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Commission discusses drafting an event-venue ordinance after residents complain of drag-strip noise
Summary
Planning staff presented sample ordinance language and six considerations for regulating rural event venues after commissioners and residents raised repeated complaints about loud events at a motorsports site; staff said some small events can be approved administratively but larger or contested events would require Board of Supervisors review.
Westmoreland County planning staff on Sept. 22 asked the planning commission for preliminary feedback on drafting a code amendment to define and regulate rural event venues, a response in part to repeated complaints about noise from a motorsports site.
Staff said it had reviewed example ordinances from other localities and pulled together six consideration points for the commission to discuss. The aim is to create a defined "event venue" use and to set standards so some events could be administratively approved, rather than forcing all applicants through the major special-event process.
"We occasionally get people that wanna do, you know, they've got a nice house or a nice piece of property. They wanna do an event, a wedding," a staff member said, describing why the issue was raised.
Commissioners and others raised persistent complaints about loud events at AT Johnson Motorsports/Columbia Beach Dragway (Custom T's Motorsport). One commissioner said, "People had to leave their homes on drag on on Field Road because of the noise." Another participant said residents report being unable to let police onto private property to take decibel readings and described the noise as physically vibrating cars and disturbing residents' ability to remain in their homes.
Staff explained that the county's special-events rules already provide conditions that can be applied to temporary uses and that, under the current framework, events that meet listed criteria (including written permission from residents within 300 feet) can be approved administratively; events that do not meet those criteria would go before the Board of Supervisors for a public hearing.
"They have not yet complied with those conditions," a staff member said referring to the motorsports site's drift-pit events; staff emphasized that until the site meets the conditions it does not have approval for those specific drift-pit activities.
Commissioners requested clarification on definitions (for example, whether "automotive race track" should explicitly reference a drag strip), notification thresholds for neighboring property owners, enforcement capacity (including how and where decibel readings are taken), and where the new use should appear in the zoning use table. Staff said the next step would be to draft an ordinance amendment, advertise it, and return to the planning commission for a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.
The discussion was procedural; no ordinance language was adopted at the work session. Staff said it would email commissioners a pulled list of questions and sample language and bring a draft ordinance to the regular meeting for further review.
