Page County planning panel rewrites Sandoz Speedway special-use permit, no vote taken

The Page County Planning Commission spent its Aug. 21 work session reviewing a revised special-use permit (SUP) for Sandoz Speedway, focusing on updated definitions, event limits and noise measures while stopping short of a final vote. Chairman Bernier convened the meeting and commissioners walked through a staff packet and a tracked-draft of conditions produced by planning commissioners and staff.

Planning commissioner Miss Greg, who led the draft rewrite, said the team tried to retain previous SUP language where appropriate while clarifying definitions and creating enforceable metrics. "This is, I've been on the planning commission, what, 6, 7 years now. This is by far the most difficult one," she said, describing efforts to reconcile older permit language with new concerns raised by neighbors and the applicant. The draft preserves racing-season dates (oval track: April–October; dirt/motocross: March–November), keeps the number of allowed race events at 32, and retains prior sound mitigation measures in many places.

Commissioners discussed splitting the prior combined category for non-race activity into three: public service training (fire, EMS, school bus and other official safety uses), commercial training (paid driving clinics and clubs) and practice/tuning/testing for competitors. The draft also proposes caps and procedural language for rain-delayed events, a weekly cap of motorsport event dates, and the option for the facility to hire an acoustician to propose an alternate noise standard. No formal action on the SUP was taken during the work session; commissioners continued debate and asked staff to refine language for the public hearing.