Latest racetrack dispute
centers on noise survey
By dave benjamin & mark Rosman
Staff Writers
Two Manalapan residents have taken a survey which they claim indicates that health problems are being caused by noise coming from Old Bridge Township Raceway Park during drag strip events.
Raceway Park is on Pension Road in south Old Bridge, near the Union Hill Road section of Manalapan.
"I put it (the survey) together to take the pulse of the town," resident Arnie Feldman said. "Things have gotten worse with the track. Every year things get louder. They take more liberties with the court orders that were imposed."
A second resident, Mark Levy, was also involved with the survey and has been attending municipal meetings in Manalapan to address the issue.
Racetrack officials, however, dispute their claims.
The president and vice president of the Raceway Park drag strip in Old Bridge say they are in compliance with a 1980 court order that limits the number of days the loudest cars may be in use at the racetrack and the hours of operation.
Levy, on the other hand, said he is aware of the noise-limiting court order, but that the track is not complying with it. He noted that an Easter Sunday event had been juggled around to a Saturday, special events were added to the schedule and that on other occasions time limits had been stretched beyond the permissible boundaries.
At a July 24 meeting of the Manalapan Township Committee, Feldman told municipal officials he has worked hard for 12 years to accomplish two goals: "First, to get the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to change their blanket noise exemption for automobile racetracks, and second, to have my township monitor and enforce the court orders that were intended to protect Manalapan residents."
Feldman said he testified at public hearings in Trenton, attended DEP workshop sessions, had former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley write to the DEP to insist on regulation revisions, retained his own attorney to file a Petition for Rule Making with the DEP, complained to the state Attorney General about the DEP’s inaction and contacted just about every agency and organization he could find for assistance. No one, he says, has satisfied his questions on the matter.
Manalapan Health Officer Dave Richardson said the issue of noise from Raceway Park and its impact on the residents of Manalapan "goes back to the 1970s."
"The township brought Raceway Park to court twice, with court decisions in 1980 and 1985," he said.
Richardson said the drag strip expanded its racing schedule in the 1990s to include "muffled" vehicles. He said it appears these vehicles have been the subject of the most recent complaints.
"The township feels the state has never met its own obligations from the early 1970s to control noise from racetracks," the health officer said. "The township has petitioned the state to fulfill this obligation with no success."
Feldman added, "When Raceway Park denied the loud cars were improperly muffled, I shot videotape of a muffled car night and sent it to the Department of Motor Vehicles for their opinion. After viewing the tape, two inspectors visited the track on a ‘muffled’ racing night and stated in writing that the cars they saw in operation would not meet their definition of properly muffled vehicles."
Feldman did note, however, that for the first time the operators of Raceway Park stated, on their Internet Web site, certain decibel restrictions for muffled cars.
"I understand that the (Manalapan) committee may have reached additional agreements with Raceway Park on muffled cars, but unless they fully conform to New Jersey law requiring mufflers to be in good working order, the agreement is not in accordance with the court orders," he said.
Manalapan Mayor Rebecca Aaronson said, "In response to Manalapan residents living in the area of Raceway Park and the concern that nothing was being done to protect their rights, the Township Committee instructed the township attorney to commence legal action in fall 2000 against Raceway Park to enforce the terms of a 1980 court order. Additionally, the committee authorized the hiring of a noise expert to review the 1980 court order and to monitor the noise emanating from the racetrack."
Aaronson said that based upon the noise expert’s findings and information from a variety of sources, including resident complaints, the municipal attorney began legal action against Raceway Park. As a result of that action, the mayor said the committee negotiated a new and stronger court order, going over and beyond merely enforcing the terms of the 1980 court order.
The mayor said the new order includes provisions that specifically limit muffled racing to vehicles that are in full compliance with state laws and regulations regarding muffling.
She said the order permits Manalapan officials unfettered access to Raceway Park to ensure full compliance with this new court order, requires Raceway Park to pay the township $25,000 to reimburse the town for its legal fees in connection with this legal action, reduces the use of the park’s public address system and includes a "hammer" clause which enables Manalapan to immediately go to court and seek sanctions and monetary fines should Raceway Park violate any of the terms of this new court order.
In recent months, Levy and Feldman joined forces and prepared a survey for residents who live within 1.25 miles of Raceway Park to determine the effects of the drag strip on residents.
Feldman said 350 of the surveys were filled out and returned. He said unsolicited comments were included from numerous respondents, which included: "Mirrors in my house have come down;" "The traffic is as unbearable as the noise;" "The public address system needs to be eliminated, way too loud;" "Would like one day during the weekend when we don’t have to listen to the racetrack;" "Our windows shake;" "Can be worse than living by an airport;" "Very bad on school nights;" and "We leave the house just so we can have peace of mind."
"The results are pretty clear," Feldman said. "Raceway Park has and will continue to have a serious negative mental and physical impact on the lives and well-being of most Manalapan residents."