Debate revs up over Raceway concerts

An overflow audience flooded the Community Meeting Room on Wednesday evening for a presentation to the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission by Sonoma Raceway on changes to its 15-year-old Use Permit.

Much of the public comments made focused on the Raceway’s intent to present music concerts at the 1,600-acre facility at Sears Point, though other concerns about the raceway as a “good neighbor” also were raised.

In general, entrepreneurs and tourism advocates lined up in support of the Raceway’s proposals, while long-time Sonoma residents and those with environmental apprehensions objected.

While the commission could have given a recommendation on the proposal, at the end of the evening the commission members agreed that no recommendation would be the better option. Their hope is to encourage the county planning department and Board of Supervisors to review the full transcript of public comment instead of just reading the last-paragraph commission vote.

Longer operating hours, higher noise limits, and one more weekend of high-impact events – the three- or four-day music festival – were among the requests that Sonoma Raceway is asking in its use permit revision. Steve Page, the Sonoma Raceway president and general manager, sought to reassure the SVCAC and the hundred-plus attendees that the changes would benefit Sonoma Valley’s residents and economy in a number of ways. But not everyone agreed with his characterization.

Page explained that revising the Use Permit was appropriate, saying the current one was “a snapshot of what was going on 20 years ago.” The terms of that permit were negotiated over a four-year period and went into effect in 2000.

The Raceway seeks to expand its business model beyond auto racing, hoping to “become an entertainment venue for racing and non-racing events alike,” with a proposed four-day music festival being the centerpiece of the plans.

Sean Knight, CEO of Napa-based Nitro-Fidelity, was on hand to introduce the project, a series of rock concerts to be held at five racetracks owned by Speedway Motorsports International. Knight characterized the vision of creating a “dynamic, fun-centric music festival” as relying on local musicians, vendors, and character wherever they are held. The first of these so-called “Ni-Fi” festivals will be held this coming August at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, though additional information is not yet available.

Other Ni-Fi festivals are planned for Dallas, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina, and, if the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors eventually agrees, in Sonoma. The Citizens Advisory Commission hearing was purely advisory, as commission director Jack Ding stressed in is opening remarks, “an early temperature read of what may be the community’s mind on the project.”

The temperature was high for some of the 35 people who marched to the podium to express their support, or displeasure, with the plans. Though the meeting was civil, at several points Ding’s request that supporters refrain from applause was ignored – usually at comments from near neighbors of the Sonoma Raceway who voiced frustration over the impact the motorsports facility has had on their rural lifestyle.

Meg Beeler asked the commission to “look at the larger picture,” saying that she feared losing “the California we grew up in … the plan would push the envelope of our quality of life.” She claimed that the noise of the races could be heard in Glen Ellen, 16 miles from the Raceway.

Several members of the Lilly and Donnell families – who have lived on the ridge near the Raceway for three generations – were most clearly unhappy, complaining about the lights and noise that affects their lives every time the Raceway has an event. They asked plaintively: “How can we sleep?” The question prompted one member of the audience to mutter, “Go away for the weekend.”

Much support however was expressed from the business community, including from several officers of the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce who spoke. Chamber board director Megan Moll was not the only one to characterize the raceway as “an asset to the community,” and said Sonoma needed to acknowledge it was a tourism-driven town. Bill Blum, general manager of the MacArthur Place Hotel, noted, “We do great on race weekends – all the drivers and their teams stay at MacArthur.”

Many community members spoke highly of the good citizenship of Steve Page, and the good works of Raceway Children’s Charities, which is promised $200,000 from the increased event revenue. In fact it was Page’s high standing that seemed to tip the balance for several, who said they trusted him to “do the right thing by Sonoma.”

New Chamber of Commerce executive director Patricia Shults also spoke. She was previously executive director of the Chamber in Austin, Texas, and gave her full support to such music festivals by noting that the Austin City Limits festival brought in $106 million in business, and South by Southwest (SXSW) $190 million.

But Austin has a population of about 885,000, and Sonoma Valley has about 5 percent of that. Teri Shore of Sonoma County Conservation Action raised a similar point, from the other direction: Although she endorsed the idea of transitioning the raceway away from motor sports to music, she questioned the scale of the proposed festival. “It would be like bringing Burning Man to Sonoma Valley,” she said,

Commission member Tom Martin was one of many who expressed general concern over “intrusive” activity in the area, where Highways 37 and 121 meet, and up the corridor that turns into Arnold Drive. “Every event that we allow to intrude becomes an excuse for the next one,” he said in his closing remarks. “We need to say ‘No’ at some point.”

In the end, the Commission opted instead for No Comment, agreeing that taking a position at this point was premature and opting to hear the arguments again following the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report, which could take a year or longer.

“It would be like bringing

Burning Man to Sonoma Valley.”