Lebanon Valley Speedway Owner Files Lawsuit Against New Lebanon

by Phillip Zema
Howard Commander, owner of the Lebanon Valley Speedway, has filed a lawsuit against the Town of New Lebanon. The lawsuit comes after the Town’s Zoning Enforcement Officer and Zoning Board informed Commander that he must register his parking area as a campground. Formerly, RV campers were permitted to park overnight on the Speedway’s premises. But New York State sanitary code 7-3.1(b) defines a campground as “any parcel…of land including buildings or other structures…where five or more campsites are available for temporary or seasonal overnight occupancy.” The lawsuit will determine whether the Speedway constitutes a campground. If it does, then Commander must apply for a campground permit and comply with a number of State and Town regulations.
The Speedway permits overnight parking, and a number of RV owners utilize this opportunity. Some residents and Town officials, however, have claimed the Speedway functions more like a campground, especially, as they argue, since some of the RVs are parked there throughout the week.  Consequently, Commander was informed that he had to comply with various State and Town campground regulations.   The process requires the owner to obtain several land use permits – an annual permit from the Town and another permit from the ZBA.  To receive these permits, Commander would have to add bathrooms, showers, septic systems and other sanitation-related facilities to the location. The process would likely be expensive and time-consuming. John Dax, Chair of the ZBA, said that, in March 2009, Commander had applied for a permit from the ZBA but in October he went before the Town Board to withdraw his application. As the meeting’s minutes state, Commander claimed that “he is not operating a campground; [but] has event parking.”
At April’s Town Board meeting, a number of residents took issue with the decision. In short, they claimed the Speedway was an invaluable asset to the community. They also said the RVs’ owners contribute significantly to the local economy. The ruling, they argued, was unjust and would create a number of onerous problems. For example, it would force people, when exhausted, to make long late night drives back to their homes.
Commander argued that the Speedway does not remotely resemble a campground. Since 1958, the racetrack’s patrons have parked their RVs at the site. During that span, he has never been cited for violations or summoned by the court. He asserted that he has never charged people for staying overnight nor has he treated the parking area like a campground.
Commander said that the campground law is unclear. To be consistent, if the Speedway is considered a campground, then a number of other locations must be as well. Before Buffalo Bills football games, the parking lots are filled with campers, local fairs allow campers to park overnight, at a recent racing event in Talladega, Florida, a number of RVs stayed overnight at a local Wal-Mart. While these locations feature five or more RVs staying overnight, none are considered a campground. Moreover, there are hundreds of racetracks across New York and the US, and most, if not all, allow overnight parking. None are treated as campgrounds, he said.
Commander claimed that he just wants to a run a good business, one that brings affordable fun and entertainment to the community. He stressed that he does not want to hurt the Town with a lawsuit yet he feels that since his site is not a campground, he should not have to pay for expensive facility upgrades and transactions costs. Ultimately, the New York State Supreme Court will decide whether the Speedway constitutes a campground.   If it is considered as such, Commander said he would comply with the ruling.