SALISBURY — The Rowan County Planning Board voted on Monday to recommend an amendment to the county ordinances that would create specific standards for different types of race tracks. Previously, any race track would have to obtain a special use permit and meet the same general requirements, regardless of specific usage.

The request for the amendment was brought by a request from Mooresville Motorsports Complex, which was hoping to improve the facility and expand operations at the Mooresville Dragstrip, located at 1175 Wilkinson Road. The planning staff’s report stated that specific requirements in the current ordinances would be difficult for the track to implement, so it would be better to submit an amendment that would create specific standards for go-kart, ATV and dirt track racing. The ordinances that planning staff pointed to as problematic included the requirement that all vehicles must be equipped with mufflers and the requirement that the lot a track is located on have direct access to a major thoroughfare, major collector, minor thoroughfare, minor collector, principle arterial, interstate or service road.

The amendment that the planning board recommended set out rules for race track facilities with multiple tracks or usages, stand-alone race tracks would still require a special use permit. Those rules encompassed multiple categories, including traffic, location, noise and muffled vehicles and hours of operation.

For traffic, a future applicant for a facility would be required to perform a traffic impact analysis if the average daily trips to the facility were expected to exceed 3,000. The analysis would be a study that evaluates the impact of the increased traffic and proposes solutions to mitigate that traffic. If the daily trips are expected to be between 1,000 and 3,000, the applicant would need to coordinate with the N.C. Department of Transportation to perform a smaller analysis. The trips would be calculated by the minimum number of parking spaces required plus 10 percent of that number. The facility would be required to have one parking space for every four seats.

Instead of the current requirement of being located on one of the major categories of roads, the proposed amendment would simply require that the facility have direct access to a state-maintained road or a road that has been built to meet the state’s standards.

Currently, all vehicles would be required to meet the blanket requirement of having a muffler. The updated amendment would make it so that only vehicles with internal combustible engines operating on motor speedways, drag strips, go-kart, ATV or motorcycle tracks would need a muffler. The applicant would also be required to have a study performed to determine expected noise levels and provide recommendations to meet required decibel levels. Facilities cannot exceed 70 decibels from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 65 decibels during all other hours.

The facilities would only be allowed to operate between 8 a.m. and midnight on Monday through Saturday and between noon and 9 p.m. on Sundays. The amendment does provide exceptions for unanticipated delays and nationally-recognized events.

Chairperson Karla Foster Leonard took the time after the presentation was concluded to explain to the audience what the text amendment process is. She said that this was not a process intended to help just one applicant, but rather a way for the county to take unanticipated usages and update the language in the county ordinances as new ideas come along.

“We think we have put something together that will benefit the entire county and be able to help us move forward if any other complexes like this happen to want to be located in Rowan County,” said Planning Board Vice-Chair Mike Julian.

The request for the amendment had previously been put to a committee of planning board members during the board’s November meeting. Planning Director Ed Muire said that multiple committee meetings have been held since then to work on the amendment.

The board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the amendment to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners. The amendments and recommendation will be presented to the board of commissioners at a future meeting, who will have the final say on approval.