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Neighbor urges 10 p.m. curfew for Lee USA Speedway; town staff cites monitoring and permitting limits
Summary
A resident asked the Select Board to amend the speedway’s permit to impose a 10 p.m. curfew for racing noise, citing sustained levels 'often exceeding 100 dB'; town staff said in-record testing showed races within 97 dB and explained ordinance changes must be voted at town meeting.
At a public-comment period, resident Colin Blake Butler urged the Select Board to amend Lee USA Speedway’s operating permit to impose a 10 p.m. curfew for racing noise, arguing that weekly late-night events impose disproportionate burdens on nearby neighborhoods. "Midnight is simply too late for a residential neighborhood to deal with that level of industrial noise on a weekly basis," Butler said, and added that recent changes to the resident-pass program increased burdens on abutters.
Butler told the board he had conducted sound readings and said racetracks "often exceed 100 dB." A town staff speaker responded that the town does conduct monitoring and that, when monitored previously, races were "well within the 97 dB" level and "we have not received a single complaint about the racetrack." The staff speaker also said the track has not raced past 10:00 p.m. yet this year.
Board members and staff emphasized procedure: changing the race-track ordinance would require action at a town meeting; a citizen petition was identified as the available route to place an ordinance change before voters. Butler said he has his own sound data and was advised by board members that petition or town-meeting action is the appropriate remedy.
No amendment to the speedway permit was proposed or voted on at the meeting.
