I don’t know whether I’m surprised or not, but the owner of Stadium805—aka the Santa Maria Raceway—announced the impending closure of the landmark of Highway 101.
Owner Nick Duggan posted his long rant about why and when via Facebook on Aug. 9. Apparently, it’s all San Luis Obispo County’s fault—well, big, bad SLO County and Costa Pacifica Estates residents, who complained about the noise from concerts that weren’t a part of what they were expecting when they purchased homes next to a racetrack.
Well, they actually did more than complain, though. The homeowners association actually sued Duggan and the county over a temporary permit SLO County issued to Stadium805 allowing the events center to host concerts. But that’s all in the past.
This convoluted tale of terrible business woes starts with a permit apparently issued in the 1960s and ends with Duggan asking the county to rescind his temporary permit for concerts in January 2021, then hosting concerts anyway, getting fined thousands of dollars for doing so, and blaming the county for his bad luck. How does that make sense?
There’s likely more to this story: In 2019, 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton told the Sun that the raceway’s existing decades-old operating permit allowed it to hold concerts, races, festivals, and other events. She said the county couldn’t legally change the specifics of the license or force Stadium805 to get a new one.
In other words, Costa Pacifica Estates residents: Tough cookies!
But, and this is me reading between the lines of stories printed in this very paper, I bet those pesky homeowners just kept pestering the county over the old license and what it allowed because the music was rattling their windows! And the county acquiesced to something, because, eventually, Duggan applied for a temporary permit allowing six concerts in 2021.
That temporary permit included caveats, which were supposedly a result of compromise with homeowners to appease some of their concerns, and county supervisors approved it in November 2020. Duggan told the Sun how pleased he was at the time: “We’re extremely happy.”
He emphasized that the raceway needed more than just races to survive: “We’ve had to go with that model to keep racing there.”
Then, the homeowners association sued Duggan and the county. Over six concerts a year that would have ended by 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, only. Seriously?
Between that and COVID-19 uncertainty, Duggan asked the county to rescind his temporary permit. But then he started having concerts anyway. So the county started fining him. And that, Duggan said, was the final straw!
After pulling out from the permit, he asked for it to be reinstated because COVID-19 restrictions eased. But the county told him he had to start the whole process all over again! Duh. It’s like waiting in line at the DMV, leaving because you’re impatient, missing your number being called over the loudspeaker, coming back later, and expecting to be first in line.
So, in what I can only assume was a middle finger to everyone, Duggan thought he could what? Get away with having concerts next to the nosy neighbors who sued the county?
And now the raceway is closing. Which is sad, but I’m not sure that the county is the only one to blame.
The Canary rescinds the blame game. Send a note to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 12-19, 2021.