Laguna Seca Lawsuit: Homeowners Perplexed as Iconic Race Track Materializes Overnight
Imagine the shock if, after moving into your home, you discover that a popular and world-renowned race track had materialized overnight in your general vicinity. The horror. You’d rightfully be confused, possibly even enraged at such a happening, and keen to pursue a lawsuit. Believe it or not, this is exactly the phenomenon that unfolded recently. Based on our deepest reporting capabilities, we can find no evidence that WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca ever existed before 2023.
As expected, this sudden and unexpected conjuring has local residents incensed, as the noise and traffic from the venue came out of nowhere and was a shock to those who had moved into the area over the preceding handful of years. Naturally, residents have banded together to get rid of this nuisance that definitely has not been in the same location since 1957. The group, the Highway 68 Coalition, filed suit against Monterey County, which operates the fledgling track, on December 12, 2023, seeking to curtail racing at the venue.
The lawsuit hopes to target the track by calling into question the track’s zoning laws and lack of explicit racing use being in the track’s permits. The County of Monterey owns the track and spent more than $18M renovating the track surface and installing a new bridge over the front straight in 2023. The track is credited with bringing in about a quarter of a billion in local revenue each year, but the Highway 68 Commission makes a good point, noting that they have, “suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable injury as a result of the continued violation of the Respondents’ zoning laws.”
When reached for comment*, the Highway 68 Coalition was shocked—outraged even—that its mobile phone plan included the possibility of incoming calls.
The appearance of said track, which is suddenly very popular and definitely hasn’t been a staple of the area for almost seven decades, has taken a massive toll on local residents. “I can’t believe it,” said an unnamed real estate agent who recently listed a property just a stone’s throw from the track. “This house sold for $2.5 million seven years ago, long before the race track was there. Today it’s listed for just $4.25 million, we’ll be lucky to sell it for $4.2M.”
It’s almost impossible to imagine such a tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with those unfortunate souls who, through no fault of their own, live just minutes away from the Monterey Car Week festivities.
*We didn’t really call them and don’t much care what those jabronis think.
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Well done Brandon
As several have said it’s now fairly common place to get slapped with a legal proceeding of some sort to shut down pursuits that may devalue residential interests. Even when the pursuits have an established history of existence.
I have a former drift candidate son that was willing to take a few days off to help his drifting cause fight one of many legal battles a years back. He and several of his friends drove over 90 miles to the court house and presented their case before the county the track was located in.
The backers that wanted the track shut down had an “environmental scientist” that stated the county’s noise ordnance of 75dB max was the reason to suspend the track, and 75 dB was based in a study that determined what “safe” noise levels were.
One of the pro track personnel had a calibrated dB meter in the back of the meeting hall. Once the “environmental scientist” made the claim that the track was violating the noise ordnance, and wasn’t safe for producing a level of noise safe for humans, the person with the dB meter requested the floor for comment. The dB meter in hand, this pro drift person pointed out that the level of noise in the meeting indicated that all parties present and speaking using the amplified system were in violation of this ordnance. The person was stated they were in a safety related position in an industry that followed OSHA requirements for occupational hearing protection. The lower limit of the current OSHA requirements are 8hrs sustained at 90dB and 120dB for short bursts with approved/rated protection. Nothing is required below 90dB for occupational health.
The stated ordinance requirement of 75dB was seemingly arbitrary for personal “enjoyment”. The person in favor of the track pointed out the noise ordinance had no basis in real world data, as claimed by the “environmental scientist”. When the “environmental scientist” was asked if they could produce actual data for the track, to support it didn’t meet even the 75dB ordinance, they could not.
The hope, from those that oppose noise, appears that if you get the right group of people to show up to the legal proceedings, no one knows the “facts” and will blindly follow “science.”
Needless to say, the council determined they needed to examine the ordinance, rather than the track as there were other implications such as construction sites that would be interrupted by similar noise complaints. They did direct the track to limit the events and provide notice to the neighborhood, all in trying to keep the peace between neighbors.
