There is a letter to the Frontiersman by a resident which is worthwhile reading and expresses the worries of many on the subject of the raceway expanding. Unfortunately, it’s not available on-line, but worth buying the paper in the Mat-Su Valley if you’re not a subscriber.
Here goes: Before you read this, you may want to go to our web site for some background: www.buttealaska.org, click on “Red Alert.”
There’s been a drag strip in our neighborhood since 1964. They thought they were in the middle of nowhere then, but for a racetrack to not be heard it’s gotta be miles away from civilization unless you don’t care about people who live anywhere from next door to 1 mile from the track. Nowadays they forget that they intruded into the peace and quiet of McKechnie Loop Road and Old Glenn Highway neighborhoods where land and homes were in private ownership since the early 1940s. (See the map on the website). They say, “we were here first - people knew what they were getting into when they moved here,” thus condemning the investments of homesteaders, loggers, veterans and other hard working pioneers who had hoped to pass on the land, or the profits from it, to their children and grandchildren at a fair value. Some of them had hoped that their grand kids would move onto their land in this incredibly beautiful area—-
But, folks around here have been tolerant for the most part. And, when the present track owner asked for neighbor and community support for him to buy 27 acres right next to the old track from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (a borough here is like a county in the Lower 48), because he would be using it for parking and leave the rest in vegetative buffer to protect the neighbors from noise and dust - and that if he would buy it, no one else could put houses on that property and then complain about the noise.
So, guess what? The Northstar Speedway (their link is on the above web page) just announced that they would co-locate with the drag strip, and the owner of that park confirmed it in a newspaper interview and they’re looking for $3 million plus investment to build their playground on the piece of land which he sweet-talked us into helping him get.
Most of us were gullible. I wish I’d been one of the smart ones. We also assumed that after we supported him at official public hearings, the State of Alaska and the Borough would make sure that there was going to be a note on the deed, or that it be recorded somehow, to that effect.
But, we also believed him when he said he’d never have an oval track, he’d no more run jet or nitro cars, he was running cars until 9 pm only and they were open 23 days during the summer. Of course, we have all of his statements in writing and some of them on audio.
We hope that the Borough and the State of Alaska see the error of their ways and give us the protection any normal, resident deserves in exchange for paying their fair share of property taxes.
Any comment, sympathy, help and advice is welcome. Residents of Butte, please contact officials listed on the above web site.