Sparta resident tells White County Commission Golden Mountain Speedway noise disrupts nearby neighborhoods; item referred to Committee B

Robert Taylor, a Sparta resident, told the White County Commission that noise from the recently reopened Golden Mountain Speedway is disturbing nearby neighborhoods and asked the county to consider regulating hours or noise levels.

“I just want to talk to you guys a little bit about the Golden Mountain Speedway. I live near there. It's unbelievably loud,” said Robert Taylor, who gave his address as 616 Brookmeade Drive in Sparta. Taylor said races and practice nights often run late and that he had spoken with a deputy who told him the county has no noise ordinance to address the problem. “When you put 10 to 20 cars on the track running straight headers, it's loud. People around there are furious in my neighborhood,” Taylor said.

Taylor said the track had been closed for about 22 years and that he understood the facility had reopened roughly a year earlier; he raised concerns the track’s schedule already showed expansion from one night a week to multiple nights with practice. He urged commissioners to consider limiting hours so events end earlier in the evening.

After the public comment, the chair asked staff to place the matter on the agenda for Committee B for discussion next month. “Brooke, can we put that on the agenda and discuss for, committee b next month?” the chair asked, directing county staff to schedule the item for committee consideration.

Taylor’s remarks were the primary public comment on the record concerning the Speedway; no ordinance or formal regulatory proposal was introduced at the meeting. The commission’s referral to Committee B creates a next step: committee-level discussion and any future recommendations to the full commission would be scheduled later. The transcript records that county staff and committee chairs will take up the matter at the committee level for further review.