, unless the city is negligent with fulfilling its responsibilities with regard to the environmental portion of the project.
Representatives expect the EIR to be complete in July, after which it goes to the Planning Commission. If approved there it can either move forward or be appealed to the City Council. If it is appealed and sent to the council and the council approves, it construction will begin in the fall.
Contact Editor Shelly Cone at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 3-10, 2016.