Environuts called my private track in.

Kenny Lingus
Posts
1022
Joined
9/9/2016
Location
Watkins Glen, NY US
8/13/2019 4:23pm
Dollars to donuts, I'd bet the town zoning guy was the tipster. Glad it worked out ok.
7
slipdog
Posts
10043
Joined
7/25/2009
Location
Nor Cal, CA US
8/13/2019 5:15pm
Awesome!!!
1

The Shop

Buzzard167
Posts
176
Joined
2/5/2019
Location
Edwardsburg, MI US
8/13/2019 7:02pm
Most of the time if you're cool with the township/city/county people they will be cool with you. If you give them a hard time or pull the get a warrant b.s. they will almost certainly make your life very hard. I deal with these people all the time and as shitty as it may be it is always easier/cheaper to just take it on the chin and move on.
1
GangGreen
Posts
428
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Mechanicsburg, PA US
8/13/2019 8:12pm
Government Regulations on what you can do on YOUR LAND really stink. My buddies and I lost and AWESOME "3/4 scale" Supercross in Pennsylvania because it was VISIBLE from the Appalachian Trail. The farmer that owned the land, also owned the land that the Appalachian Trial went through for 2 miles, and even had swimming pond and campsite. In 1997 they expanded the buffer along the Appalachian Trail. When the farmer refused to sell his property, they would have condemned it, unless we leveled the motocross track. I think it's 1 acre on each side that has to be natural, undisturbed. I'm a hiker, mountain biker and motocrosser, and that was BULLSHIT.
3
8/13/2019 10:46pm
Great outcome! In the UK its mega rare to have enough land to build a track, and often when its been done the local council put restrictions on the land for its use per year, you guys live the dream over there!
Adam89
Posts
105
Joined
8/12/2019
Location
AU
8/13/2019 11:20pm
Maybe they just want to ride the track mate!

Just make sure you have some sort of matting in the areas where you keep your bikes, solvents, oils etc and you should be good.

As long as you haven’t disturbed the surrounding land or water sources (if any) you should be good.

I can’t tell from the pic when I zoom it it goes blurry, do you have a fence installed along the roadside of your land? That might be something you’d need to do? Once again I’m not sure what the rules and regulations over there are.

Anyways good luck all the best.
Cancerman
Posts
756
Joined
7/16/2011
Location
In Hell, FL US
8/13/2019 11:29pm
Someone called your zoning department, and they brought in the DEP, possibly as they could not ding you themselves. Zoning is always the first thing you want to look at. See just what is a legal use of the land in question. There are lots of reasons for this. I own land and you can't always just do what you want, as it can negatively effect someone or something else. My advice is to quietly check into your county land use regs. They are normally available by just asking, sometimes there is a fee if the book is very big. They are not required to disclose who called in the complaint. Dot your i's and cross the t's as they say. Sometimes you have to get a conditional use permit, which requires public hearings for input, mainly from the adjoining land owners, or people who can show it negatively effects their property or residence. I've been through it several times myself.
VetMX.com
Posts
611
Joined
5/28/2018
Location
Magnolia, TX US
8/14/2019 5:19am
Glad it turned out OK. I am sure you were stressing.
ama530
Posts
200
Joined
10/19/2011
Location
Lehighton, PA US
8/14/2019 8:37am
Great to hear you were able to compromise and keep your track. Always like hearing about the positive side. We seem to always hear about the negative all the time.

