Grand Prix Racing Gets Green Flag : Coastal Commission Sets Conditions for Event at Del Mar Fairgrounds

Rejecting the emotional pleas of residents who claim their lives will be disrupted by the deafening roar of high-performance automobile engines, the California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved plans for Grand Prix-style auto racing at the Del Mar Fairgrounds later this year.

While commission members seemed to sympathize with Del Mar’s objections to the racing, a majority said they were unable to find grounds for denying the event under the state Coastal Act, the law they are charged with enforcing.

“We can only address the relative coastal concerns raised by this proposal, and I believe our staff has taken adequate steps to do that,” said Commissioner Charles Warren. “If the good folks of Del Mar have a grievance, and I see why they do, the remedy lies other than with this commission.”

The state panel’s 7-4 vote marked the final administrative hurdle for promoters of the 10-day event, who have sponsored a similar and highly popular road race in Long Beach for 12 years.

But city officials and residents of Del Mar vowed to press forward with efforts to block the racing, which they contend will spoil the ambiance of their seaside community and might harm several endangered birds who feed and nest in nearby San Dieguito Lagoon.

Both the city and residents of a condominium complex adjacent to the fairgrounds have filed lawsuits challenging the validity of reports assessing the cars’ noise level and impact on the environment.

“This story isn’t over yet,” said Del Mar Mayor Lew Hopkins. “We’ve got a good case, and when we get in court, we’ll be pointing out dangers to the community that these commissioners legally didn’t feel able to consider.”

After the lengthy hearing at a Shelter Island hotel, Christopher Pook, president of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and chief backer of the racing, said he regrets the community’s opposition but plans to “do a good job responding to their concerns.”

Pook has even offered to bus residents offended by the noise out of the area on all-expenses-paid vacations, which he does annually for several hundred households in Long Beach.

“There’s been a lot of emotion whipped up over this, and a lot of misinformation tossed about,” Pook said. “We had serious opposition in Long Beach when we started, and now those people are all our friends. I think we may be able to sell Del Mar on it as well.”

Commissioner Donald McInnis agreed, noting that if “one percent of the fears that Long Beach had about the race 12 years ago had come true, the people would have kicked it out of town.”

“I believe that if this thing is given an opportunity, you will find that you like it and you want it,” said McInnis, triggering a chorus of boos from the audience.

Barring any legal setbacks, the Del Mar Grand Prix is scheduled to begin Oct. 31. There will be two, three-day weekends of racing--one featuring vintage automobiles, the other, high-speed sports cars--with charity events and other recreational activities sandwiched in between. The cars will circle a temporary track constructed entirely on fairgrounds property. Promoters expect peak crowds of 40,000 spectators.

Directors of the 22nd District Agricultural Assn., as the fair board is formally known, approved a five-year lease with race promoters late last year. Members said the event was an ideal way to raise revenue--as much as $100,000 the first year--and is needed because the fairgrounds are not used enough. The fairgrounds’ only other major events are the annual fair, the thoroughbred racing season, a national horse show and occasional concerts.

Although the Grand Prix was endorsed by the Del Mar and Solana Beach chambers of commerce, the fair board’s approval triggered a firestorm of protest from city officials and residents. It has also soured relations between Del Mar and the fairgrounds, which is within the city limits and contributes healthy sums to municipal coffers each year.

The city’s main concern is the noise generated by the 90 prototype sports cars that will weave around the track at speeds of up to 140 m.p.h. Opponents say that the roar of engines will reverberate off nearby hillsides and cause an intolerable echo-chamber effect.

On Thursday, opponents argued that, while perhaps appropriate for Long Beach, auto racing is completely antithetical to Del Mar’s small-town flavor and represents an unjust intrusion on their lives. The protesters even trotted out a San Diego acoustics consultant, Ed Kamps, who fired up a gizmo said to simulate 83-decibel noise levels similar to those generated by the race cars.

“Our life style, our community character, our living environment free from noise--these are not for sale to a racing promoter,” Mayor Hopkins said. “Please do not grant this permit and do environmental violence to our community.”

Four commission members were persuaded by the testimony and voted against the racing. Commissioner David Malcolm accused fairground officials of being “unwelcome neighbors” who have concealed information about the racing from Del Mar leaders. Commissioner Robert Franco said permitting the event “contributes nothing to the coast nor the community.”

Most members, however, said they could find no justification for banning the event under the Coastal Act.

Still, the commission’s action was not exactly a carte blanche for Pook and his fellow race promoters. The permit awarded by the panel is on a one-year, “experimental” basis, and several conditions were attached.

Among the conditions are requirements that the event’s sponsors construct grease traps to catch runoff and prevent the seepage of fuels and other toxic substances into nearby wetlands. The endangered California least tern and several other birds frequent the lagoon and could suffer should pollutants spoil its waters.

In addition, backers are required to erect concrete sound barriers around the southern rim of the race course to reduce noise to 80 decibels or less. And a wildlife biologist will be hired to monitor the effect noise from the speeding cars has on the lagoon’s inhabitants.