The question of whether or not a Kasson Township landowner should be allowed to host a motorcycle race on their property will now head to court, after organizers were denied a special use permit (SUP) from both the township’s planning commission and its zoning board of appeals (ZBA).

The news marks the latest chapter in an ongoing saga that kicked off last spring, when applicants James Schettek, Bill Kasben, and Fran Seymour sought a permit from the township to host an event sponsored by Michigan Sprint Enduros, an organization that runs offroad motorcycle races throughout the state. The proposal garnered significant pushback from neighboring property owners before ultimately being denied by the planning commission. Applicants appealed the decision to Kasson Township’s ZBA, but were denied there, too. Now, race organizers are suing the township in circuit court.

“The reasoning for all of this is, quite simply, what it’s been the whole time,” Seymour tells the Leelanau Ticker. “It’s about landowner rights, property rights. We believe, strongly, that we have the right to do this on our property. So, we’re asking the court: ‘If you own 300 acres of property, and you want to have a family-friendly event on it, why are you not allowed to do that?’”

The property in question is actually five contiguous parcels, located at the corner of East Kasson and South Bright roads and owned by Kasben. Event organizers initially sought a SUP to host an event at the site last Memorial Day weekend, with plans to turn the farmland parcels into a temporary racetrack, campground, and venue for a motorcycle racing event. Schettek, Kasben, and Seymour framed the event as a positive, family-friendly economic booster that would draw 150-300 people to the township during a major travel weekend. But nearby neighbors pushed back, arguing the race would violate the township’s master plan and agricultural zoning by bringing significant pollution, noise, trash, and privacy infringements to their backyards.

The neighbors ultimately formed a neighborhood association (the Kasson Township Neighborhood Association, or KTNA), hired an attorney, and showed up in droves for a May 8 planning commission meeting to speak out against the Enduro proposal. After an hour of public comment at that meeting, applicants asked planning commissioners to “table” their SUP request so they might have time to consult with their own attorney. Commissioners acquiesced, and the proposal was temporarily set aside.

On its website, Michigan Sprint Enduros describes its events as “the newest form of offroad racing in Michigan.” Races involve two different forms of “tests” for motorcycle enthusiasts: one that challenges riders to race through “open flowy type terrain” and a second that includes “mostly woods, with some open sections mixed in.” Sprint Enduro tests are each 2-7 miles in length, and race events require riders to “run each test 3-4 times, starting individually every 15 seconds.” At the end of the event, each rider’s times from the various test are added up, and the rider with the lowest combined time comes away as the winner. Seymour says he an his fellow organizers would like to host four of those events each year at the East Kasson/South Bright property.

In July, the planning commission formally denied the SUP request from Schettek, Kasben, and Seymour, after which the organizers appealed the matter to the ZBA. In a findings-of-fact filing, Peter Wendling, the organizers’ attorney, argued that the township and its zoning administrator, Tim Cypher, had erred by not letting the applicants route their SUP request through the proper sections of the zoning ordinance. Seymour expects a circuit court judge will side with him and his fellow applicants, due in part to that alleged failure of process on the part of the township.

“Way back in the beginning, when we first applied for the SUP, we consulted with the zoning administrator, just to make sure we were following the right steps,” Seymour recalls. “Obviously, there’s nothing in the zoning regulations that specifically mentions a Sprint Enduro race; it’s a very specific thing. But based on [Cypher’s] advice, we applied for an SUP under Section 7.15 of the zoning ordinance, which was, for lack of a better term, a kind of catch-all bucket for SUPs that don’t fit neatly into any other category. What the township eventually decided was that their ordinance [Section 7.15] was illegal, and never should have been on the books. That denied us by default, because they got rid the ordinance we were told to apply under.”

Seymour says organizers later tried to argue for their SUP request under no fewer than four other sections of the zoning code, but to no avail. He believes public backlash against the proposal ultimately colored the decisions of both the planning commission and the ZBA. Still, the applicants are confident that their proposal should be allowed by right under the township’s zoning, and are hopeful that a “more neutral” arbiter at the circuit court level will find in their favor.

“We believe that we are allowed to do this event based on a couple of different ordinances that are there,” Seymour explains. “The language [in the zoning code] is kind of vague, but it mentions outdoor recreational events, and then it gives a few examples. Obviously, one of the examples is not a Sprint Enduro motorcycle race; otherwise, this would be black and white and nicely defined. But it mentions outdoor events like a horse track or kids amusement park. What the township is saying is that an Enduro race is not similar to any of those, and therefore, it's denied. We’re questioning their interpretation of their ordinance, and we’re asking the court to say, ‘Hey, we don’t think the township properly applied their ordinances to what you’re doing,’”

No date has been set for the first court appearance, but one thing is clear: KTNA will be in the courtroom when that day comes. According to Jim Travioli, a neighbor who has opposed the Enduro proposal since day one, KTNA asked to be added to the suit as an “interested party,” and that request was granted by both the township and the race organizers.

“My personal opinion: I don't know why they continue to push this, other than they are maybe trying to scare or outspend the township and KTNA into settling or compromising,” Travioli says of Seymour, Schettek, and Kasben. “We are very confident that we have the law on our side. We aren't backing down and we're ready for a fight.”

Township officials could not be reached for comment on this story.

Photo courtsey of Michigan Sprint Enduros.