Jeremy Treadway has the 106-acre site in Fort Ann, N.Y., under contract, and has filed plans for a 15-foot-wide, 4,300-foot-long motocross track that the city planning board will discuss on June 27. Treadway hopes the track will be under construction by this summer and finished later in the year.
Jeremy Treadway, a former race car driver who sells motorcycles, snowmobiles and off-road vehicles at Treadway Motorsports in Ticonderoga, N.Y., has filed plans for a motocross track at Country Meadows Golf Course in Fort Ann, N.Y., the Glens Falls, N.Y., Post-Star reported.
“When I drove by, I saw the perfect place to build a motocross track,” Treadway said. “To be honest, I drove past, drove back, found the owner (of the golf course) and asked if they ever thought about selling.”
Treadway now has the 106-acre site under contract and has filed plans for a 15-foot-wide and 4,300-foot-long motocross track with Fort Ann Planning Board. The board got its first look at the plans at its May 23 meeting and will consider them again on June 27, the Post-Star reported.
Neighbor Tracy Monahan found out about the plans the next day, and she was stunned to hear that very few other people in town were aware of what she thinks will be a major change for Fort Ann, the Post-Star reported.
“Nobody knew this was coming. I am still talking to people who don’t know about it. I think people need to be informed,” Monahan said. “My opinion is that sound travels, and, yes, we are right next door, but this is all farmland up here, and I think people will be able to hear it on Farley Road, Hadlock Pond Road, Goodman Road, Tripoli Road, Nichols Road, Mattison Road and Cartier Lane.”
As part of the application process, Treadway had a series of sound tests done while running a motocross motorcycle at the site. He said it is important to him to do as professional a job as possible with the track. He will be living in a house on the property, the Post-Star reported.
Treadway is planning to have the track constructed by MX Track Builders, an Illinois-based firm that has been building tracks all over the world for 10 years. He said some of the work will be done by Galusha & Sons LLC of Queensbury. “We want to use local firms as much as we can.”
Treadway said he hopes the track, which will be built to the standards of the American Motorcyclist Association, can be under construction this summer and finished later in the year. He said he does not plan on holding racing until next year, but would like to do some training later this year, the Post-Star reported.
The Monahans are more interested in making sure residents know about the project and that it is thoroughly discussed before work begins. Fort Ann does not having zoning, so the track is an allowable use as long as Treadway follows the proper application process, the Post-Star reported.
“My biggest question is what this is going to do for the town,” Dan Monahan said. “There’s a business already there, taxes are being paid and the golf course employs four people, which is what the track is going to employ,” he said. “The other thing I wonder is why we need another motocross track in the county. There is already one in Granville and another in Greenwich. Why do we need one in Fort Ann?”
Treadway said his planned track will be much larger than the local tracks and will draw from a much wider area, including much of New England, New York and New Jersey. He said it will also bring a great deal of commerce to Fort Ann and surrounding towns, the Post-Star reported.
“Right now, people drive to Maine or New Hampshire or New Jersey for motocross. This track will draw them here,” he said.
The track will focus on amateur youth riders and will include training classes. Racing events will include between two and 20 riders on the track at the same time. He said that while he does not plan professional racing, he would be able to adjust the track if the AMA approaches him about professional racing, the Post-Star reported.
Treadway said racing and training will take place during the day and only until dusk. He said the site is irrigated, and he does not expect dust will be an issue, the Post-Star reported.
“We are not trying to do anything we should not be able to do. We are not trying to push any boundaries,” he said. “We are focused on families. Once a family gets involved in racing, they stay involved. All of these families are going to other places. We will give them a place to go around here.”
The motocross plan does not have to get Adirondack Park Agency approval because the park begins just beyond the eastern border of the golf course, the Post-Star reported.
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