Chamber Supports Cycle Track Neighbors Hate The Noise; Group Likes Economic Impact

It helps to have friends with fax machines.

At least it hasn’t hurt Joe Doellefeld, Post Falls city councilman and owner of the controversial Stateline Speedway racetrack.

This week, the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce board of directors voted by fax machine to support Doellefeld in his efforts to get a motorcycle racetrack approved at the Speedway.

The Kootenai County Commissioners are scheduled to make a decision Wednesday.

Susan Manthey, Chamber of Commerce manager, faxed the results of the chamber board’s vote to the media. She said the endorsement was the idea of chamber members and was not requested by Doellefeld, the immediate past president of the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce.

“The issue is one of economic development for the area,” she said. Post Falls needs attractions such as the racetrack, she said.

Doellefeld could not be reached for comment Friday.

For the neighbors of the noisy attraction, the issue is their quality of life and property values.

“I don’t think it’s any of their business,” neighbor Lynn Humphreys said of the Chamber of Commerce. Humphreys noted that most supporters of the motorcycle track, including Mayor Jim Hammond, don’t live next door to it.

Doellefeld is trying to get an exception to the county zoning ordinance that limits decibel levels to 55 at the property line in a rural area. He wants it increased to 75 decibels, which is close to the volume of an orchestra.

If he is successful with that, and with related modifications to the county’s conditions to operate, he can officially open his new Empire Speedway motorcycle track.

“There’s a potential we’ll have to be exposed to this (noise) five or six nights out of the week,” Humphreys said.

So far, Doellefeld has only had one race on the motorcycle track. That was on Easter Sunday as neighbor Frances Collins served dinner to 25 guests.

Collins believes the members of the Chamber of Commerce would not be supporting the track if they lived in her house.

At a recent public hearing, Collins and several other neighbors spoke out against the racetrack. They complained of having to close their windows on hot evenings just to carry on a conversation and worried about lost property values because of the noise.

Doellefeld has built an earthen berm around a portion of the track, but it doesn’t extend between Collins’ house and the track, which are 1,500 feet apart.

Before the hearing, Doellefeld purchased a full-page advertisement in the Post Falls Tribune asking people to support his race track. The county planning department got 55 responses opposed to the track and 33 in favor.

About 60 Washington residents who live near the track signed a petition opposed to raising the allowable decibel level.

Doellefeld built the Empire Raceway in 1993 without the proper permits or approval. The Easter Sunday test race was held without the necessary permits.

He now has most of the permits he needs, but noise levels still exceed those allowed by the county and the berm remains unfinished.

Collins fears that the Kootenai County Commissioners will listen to the business interests over the din of upset neighbors.

“I’m afraid money talks a lot louder than neighbors do,” she said.

, DataTimes