Idiots. As someone once said, God must love idiots, because he sure made a passel of them.
Another example is fools who buy a house on a golf course, probably pay extra to get such a house, then sue because golf balls end up in their yard or occasionally break a window.
New development, but old problem. A development of expensive homes was built near Laguna Seca a few decades or so ago, and the new owners complained about noise from the track. Or so we were told. Since that time, driving events, whether racing or educational, have been subject to sound level checks at Laguna Seca. Your first violation gets you a warning, and you can attempt to make modifications that quiet your car. Your second violation gets you kicked out of the event. A certain number of races each year are allowed to exceed the limit.
In the early 2000s I was president of a summer rec swim team in an East Bay suburb of San Francisco. The pool was part of the facilities at a golf club. My wife grew up in a neighboring house and she and her brothers spent summer days at the pool in the ’60s. The golf course and pool were there before most of the neighboring houses were built.
During my term, neighbors near the pool who had purchased existing homes complained about the noise during Saturday swim meets. I asked a lawyer friend what the law said about this. In the other 49 other states, she said, you are presumed to have done your homework prior to buying a property near an existing source of noise. But of course, California is different. The state wants the owners of the property where noise is made to make some good faith attempts at mitigation, which we did.
So the same principle applies at Laguna Seca. That is why any track rental includes a fee to pay the people who spend all day on the hills above the track with their sound pressure level meters and radios to report violations. My question now is, because there are new complaints, will the track/county have to make more efforts at mitigation?
‘…pave paradise and put up a parking lot…’ Been going on for years, as long as there is investors with money and lawyers willing to try – capitalism mostly sucks if you look at who it harms, vs. who it benefits. *sigh*
Well written, Brandon.
Wow, six pages of comments! Seems we all have a story or two to tell.w
In my youth, I raced at a dirt track in Corona, CA. Apartments were built within earshot of the track, we were told to muffle our race cars, and eventually the track closed because the new residents won.
I now live in Meridian, Idaho. There is a 1/4 mile paved track in the middle of town that holds about 25 evenings of racing each year. Meridian is one of the fastest growing cities in the US, and noise complaints are getting more frequent. I’m hopeful, if not optimistic.
Been to the Meridian track many, many times since I was a kid – even pitted for a guy there in the early ’70s. Great track and atmosphere – most of the “old timer” locals have always supported it and are proud it’s there right in town (wasn’t the “middle of town” way back, but town has grown around it). It’s the newbies who are complaining.
Long live the memory of the Pink Lady!!!
Can’t they just run EV races there? Problem solved! LOL!!!
Great article! I needed a good belly laugh.
Wilmington NC, we have a fair amount of military aircraft, and fighter jets coming over low and loud. Helicopters too, and V-22 Osprey. Some say, “Sound of freedom!” and some complain that they shouldn’t be able to fly over the city.
Apparently home buyers are deaf and blind when real estate shopping – this is a story that repeats again and again. Here in Canada the same complaints periodically come in regarding the legendary Circuit Mont Tremblant (1964), Shannonville Motorsport Park (1979), Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (1978), and more recently Calabogie Motorsport Park (2006). Frankly, I would love to hear the sound of a well-tuned engine – much better than the irritating sound brought to us by the Pickleball fad!
I live a mile south of a local dirt track at our fairgrounds. The mile in between contains a lake, a campground between the lake and racetrack, and a ballpark that does night games. Additionally, 3 blocks east on my street is the hospital, and the helicopter approach is directly over my home. So, nothing to block sound. Is it loud? Yes. Do I complain? No, I bought the home knowing the track, park, hospital, etc. were there. It gave me a great deal on the house, so I can live with the sounds.
So, where did go to skip barber in 2021? That must have been a real good dream.
We have people build a new house that they move into in January, then in July expect the 100 year old family farm next door to cease and desist its livestock operations.