Property owners along Highway B are suing Warren County over its decision to extend the conditional use permit for a proposed motorsports track southwest of Pendleton.Opponents of the permit want the Warren County Circuit Court to put the permit on hold while a judge considers whether to overturn it entirely.Warren County Planning and Zoning officials voted in November 2017 to issue a two-year permit extension for MSA Heath LLC to build a track for mud racing and truck/tractor pulls.Opponents protested the new permit to the Warren County Commission. Commissioners heard the protest Dec. 28, 2017, and upheld the new permit.The property owners, George and Dana Heath, have been locked in a legal battle with nearby residents over the proposal since 2016.The original permit was limited to two years (2016-2017), partly in response to negative feedback from neighbors. The Heaths were intended to return to planning and zoning after two seasons in operation, but George Heath said the ongoing legal dispute has prevented them from developing the track.Now, opponents have filed a new lawsuit at the Warren County Circuit Court to overturn the commission’s most recent decision, mirroring a similar attempt to block the original permit in 2016. The previous lawsuit is waiting to be argued in March before the Missouri Court of Appeals in St. Louis.In the new lawsuit, an attorney for the opponents alleges that the track should never have been approved because mud races and truck pulls are not specifically mentioned in the county’s zoning order as an allowable use for agricultural land. Opponents are worried the track would lead to dangerous traffic and drunk drivers on Highway B, cause too much noise and reduce nearby property values.The new lawsuit also accuses Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner of being biased in favor of mud races and truck pulls.Kluesner explained during the December protest hearing that he volunteers at tractor pulls as part of fundraisers for St. Ignatius Church in Concord Hill.On that basis, attorney Caroline Hermeling asked Kluesner to recuse himself from the decision on the Heaths’ permit. Kluesner obliged the request, but disagreed with the accusation of bias.“I find it rather strange that if you volunteer for a church that you can’t vote on (a permit),” Kluesner said.Commissioners Roger Mauzy and Dan Hampson voted 2-0 to deny the protest and approve the new permit for the Heaths.Despite Kluesner not voting in the decision, the new lawsuit argues that his participation in the discussion at all “tainted the proceedings rending the issuance of the 2017 (conditional use permit) unlawful.”The lawsuit is seeking an injunction, which would stop the permit from going into effect while a judge considers whether to overturn it entirely. A judge for the case has not yet been assigned.

The site of a proposed mud race and truck pull track on Highway B in Warren County is southwest of Little Lost Creek Conservation Area.

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