SALISBURY — After hearing community concerns and comments and working with the owners of Mooresville Dragway for the past month, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners voted to approve an amendment to the ordinances that will set up specific rules around any future racing complexes.

The ordinances were originally brought before the commissioners during their meeting on Monday, Feb. 19. During that meeting, a public hearing was held and the commissioners heard comments from county planning staff as well as the applicant, Mooresville Motorsports Complex, LLC.

The request to amend the ordinance came after the company looked to expand its operations at the Mooresville Dragstrip. The proposal submitted by planning staff states that some standards in the current county ordinances may “prove problematic or prevent the site from applying for consideration, e.g. road classification and muffled race vehicles.”

Commissioner Jim Greene said that one of the things he wanted to clarify based on comments he heard was that the new ordinances will not govern existing racing complexes. Whenever ordinances are changed, existing construction is kept under the rules it was built under. The ordinances will only apply to those racetracks or complexes if they choose to expand their operations in the future.

“We cannot change what is there at this point in time,” Greene said.

One of the ordinances that was changed after hearing the feedback was the hours of operation. The revised amendment has two separate designations for hours, one for properties that are bordered by 60 percent commercial- or industrial-zoned properties and one for properties that are not. 

If the property is bordered by majority commercial or industrial properties, the hours from Monday through Wednesday are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday is 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday are 8 a.m. to midnight and Sunday is noon to 9 p.m.

If the property is not bordered by a majority of commercial or industrial properties, the hours from Monday through Thursday are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday is noon to 9 p.m.

Another ordinance that was changed after feedback was received was the acreage required for certain properties depending on the usages. Different types of tracks have different acreage, for example a motor speedway would need 50 acres while a go-kart track would require 20. If the same track is used for multiple different types of racing, the required acreage would be the higher number.

At the end of the discussion, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the ordinances as proposed to them.