There goes the neighborhood
New motor speedway threatens to disturb the peace of Francis Beidler Forest
BY JOHN VERNELSON
"South Carolina doesn't need another automobile race track anywhere 
especially not in Berkeley County at the apex of a watershed that
includes Four Holes Swamp, Francis Beidler Forest and the Edisto River,"
said Lisa Hadstate, who lives in the area. "The dollars expected to come
from the operation don't justify jeopardizing the quality of the
surrounding land and water resources, and the serenity of a lifestyle
that will be lost forever when the first car roars around the track."
The "operation" referred to by Hadstate is Interstate Speedway, a new
$2 million, half-mile concrete oval just off I-26 in Berkeley County near
Ridgeville. Scheduled for completion in mid-February, the track complex
sits on a 50-acre site about 1,000 feet from Four Holes Swamp and about
two miles from Francis Beidler Forest. The site, an open field once used
for soybeans and corn, borders the interstate on one side, but its
remaining sides are mostly surrounded by swampland, woods and open fields.
A canal along the back side of the speedway site empties into a borrow
pit and network of creeks that lead to Four Holes Swamp and Francis
Beidler Forest, a 6,000-acre nature preserve and wildlife sanctuary
containing 1,700 acres of old-growth swamp forest and 4,300 acres of
maturing, natural second growth. Water from the swamp eventually makes its
way to the Edisto River, the longest pristine black-water river in the
eastern United States.
Co-owned by The Nature Conservancy and The National Audubon Society,
Beidler Forest supports an array of wildlife, including some of the
densest populations of nesting songbirds in the East. Four Holes Swamp,
and particularly the portion containing Beidler Forest, is "one of the
finest and most intact wetlands in South Carolina and the Southeast,"
according to its Sanctuary Manager Norman Brunswig.
The track complex will include: a main aluminum grandstand with a
seating capacity of 4,500 expandable to 15,000; plus parking for vehicles
along the backstretch; infield capacity large enough for 1,500 people
including drivers, pit crews and racing fans; and 20 air-conditioned
corporate suites with room for about 20 people per unit.
The inaugural racing event at Interstate Speedway is set for late
March, and will include a full schedule of racing in six divisions and a
100-lap main event.
Because there is no land-use plan in effect for unincorporated areas
of Berkeley County, the only permit speedway owners Mike Brown and Howard
Tharp needed to begin construction was a DHEC-approved storm water
drainage plan. The permit was granted.
Under the drainage plan, runoff from grassed parking areas, the track
and gravel road will be routed to a holding pond where an oil and grease
separator is supposed to remove those materials from the water. Treated
water from this smaller pond and runoff from other areas of the complex
will be routed to a larger detention pond which drains into the canal and
then into a creek that leads to the borrow pit and swamp. Runoff is to be
controlled so that it doesn't exceed current runoff levels.
Most of the work on the drainage system has been done. Drainage lines
are in place and workers have used them to take surface water from work
sites to the canal. Hadstate and Danny Hill, a member of the family who
once owned the open field and still owns most of the land immediately
surrounding it, filed an objection to the drainage permit after they
discovered silting in the swamp from speedway runoff.
"Danny and I spotted the silting December 19 and followed it for about
900 feet along a 12-foot-wide swath in the borrow pit near the drainage
end of the speedway, and then for about 300 feet into the swamp," Hadstate
said.
"It was milky-white, and in some places dirt mixed in the runoff had
turned the water orange-brown. Some of it looked like chocolate milk."
Hadstate said a "kind of green algae-like scum" had collected on the
water surface contaminated by the silting. "We called DHEC, but when they
came out to look, they didn't seem very concerned."
"It took about two weeks for it to disappear," she said. "No man-made
system is foolproof. Just think how bad it would be if the drainage system
broke down because of a storm, a tremor whatever. Clearing up oil or
gas-soaked soil would require removal of the contaminated soil and
replacing it with the same type. This would be hard enough on the speedway
site. What about in Four Holes Swamp?"
Hadstate has arranged for a scientist to test soils in areas marked by
silting. Hadstate said the soil scientist will double-check data DHEC used
to approve the drainage permit. Results are expected by mid-February.
Speedway owners also need a septic tank permit and expect it to be
issued in early February.
Nancy Vinson of the Coastal Conservation League said the
Charleston-based environmental watchdog group will file an objection to
the permit when it is issued. Because South Carolina has some of the least
stringent septic tank regulations in the nation, she said it is necessary
to keep septic systems constructed in "such sensitive environmental areas"
under the closest scrutiny.
