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Ok, unless you live near Phoenix Arizona, you really may not care. But I live just 15minutes way from Arizona Motorsport Park (AMP) during rushour traffic.

The track was closed early last year due to issues with the noise the new facility caused. I am all for the track trying to be quiet, but it is near an airforce base. Below what was printed in the Arizona Republic on May 24th. [Arizona Motorsports Park aims to get back on track]

LITCHFIELD PARK - The owner of Arizona Motorsports Park scored a legal win recently that he hopes will help him reopen his racetrack, which came under heavy community fire after it opened in March 2003.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that track owner Dan Maloney’s due-process rights had been violated.

Arizona Motorsports Park, at Camelback and Reems roads, is now asking the court to reinstate its special-use permit, which was revoked by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors about a year and a half ago.

The 148-acre facility south of Luke Air Force Base features a 2.5-mile racetrack and driving pad.

It sparked ire among Goodyear and Litchfield Park residents who say the track was too noisy.

Officials with Arizona Motorsports Park say the noise is no worse than that from Luke, the nation’s largest F-16 training base.

Maloney’s lawyer, John DeWulf, said the track hopes to reopen. Maloney declined to be interviewed and directed comment to his lawyer.

“Sound issues are very personalized,” DeWulf said. “Some sound affects some people and not others.”

Litchfield Park resident Wayne Lutz said Monday that the constant hum from the track was over the top.

“It’s just a . . . community nuisance,” he said. “It’s a constant noise. It goes on and on and on. . . . They compare it with Luke Air Force Base. I’m proud to have Luke Air Force Base here. This isn’t about Luke. If I had a problem with Luke, we’d go after Luke. We have a problem with this . . . racetrack.”

Maloney has said that he spent $6 million to create the track and has lost millions more since he lost his permit.

Lutz has no sympathy.

“I know he’s got a lot of money out there,” he said. “Too . . . bad. Look at the multibillions homeowners have in their property. What he has is a drop in the bucket.”

Track officials contend the original permit included no restrictions on noise levels and say the Board of Supervisors yanked the permit based largely on noise complaints.

County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox was surprised by the court’s decision.

She said track officials verbally committed to keep the noise level in check and promised not to run commercial vehicles.

“He (Maloney) violated everything possible. I was extremely disappointed,” by the court’s decision, she said.

“It was never intended to be a big commercial track.”

I am looking forward to the track being re-opened in the near future. I have plans to buy my own dedicated track day motorcycle (Suzuki SV1000) and it would be lovely to have a track 15minutes from home.

If you want, you can read the Preliminary Site Plan, Executive Summary, Public Participation and Revised draft narrative of the AMP Application to get there license back.