We had a local track shut down back in '08. The first issue was that the land/business owner didn't follow the legal way of doing things. Bad on his part. Second, was one guy complaining about noise and dust. We attended township meetings where 100 patrons showed up vs one complainer. The complainer was a rich investor from NYC who just build a flakeboard palace across the road. Nuff said, the township folded like a deck of cards and sided with the complainer for fear of legal action. The transplants that move here from Jersey and NYC for their little slice of heaven are the biggest pain in the rump! They bring their drugs and money and try to run the locals out. The real interesting part is that after he went through all of this to get what he wanted, he committed suicide when the stock market took a dump during the Great Recession and he couldn't sell his house. Why couldn't he have done that before and avoided all the mess??? Gotta luv it.
1
Spergen
Posts
754
Joined
5/16/2011
Location
GB
8/14/2019 10:17am
Michael551 wrote:
Great outcome! In the UK its mega rare to have enough land to build a track, and often when its been done the local council put...
Great outcome! In the UK its mega rare to have enough land to build a track, and often when its been done the local council put restrictions on the land for its use per year, you guys live the dream over there!
Or just live in the middle of nowhere like me and get on with all the farmers really well 😊 only a 4 acre short endro loop but have a few jumps/obstacles
kNewc
Posts
1113
Joined
3/17/2017
Location
IN US
8/14/2019 11:07am
mikec265 wrote:
They showed up this morning. Seemed like decent people. They'll be back in 30 days. I had silt fence up and they didn't require any more...
They showed up this morning. Seemed like decent people. They'll be back in 30 days. I had silt fence up and they didn't require any more fence. Yesterday I planted some rhygrass which will grow in 4 to 10 days. I have to show them a dust control plan which only has to consist of a 300 gallon tote on a trailer. They thought the Alta was pretty cool. The township zoning guy came along with the conservation guy. Pretty much, we're fine as long as we don't ride at obscene hours, or dust the neighbors out.
Thanks for the follow up! Hopefully you can find a farmer or somewhere local that has a cheap tank.
Motohead279
Posts
230
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Ruskin, FL US
8/14/2019 12:02pm
mikec265 wrote:
They showed up this morning. Seemed like decent people. They'll be back in 30 days. I had silt fence up and they didn't require any more...
They showed up this morning. Seemed like decent people. They'll be back in 30 days. I had silt fence up and they didn't require any more fence. Yesterday I planted some rhygrass which will grow in 4 to 10 days. I have to show them a dust control plan which only has to consist of a 300 gallon tote on a trailer. They thought the Alta was pretty cool. The township zoning guy came along with the conservation guy. Pretty much, we're fine as long as we don't ride at obscene hours, or dust the neighbors out.
See, being nice to them from the getgo was a lot better than being a hardass like some on here stated. When you try to take on the government it usually doesn’t end well in your favor. Glad you got it sorted out pretty easily.
maicocd
Posts
190
Joined
1/10/2008
Location
White Hall, MD US
8/14/2019 12:24pm
Congratulations on your victory! Happy to hear that everything worked out and that it sounds like you live in an area with some reasonable local authorities.

I'm late to the game in responding, but as many people earlier stated and just as you wisely did- the silt fence can't be overstated enough. I'm not sure that anyone answered your question yet about taking it down (after the grass established), but I would highly recommend that you keep it up as long as you have the track there.

It will over time deteriorate and likely collapse in sections, etc. Maintain it as this happens and replace sections or even the entire fence when the time comes. Besides not making the silt fence any sort of additional eye sore for any future aggravations, keeping it up and maintained in a clean professional looking matter can only work to your benefit.
This is true even if it is arguably serving any real sediment and erosion purposes.
If nothing else, it serves to present your efforts of being responsible and in wanting to be doing the right thing- which was already evident in you riding at reasonable hours, watching the dust, etc for your neighbors.

I'm not an engineer or expert on the requirements in your area but have been in the construction business (mass excavation, grading, etc) for over 40 years and the mere presence of silt fence / sediment & erosion control can go a long way when issues arise.
Growing up racing, my father had been very active in maintaining our local track and he'd often run the dozer to prep the track. He tried to convince the race committee that leased the track to invest in some solid sediment and erosion control, but they had convinced themselves it was not really needed.
When the neighbors that started to move in to new houses near the track needed a way to shut the track down, it was as easy as calling the environmental department.
That was the end of the track.