Brown said he and Tharp have done everything asked of them by DHEC.
"The plan for our drainage system is based on a 100-year plan instead of
the required 10-year plan," he said. "We are going to build the septic
system on the interstate side as far as possible from the drainage canal,
and it's designed to tie in to a county sewer line we expect to be built
in 18 months or so. I don't know what else we can do."
As for noise, Brown said sound tests held at the site indicate it will
fall within acceptable levels, according to sound tests conducted by
Warren Enterprises Inc., a Ladson company Brown and Tharp hired to design
the speedway drainage and sewage disposal systems.
According to a letter dated Oct. 25, 1995, from Warren Enterprises
president Walter A. Warren to Brunswig, race day noise will be at or below
recommended sound levels in areas surrounding the speedway. According to
the letter, those areas include "open spaces that require special
qualities of serenity and quiet," such as Beidler Forest, and areas used
for homes, motels, schools, churches, libraries and hospitals.
Brown said races will only be held on Saturdays, beginning with time
trials at 3:30 p.m. and ending at 11 p.m. "With the special mufflers used
by race cars, the noise won't be any louder than the noise already caused
by interstate traffic," he said.
But Hadstate, who lives about five miles from the speedway, says if
the track makes money, there will likely be cars on it more than just one
day a week. "I lived five miles from the Summerville Speedway and the main
reason I moved from Summerville to Berkeley County was to get away from
the noise. I now live more than 10 miles from Summerville Speedway and
sometimes on Saturday nights I can hear the cars out here."
Hadstate lives in Pringletown, which runs along six or seven miles of
S.C. Road 27, from I-26 towards Moncks Corner. Some Pringletown homes are
within 200 or 300 feet of the speedway.
"Do they really expect us to believe people living that close to the
track won't be bothered?" Hadstate asked. "But Berkeley County does have
a sound ordinance, and in the end that may be our best chance to do
something about the track."
The county ordinance was enacted about two years ago, but is not
specific as to acceptable sound levels. It says simply, "loud and
unreasonable noise which disturbs" people or businesses in unincorporated
areas is against the law.
Under the ordinance, county magistrate court comes into play when
three or more people file a complaint, or when more persons in combination
with a law enforcement officer file.
Convictions could result in fines ranging from $25 to $200 and/or
imprisonment for a period not to exceed 30 days. Race cars are not exempt,
but since the ordinance will not go into effect until a violation is
charged, it can't be used to stop construction.
"About all we can do now is to force a review of the drainage and
septic permits to make sure they are within DHEC regulations," Hadstate
said. "Later, if they actually race out there, we can take people to court
for violating the sound ordinance, including race car drivers."
Meanwhile, Hadstate lays the blame for the speedway's construction at
the feet of Berkeley County Council member and County Supervisor Jim
Rozier. "They're supposed to look out for us and our environment," she
said. "But in this situation, they did nothing. We didn't know about the
race track until after construction had started.
"When I talked to Mr. Rozier about it, he said it was our fault
because we had voted against zoning. He said if we had voted for it, there
probably wouldn't be a speedway out there. We didn't trust government
then, and we certainly don't trust it now."
Hill, who lives about three miles from the speedway, said the
"tragedy" is also about the destruction of a way of life. "It's a hunter's
paradise, and a wonderful place to get away from it all," he said. "My
daddy and uncle preserved it for us and I want to help preserve it for
those who follow me. There's no way we'll ever have deer or any more peace
and quiet out here when they start racing. The noise and pollution puts
our whole way of life at risk forever."
Rozier said, by law the only way county government can control
development is through land use planning. "People in Pringletown voted
overwhelmingly against zoning in a 1990 referendum, the year before I took
office," he said.
"They have to trust somebody. If we had a zoning ordinance, county
government and county council would be accountable. The speedway owners so
far have done everything required of them by DHEC. What if another
landowner out there wanted to build a junk yard or a hog farm on his land?
Without a zoning ordinance, he could build it if he could get the permits
from DHEC and there would be nothing county government could do about
it."
But Hadstate said there is something the people can do about it. "We
can vote this government out of office and put a new one in."
"The dollars expected to come from the operation don't justify jeopardizing the quality of the surrounding land and water resources, and the serenity of a lifestyle that will be lost forever when the first car roars around the track."
