Paris receives proposed nuisances agreement from dragaway

Photo by kahle via morgueFile.com

Paris has receive a proposed agreement to address nuisances at the Great Lakes Dragaway from the race track’s attorney.

The agreement is the result of months of talks between lawyers representing the town and the drag strip, town attorney John Knuteson said at Tuesday night’s Town Board meeting. Residents have complained about noise and light coming from the dragaway.

Knuteson characterized the agreement as a “significantly better document” from the track’s original proposal submitted to the town in April.

“It’s not 100 percent of what the town wants,” Knuteson said. “It’s clearly not 100 percent of what the drag strip wants.”

All comments offered by members of the public and town officials were “discussed at length” during the negotiations, Knuteson said.

The proposed agreement was received by the town via email on Monday. Knuteson encouraged the public to read it and offer comment, even suggesting the board might waive the typical public document copying fee of 25 cents per page for the over 55 page document.

But town Chairman Virgil Gentz said the fee would be required, paid in advance, for copies. However, copies that can be examined at the town public safety building also will be made available.

But, Gentz asked that the document not be made public until Monday to give the Town Board time to read it first.

The town has been pursuing an agreement with the dragaway as an alternative to passing a nuisance ordinance to address complaints of noise and light coming from the drag strip. Town officials contend a formal ordinance would be difficult for the town to enforce effectively.

Note: West of the I made a written request tonight to Beverly McCumber, town clerk/treasurer for a digital copy of the agreement as soon as possible. When we receive it, we will post the entire document.