Noisy motorsports revs up neighbors

WASILLA — They call themselves “SubZero,” but their motorsports activities at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center are causing some nearby neighbors to get a little hot under the collar.

“There was so much noise from the racing engines and screeching tires, it had to be over 100 decibels coming out of that place,” Brad Laybourn, of 2100 Bailey Lane, told Wasilla City Council June 27. “We couldn’t even sit on our porch or anything there was so much noise. It was unbelievable.”

Laybourn, who recently joined forces with his neighbors to fight the city’s plans to build an outdoor shooting range next to the sports center, asked the council how an annoying activity like that could even get approved without first knowing how it would affect residents.

Even Mayor Verne Rupright said he noticed the ruckus when he took his daughter down to the sports center parking lot for driving lessons June 26.

“Mr. Hastings, could you please tell me about the group using the facility out there?” Rupright asked the city’s director of recreation and cultural affairs.

Hastings said SubZero Motorsports of Anchorage was granted a conditional use permit about five years ago after the center was first built. He said the business only uses it a couple of times a year for autocross, car shows and precision driving competitions.

He said he’s never heard any complaints about them until now.

“They’ve been really diligent stewards of the property,” Hastings said later. “Although their engines rev a little and their tires squeal, we can’t abate that. Everyone who goes out there seems to enjoy it. It’s a good family activity. They are good folks with no malicious intent. I hope the city doesn’t run them off.”

But Laybourn said this was not the first time he’s heard them. He remembers them being there last year on Memorial Day weekend. He said that although he called Wasilla police to complain about the noise, no one showed up.

Wasilla does not have a noise ordinance through which to enforce such complaints, although one is in the works.

“I wanted the city council to be aware and if that’s what we traded our ball fields for, I’m really disappointed because there are supposed to be ball fields out there and road racing is a long ways from ball fields for our kids,” Laybourn said. “I just wanted everyone to be aware of what’s going on out there on Sunday afternoons because it ruins our world. It is not a harmonious activity in our community.”

John Katkus, husband of Councilwoman Taffina Katkus, told council he finds it interesting that when the city doesn’t have a stake in a development — such as a private developer asking for 18 acres on Knik-Goose Bay Road to be rezoned from rural residential to commercial — the city doesn’t push it through. But when the city wants to build an outdoor shooting range or look the other way when there’s a noisy activity such as car races, that’s another story.

The Katkus family also lives within 100 yards of the proposed outdoor gun range and joined Laybourn and others in their legal appeal of the Wasilla Planning Commission’s approval of the proposed range last year.

“As the noise ordinance comes around, I hope everybody has a chance to really look at that closely because the way it’s currently written it doesn’t make sense,” Katkus said. “It needs to be very easy to understand and verifiable to anybody to look at it to know and understand the standards and how it’s determined because right now I hate to say the city of Wasilla is going to be the biggest violator of the noise ordinance. The noise at the sports center the other day during that car racing event was horrendous — for hour after hour after hour.”

Katkus said it was so bad a few years ago on Memorial Day that the entire family had to leave the house. He said he complained to the manager at the sports center and even called Rupright at home and left a message.

Councilwoman Dianne Woodruff asked Katkus and Laybourn why they are only now coming forward to council with the complaint if it’s been happening for several years now.

“The issue has always been that we haven’t had a noise ordinance and so there was nothing that could have been done anyway,” Woodruff said. “How do you enforce something that doesn’t exist?”

Alaska Sports Car Club, an affiliate of SubZero Motorsports, is scheduled to hold a similar event at Houston Middle School Sunday, Aug. 7. SubZero returns to the Menard parking lot again Saturday, Sept. 10. It also uses Bartlett High School in Anchorage and the Harbor parking lot in Whittier, according to its website.

A SubZero spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.McKee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.