Loudon approves New Hampshire Motor Speedway permit, requires marshals on demo rides

The Loudon Board of Permits voted to issue a special vendor license for New Hampshire Motor Speedway, 1122 Route 106 North, with a condition that all manufactured-cycle demo rides be accompanied by a marshal from the start to the finish of each group, the board said.

The board acted after residents and police described ongoing safety concerns on Route 106 and nearby town roads during the racetrack’s motorcycle demo-ride events. Police officials said state highway-safety grant funds will cover extra patrol overtime this year and that the department stopped roughly 110 motorcycles during last year’s events.

During public comment, Mary Ann Steele, a Loudon resident of 637 Lower Ridge Road, told the board she has lived in the area nearly 50 years and described repeated incidents of rides that she said involve speeding, lane violations and reckless driving. “If the police are out there and on the road and those riders know that there are cops who can run them down, things get better,” Steele said. She said road surface conditions on Lower Ridge Road and Laughlin Ridge Road have also worsened and increase hazards for drivers, pedestrians and horses.

Police Chief Dana Flanders told the board the town has used a highway-safety grant to fund extra enforcement during previous motorcycle events and that the New Hampshire Department of Highway Safety provided an additional $2,000 this year specifically for extra patrols tied to the demo rides. “Last year, we stopped a 110 motorcycles,” Flanders said. He said officers will again use a speed trailer to track vehicle counts and that he had enlisted the county sheriff’s office to provide additional deputies on Wednesday through Friday of the event week. Flanders said the extra patrols will be paid through overtime reimbursed by the grant and that the department has statistics to support designating the rides a nuisance if grant funding is ever withdrawn.

Board members and several public commenters discussed the town’s special-events permitting process and whether it is being applied consistently across venues and events. A board member said a special-events permit can reduce the town’s need to send multiple inspectors for tents and vendor permits because those inspections are covered under the event permit. Residents asked the board to review the ordinance language and the town’s enforcement practice in a future meeting.

After discussion, Selector Miller moved to approve the permit with the marshals condition; Selector Griffin seconded. The motion carried after the board voiced assent. The board recorded the condition in the minutes as: “All manufactured cycles on demo rides will have a marshal to lead their group from start to finish.” The board also noted that failure to comply could affect future permitting and that the town can impose a daily fine (stated during the meeting as $100 per day) for noncompliance.

The board directed staff to proceed with the permit under the added condition and said it will examine the special-events permit ordinance and enforcement consistency at a later date.