STANDING ROOM ONLY CROWD HEARS RACE TRACK OPPOSITION PLANS

KWHI February 11, 2015

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Over 300 local residents crowed into the St. Stanislaus Catholic Church Community Center in Chappell Hill last night to hear what could be done to stop Club Track Holdings from building a race track on the Mel Acres Ranch. Nine local landowners have filed a lawsuit in District Court seeking a Permanent Injunction to stop the development of the track.

Charles Fridge, one of the plaintiffs in the suit explained although the suit seeks damages of over one million dollars, that is not the goal. He said that the purpose of the suit is to learn what the developer has planned through the discovery process and to give notice to the court that there is opposition to the track. Fridge said the 450 acre track is under contract to be sold to Club Track Holdings and CEO Charles Von Schmidt, but he didn’t know if the property had closed. Local attorney Hal Moorman is co-counsel for the group.

Race Track meeting story1 — (L to R) Charles Fridge, Dr. Helen Philips and Matt Strock address the crowd Tuesday evening.

The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include, Dr. Helen and Chad Phillips, OCF Cattle Company, owned by Matt and Christi Strock, Ron and Lynne Holder, and owner of Dingo Ranch J.T. Davis. The plaintiffs have also secured a consulting engineer who has been successful in stopping several other race track developments.

Developer Charles Von Schmidt’s original plan was to acquire land near Wonder Hill Road with plans to build a road race track, but the effort drew vocal opposition from residents of the area. Von Schmidt appears to have shifted to the Chappell Hill location now.

The plaintiffs in the suit say that the proposed racetrack would alter the character of the Chappell Hill area and would eventually bring down property values, and also complained that the noise from the race cars would interfere with the plaintiff’s use of their property by not being able to enjoy the seclusion of their property, and be an eye sore to the community and visitors coming into the area.

Attendees at the meeting Tuesday night signed a petition stating their opposition to the race track. Local residents have also started the website noracetrack.org and a Facebook page OpposeChappellHillRacetrack