Racing at Cottage Grove track gets red flag.

Byline: JOE HARWOOD and CHRISTIAN WIHTOL The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - Drivers, turn off your engines.

There will be no racing this weekend at the Cottage Grove Speedway after Lane County officials barred the owners of the dirt track from allowing spectators to use grandstands constructed without building permits.

And it's not clear when the owners of the popular track may get the green flag. County Commissioner Cindy Weeldryer, who represents southern Lane County, wants to work a special deal that would let the owners operate the track even though they have not yet secured all needed building permit and land use approvals. The deal would require approval of the county Board of Commissioners.

Brothers Russell and Bob Leach, who bought the speedway in October, on Friday afternoon said they will cancel the season-opening sprint car races at the track today amid the building permit and land use problems. In seasons past, the track typically has drawn up to several thousand spectators per weekend.

The Leaches held preseason races at the track last weekend without obtaining building permits for three sets of wooden grandstands and other improvements they have made in the past few months. The county threatened to fine the two if they allowed continued use of the bleachers this weekend. "We could race tomorrow, but we couldn't let anyone sit in the grandstands," Russell Leach said Friday.

There's a chance, though, that sprint cars will be doing their 80 mph circuits around the oval track by next weekend.

Weeldryer said she wants to try to keep the racetrack operating while its owners go through the laborious process of obtaining the necessary approvals. The county has allowed similar arrangements at other businesses in the past.

Weeldryer on Friday met with the Leaches, county land management officials and Cottage Grove officials to mediate an agreement that eventually would bring the track into compliance while allowing it to operate.

She said she'll ask the full county board to address the issue next week. "We would like to work as partners to craft a concurrent permit process in a way that meets land use issues and allows them to race this season," Weeldryer said.

Under the proposal, county engineers would inspect the largest grandstand - rebuilt without permits - at the track to make sure it complies with state building code standards. If it does, and the Leaches are able to satisfy fire and safety officials on issues including orderly evacuation in case of fire, Weeldryer believes that the county might let the Leaches use the main grandstand. Her plan, if deemed safe, would require approval from commissioners.

The two new grandstands the Leaches built on the west side of the track would remain off-limits until they secure permits, Russell Leach said.

The Leaches said they spent about $100,000 earlier this year replacing rotting wooden bleachers, installing new lights, and other improvements at the racetrack off Highway 99 just north of town.

Residents complained to the county about the unpermitted work, prompting the county to order a halt to the construction.

The county is now reviewing plans for the large grandstand, which can hold about 1,950 people. County officials have said the grandstand lacks proper firewalls, aisle widths and ramps for the disabled.

A report submitted to the county by the owners' engineering firm contained an error that made the county initially assume that the structure didn't meet the state code for the amount of load it could withstand. The engineering firm had said the grandstands could hold 40 pounds per square foot, far short of the minimum grandstand requirement of 100 pounds per square foot in the state building code.

However, the engineering firm has now told the county the new grandstands can hold at least 100 pounds per square foot.

But the Leaches are in a pickle not just over the quality of the construction, but over the very use of the property for a speedway.

Before the county will issue retroactive building permits for the grandstand work, the owners must obtain county land use approval to operate a speedway on the site, Lane County planning director Kent Howe said. That might be difficult.

The speedway owners could claim that they are entitled to operate a speedway there as a grandfathered use. A speedway has been there since the 1950s. The county in 1972 zoned the land for agriculture, making the speedway a nonconforming use. As a nonconforming use, it cannot be expanded or upgraded, Kent said. The code seeks to eventually phase out such nonconforming uses, he said.

The previous owners and the Leaches apparently have substantially expanded and upgraded the facility, all without building permits or land use approval, Howe said. To be able to keep the speedway going under the grandfather provision, the owners would have to show that the facility is no larger now than it was in 1972, Howe said.

The only other way to gain land use approval is for the Leaches to seek a conditional use permit for a speedway in an agriculture zone - essentially treating the speedway as if it were a brand-new project. Also, because the speedway is so close to the Coast Fork of the Willamette River, the county wants the owners to seek a Willamette Greenway development permit - again, as if the speedway were a new project.

The Leaches said they will seek both those permits.

But getting approvals may be tricky. The Lane Code allows a racetrack or stadium as a conditional use in an agriculture zone, but with many restrictions. For example, the facility must not "adversely affect" the livability of the surrounding vicinity, and the track or stadium itself must not be "adversely affected" by flooding. The county can impose many restrictions, including noise controls and limited hours of operation.

Getting a Willamette Greenway permit, too, can be complicated. The greenway procedure aims to limit new or intensified uses along Oregon's landmark river.

Some residents in the Cottage Grove area have complained about noise from the track for many years.

But Cottage Grove Mayor Gary Williams said many residents support the facility.

"The rest of the community understands, loves it or at least tolerates it," Williams said. Many businesses in the city say they support the track for the crowds and the money it draws.

CAPTION(S):

Cottage Grove Speedway owners Russell (left) and Bob Leach have canceled today's races at the popular track.