Motocross track owner Darrel Lynn pleads his case with the Catoosa County Commission in front of supporters.RINGGOLD, Ga. - It was a bumpy ride to get there, but Catoosa County commissioners on Tuesday finally approved a motocross track coming to Scruggs Road.
"We've got the track ready to go; we were just waiting for the final approval," said Darrel Lynn, who owns the track and hopes to hold his first race Aug. 14.
The track, a dirt circuit for motorcycle racers, had been approved by the county's Planning and Zoning Committee, but the matter had been tabled at two previous commission meetings.
And before approving it at the Tuesday meeting, commissioners tried to go into executive session to discuss the matter before being told by the Chattanooga Times Free Press that such a move was illegal.
Three commissioners admittedly were apprehensive about the track. Commissioner Jim Cutler said he was concerned about how it might affect residents in the area. Commission Chairman Keith Greene and Commissioner Ken Marks said they were not sure it fit the county's overall land use plan, which calls for future commercial or industrial growth in the area around the track.
But under the terms of the special-use permit allowing the track, commissioners will be able to re-evaluate their decision in six months and choose to allow or block the races. Commissioners said the ability to essentially test the track's impact made the decision easier.
"It was that six-month window that swayed me," Cutler said, "knowing they've got six months to prove everything they've been saying is true."
Lynn said the track would be a "good thing for the county."
"I feel real confident we'll stay within the limits the commissioners put on us," he said.
But how much of the decision-making process will be done in public remains to be seen.
"It's something we need to further discuss in executive session," Greene said of the track Tuesday from the dais. "It's something that all five of us need to discuss and make a decision on the future of the county and that site."
Under Georgia law, executive session allows commissioners to discuss employees, land purchases and certain legal matters out of the public eye.
When Times Free Press attorneys were notified of the statements, they said the meeting was illegal and should be interrupted. When the closed-door meeting was challenged, County Attorney Skip Patty said Greene had misspoken and the meeting was covered by client-attorney privilege because they were discussing legal options around the special-use permit for the track. He said no other aspect of the motocross proposal would be discussed.
Commissioner Bobby Winters said the discussion should have been done in public.
"That could have been discussed right out there in front of the people," he said. "It shouldn't have even been back there."
Winters said Greene had brought up the motocross track in executive session at a prior meeting and the chairman had made it clear he didn't want the track.
"Keith had brought it up back there," Winters said, referring to the executive conference room behind the main commission chambers. "Keith didn't want it to come through, period."
Greene, other commissioners and Patty denied that the motocross track ever had been discussed in executive session before the special permit discussion Tuesday.
When the executive session ended, Winters emerged pumping his fist. Marks announced that he didn't want to "let the cat out of the bag," but said "I believe this is going to pass."