Did you make it to the meeting? What's the scoop on E-Town?

Bill, Yes, I made it. I was there from 6:50 until 8:15. My friend had a commitment, so we had to leave early. It was scheduled to continue until 9pm.

The meeting was an open forum to discuss the complaints that had been lodged against the noise at RWP.

Racers outnumbered residents at least 20 to 1. Standing room only. Very rowdy at times, but only one pro-resident came close to ejection while I was there.

There were a lot of heated debate about a "facts" sheet handed out by the Assemblymen and from a "Noise Consultant" in which RWP Laywer jumped all over the "Facts".

The residents are saying that RWP violated the Noise rules set down by a 1985 judgement and RWP denies it.

None of those issues were going to be decided that night.

But there were some really good speakers and I was prepared to speak, but was not called. Over 100 people signed up to speak and by 8:00 only around 20 had spoken.

The recurring theme of the night was "let reach a compromise", but everyone knew that the sound barriers are not going to be effective and putting mufflers on top-fuel is not going to work and will drive RWP out of business.

A couple of interesting speakers...

An elderly resident on a farmhouse the is right next to RWP. She has to check RWP racing schedule before she plans any weekend activities, like her Daughters wedding at the farm. She had the most harsh words for non racing noise from RWP, boom boxes, pit area, fans peeling out after the race and noted the lack of reponse from the Old-Brige PD and RWP security. She was for a compromise and enforcement of existing rules. She was applauded.

Elderly Race Fan with Cancer stating that RWP keeps him happy with a will to live.

Resident across the street that has no beef with RWP, but decries the lack of Fan respect for the 25mph zone (speeding) and burnouts on public road.

One resident almost came right out and said the Old Bridge PD were in RWP's back pocket. That caused a stir!

Manalapan Mayor got up and was Pro RWP, Met her husband there. But she wanted to serve her township and reach an agreement. She also asked everyone to let the speakers speak, which up to then was tough going.

Assemlyman had to apologize about a "fact" on the sheet about the use of "Rocket" cars causing the most noise. He did not know the difference between a rocket and a jet. He also got boo-ed about comments of "nitrous" during Muffler nights equating them to "nitro" cars. It was obvious that the Assemblyman did not know anything about the racing community and got a wake up call that night.

He also answered the question from the crowd about how many complaints there were. It was tought to hear his answer, but this is what I remember. He said out of the 25,000 residents in a 3 mile radius of RWP (WOW!) that there were 1,000 residents complaining. I figure that to be 4% of the residents. Seems like a low number.

Anyway, that is what I experienced. Anyone else go? And stay until the end?

It seemed like one of those situations where there would be way too many people present to accomplish anything that night. The biggest problem is probably the people when they leave the track, not the noise of the racing itself. I've never seen anyone do 25 mph down that road other than myself! :rolleyes: I sure hope they can agree to cut down on the spectator noise so the track doesn't need to make concessions.

I'm not at all familiar with the area in which the track is located. However, if there are 25000 residents living in newer developments within 3 miles of the track, the property is worth a fortune. With that said, it is not unlikely that developers (and others who may profit) would "stir up" resentment among residents about the noise in order to run them out of business, and force them to sell. What the owners of the track should do is add a codicil to the title of the property stating that, if the property is ever sold, residential development is prohibited. I have a hunch that even the threat of doing this would curtail the complaints considerably.

John, the housing issue was discussed and you are correct. Per some of the speakers, pre-existing houses withing a mile are in the $500,000 to $600,000 range and a new development within a half mile that is currently being built is starting in the $700,000s. Per NJ law, the prospective buyers of these properties get a disclaimer about RWP. One of the comments about that that night was "I read the document about the noise, but I never thought it would be THAT loud". That got a good laugh from the Racers. The Mayor actually came out and said something like, "We need 1000 more homes, like we need a hole in the head".

Housing around here is going through the roof. Because of the tight market for new homes, developers keep raising the prices, but people keep buying them. The market has not hit the peak yet.

What is fueling this is the NYC commuter connection. More and more Staten Island residents are moving to Monmouth county and commuting. While not all new home owners are like this, but a vast majority are moving from NY to NJ with their eyes closed. They are not ready for a rural life style. Small scale PD and FD, farmers, wildlife, extensive drive time to get somewhere, etc. The complaints about all of this come soon after moving here. I have personally witnessed this.

Like I said not all NY transplants are like this, but the vocal ones sure are.

I am a life long NJ resident and understand the rural part of NJ and I did not pay $500,000+ for my house, even though it is worth that now (thanks to the NY commuters) graemlins/beers.gif

Geez, what do you guys do for a living up there??? 1/2 million dollar+ housing editions :eek:

Its not wonder so many out of staters are moving to OK...of course they are screwing up real estate prices here now tongue.gif

travis, NJ salaries are elevated due to proximity to NYC and Philly. If you commute to NYC, you make a very good buck, but the commute (2+hours) will get to you.

I bought my house 8 years ago at less than half what it is worth now. I could never afford this area now.

BTW, property taxes ($8K+) and car insurance ($3K+) really hurt. And that is a rural area. Other counties the cost are higher. There are areas that a normal 4 bedroom house 3500 sq ft with the taxes are between $10K and $20K a year.

I do not know how everyone is affording these prices either.

There is a saying around here called "house poor", where all the savings and income go towards the house, but they cannot afford furniture.

Originally posted by KevinW:

There is a saying around here called "house poor", where all the savings and income go towards the house, but they cannot afford furniture. Same in Flemington. Or, they have furniture but no landscaping.

That road that has the 25mph speed limit, sounds like the main or only access road to the gates?
How come it's 25mph? Because there's so many houses on it and it's a residential street? Or because it's winding and narrow?

I hope the residents and the assemblyman can come to an agreement with the track. It sounds like the mayor is pretty cool about the whole thing. There's nothing the track can do about the noise that won't ruin the entire reason it exists in the first place. Short of erecting several of those major, giant concrete walls you see on the sides of expressways when a neighborhood is right there. That would just make it louder for the spectators and look like crap.

Joe, here is the map.

http://www.etownraceway.com/images/map.gif

The raceway on the map is just north of the the airport and parallels the runways and the lake. The pit entrance is just north of the Star on the map. The spectator entrance is 1/4 mile further north on Pension rd.

All the thin black line streets are 25 mph. Houses, narrow roads with no shoulder and lots of traffic all contribute to the mess. It normally takes me 20 min to get to the track on non race days, but one time coming home from a swap meet there it took 3 hours! graemlins/clonk.gif

You know what the real issue might be is the fact that RWP is in Middlesex county and all the people b!tching are in Monmouth county. So the county doesn't see any benefit from RWP. Let's see, there's a drag strip, an airport, a lake for jet-ski racing, a road course, autocross in the parking lot and 2 motocross tracks. Which one of the above are the people actually complaining about? It's probably the NHRA event that makes the most noise. But the real issue is probably the traffic jams on various weekends.