Anyway- enough of stressing all this... Good job keeping your cool and working things out!
Congrats and go riding and enjoy your victory!
mikec265
Posts
1669
Joined
10/19/2015
Location
Edinboro, PA US
8/14/2019 1:44pm
mikec265 wrote:
They showed up this morning. Seemed like decent people. They'll be back in 30 days. I had silt fence up and they didn't require any more...
They showed up this morning. Seemed like decent people. They'll be back in 30 days. I had silt fence up and they didn't require any more fence. Yesterday I planted some rhygrass which will grow in 4 to 10 days. I have to show them a dust control plan which only has to consist of a 300 gallon tote on a trailer. They thought the Alta was pretty cool. The township zoning guy came along with the conservation guy. Pretty much, we're fine as long as we don't ride at obscene hours, or dust the neighbors out.
kNewc wrote:
Thanks for the follow up! Hopefully you can find a farmer or somewhere local that has a cheap tank.
I already had a couple of those 300 gallon totes, hoses, and a pump. If that's not enough I've got 18 wheelers and 7000 gallon tanker trailers. Ones not enough and the other is overkill, but I can put an effort in I guess.
1
VetMX.com
Posts
611
Joined
5/28/2018
Location
Magnolia, TX US
8/14/2019 2:16pm
ama530 wrote:
Great to hear you were able to compromise and keep your track. Always like hearing about the positive side. We seem to always hear about the...
Great to hear you were able to compromise and keep your track. Always like hearing about the positive side. We seem to always hear about the negative all the time.

We had a local track shut down back in '08. The first issue was that the land/business owner didn't follow the legal way of doing things. Bad on his part. Second, was one guy complaining about noise and dust. We attended township meetings where 100 patrons showed up vs one complainer. The complainer was a rich investor from NYC who just build a flakeboard palace across the road. Nuff said, the township folded like a deck of cards and sided with the complainer for fear of legal action. The transplants that move here from Jersey and NYC for their little slice of heaven are the biggest pain in the rump! They bring their drugs and money and try to run the locals out. The real interesting part is that after he went through all of this to get what he wanted, he committed suicide when the stock market took a dump during the Great Recession and he couldn't sell his house. Why couldn't he have done that before and avoided all the mess??? Gotta luv it.
Karma is a bitch with a great memory...
piscokid
Posts
301
Joined
10/22/2013
Location
OH US
8/14/2019 5:51pm Edited Date/Time 8/14/2019 6:46pm
My advice for anybody with a track on their own property is get involved with local government. Attend the local township meetings. Get to know these people. Just showing up once a month goes a long way when problems like this arise. Case in point. We have over 5 acres and I built a track when the boy started riding 50's. I started going to the township meetings (for reasons that are not relevant) but I got to know the trustees. Most of the time I was the ONLY person attending. Fast forward a couple of years later and the boy is riding 80's and supermini's. We now have a turn track and a pretty nice home track. We didn't ride late or early mornings, holiday's etc. I live out in the sticks and the inevitable urban sprawl started creeping toward my property. A huge development about a half a mile goes in. Cue complaints to the township trustees. The trustees (now my buddies) just blew off the complainer saying as long as the noise wasn't excessive or after hours, it was a rural area and motorcycle, atv, sxs and "other equipment noise" could and should be expected.

TLDR: Attend local government meetings and make friends. It takes maybe a couple of hours a month and may pay back your time in spades.
3
lestat
Posts
1766
Joined
10/3/2008
Location
Piut RE
8/14/2019 5:58pm
piscokid wrote:
My advice for anybody with a track on their own property is get involved with local government. Attend the local township meetings. Get to know these...
My advice for anybody with a track on their own property is get involved with local government. Attend the local township meetings. Get to know these people. Just showing up once a month goes a long way when problems like this arise. Case in point. We have over 5 acres and I built a track when the boy started riding 50's. I started going to the township meetings (for reasons that are not relevant) but I got to know the trustees. Most of the time I was the ONLY person attending. Fast forward a couple of years later and the boy is riding 80's and supermini's. We now have a turn track and a pretty nice home track. We didn't ride late or early mornings, holiday's etc. I live out in the sticks and the inevitable urban sprawl started creeping toward my property. A huge development about a half a mile goes in. Cue complaints to the township trustees. The trustees (now my buddies) just blew off the complainer saying as long as the noise wasn't excessive or after hours, it was a rural area and motorcycle, atv, sxs and "other equipment noise" could and should be expected.

TLDR: Attend local government meetings and make friends. It takes maybe a couple of hours a month and may pay back your time in spades.
Solid advice .

Glad things worked out for OP .

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