Westmoreland staff, supervisors question safety, parking for Custom Tees Motorsports Park special-event request

Custom Tees Motorsports Park, operating on the property formerly known as Colonial Beach Drag Strip in Westmoreland County, presented a special-events application (Case 2504-MSE-01) seeking approval for multiple 2025 events including burnout exhibitions, live entertainment on May 31, 2025, and a monthly flea/farmers market on the first Saturday of each month beginning in May 2025. County staff said the application packet lists several additional 2025 dates for burnout exhibitions and that the request includes an occupancy/attendance estimate that staff recorded as 5,000.

Why it matters: Supervisors and staff said the applicant must provide detailed site planning and operational safeguards before a recommendation can be made to the Board of Supervisors. Concerns raised at the work session included crowd size and egress, precision in parking layout, emergency vehicle access, acceptable hours under the county’s special-events standard, and whether overnight RV parking historically associated with multi-day racing events would recur.

County planning staff introduced Case 2504-MSE-01 and summarized the request as a special-event application that would add burnout exhibitions, music and food to the property’s existing uses and asked the work session to identify information the Board will need to act. Staff noted the county’s special-events standard generally prohibits activities before 7 a.m. and that the county noise ordinance provides an exemption until 10 p.m. for certain events. "Actually, the noise ordinance, exempts them from, that until 10PM," staff said during the discussion.

Applicants answered supervisors’ questions. Victor, vice president of Custom Tees Motorsports Park, said the facility does not operate overnight for the events now under review and disputed claims that music and activity run until 1 a.m. "We do not run till 1AM. We didn't run till 1AM last week," Victor said, adding that overnight RV stays typically occur during multi-day drag-racing events where competitors bring trailers. He said the burnout exhibitions are intended to offer a controlled environment for motorsports activities and that the track has arranged EMT coverage for events.

Supervisors repeatedly pressed for a scaled site plan that shows the location of the burnout pit, parking spaces by number and location, designated emergency vehicle parking and ingress/egress routes, and the configuration of barriers between spectators and vehicles. One supervisor said: "I want a detailed parking where every parking space is" and later added, "I mean a real drawing to scale of the safety precautions and where this burnout stuff goes." Applicants said they have photographs and a conceptual parking map in the packet but acknowledged staff and supervisors found the materials insufficiently detailed.

On safety measures, the applicants said the burnout area is set back near a treeline and currently protected by guardrail, and that they plan to install permanent Jersey barriers. Victor described operational steps for emergency response: a second 12-foot gate that can be opened to allow ambulances direct access and on-site EMTs stationed at events to coordinate with incoming emergency responders. "We employ 2 EMTs on every event we throw," Victor said.

On capacity and past experience, applicants said the event that produced the largest attendance was in 2021 (an unexpectedly large crowd after COVID restrictions eased) and said they estimated a 2023 event drew about 4,200 people. County staff referenced an occupancy calculation in the application that lists 5,000; Victor disputed that number as coming from a third party rather than the applicants. Supervisors cautioned that parking assumptions should be explicit and defensible. "What we want is that you've got places that you're not gonna, you know, because you still have to leave emergency vehicle access and egress along the inbound drive," a supervisor said.

Other operational items supervisors asked applicants to clarify included: hours of entertainment (staff said the county noise exemption applies until 10 p.m.), whether vendors and bounce houses for the farmers/flea market would begin earlier than the county standard start time (applicants initially proposed early setup times and staff noted the events standard generally starts at 7 a.m.), a precise parking-count diagram suitable to show how many vehicles and where they will be placed, and a staging plan showing locations for EMS and vehicle barriers. The county staff member told the applicants that the Board of Supervisors will expect a photographic aerial or scaled drawing with spaces and circulation clearly marked.

No formal decision was made during the work session. Staff said the work session would review the application and that the Board of Supervisors would consider the matter at its April 14 meeting; applicants were asked to provide the detailed site plan and safety drawings before that meeting. The work session provided clear direction that plans must show parking by space, emergency access and egress, number and location of EMTs, barrier details around the burnout area, and times of activity consistent with the county’s special-events and noise rules.

The discussion also recorded historical context and community friction: supervisors and residents recounted decades of past drag-strip operation, instances of overnight stays tied to multi-day racing events under prior ownership, and recurring neighbor complaints about noise and spillover activity on nearby roads. Applicants said they want to reduce dangerous street activity by providing a controlled venue and that they are willing to pay for police overtime if officers are available to assist with crowd dispersal when gates close.

Next steps: Applicants were asked to submit a scaled site plan with parking stall counts, a barrier and safety plan showing spectator protection for burnout exhibitions, an EMS access plan and a revised operations schedule that aligns with county standards. Staff will prepare a packet and recommendation for the Board of Supervisors’ April 14 meeting.

Notes: The application was filed as Case 2504-MSE-01 by Smith Brothers Dragway/Larry Thompson and lists the property as 2035 James Monroe Highway (Tax Map 5-49A and 54) in the Washington magisterial district.