The judge overseeing the latest dispute over a motorsport track in western Warren County has issued a complete rejection of opponents’ most recent lawsuit.

A group of residents along Highway B filed suit against Hickory Ridge Motorsport Park and the Warren County Commission in February 2020, after the commission agreed to loosen restrictions on the track’s operations. Limits on the number of event days and the number of spectators at the track were increased, while a two-year permit renewal requirement was removed.

Opponents, who say the track causes unwelcome noise and traffic on Highway B, claimed the county’s decision to loosen restrictions was illegal under the county’s own zoning code and state law. Specifically, their lawsuit argues that the county commission arbitrarily disregarded negative testimony in a way that violated Missouri’s laws for public hearings.

However, St. Charles Presiding Judge Michael J. Fagras says he’s found nothing arbitrary about the county commission’s decision. Fagras, who was assigned to oversee the case, issued a ruling in March stating that he is “not persuaded” by any of the arguments raised by opponents of the track. 

Attorney Neil Bruntrager, representing the opponents, had argued that the commission made its decision “without competent and substantial evidence,” suggesting that opposing testimony about noise and traffic concerns should have outweighed any reason to loosen restrictions on the track. 

But Judge Fagras noted in his ruling that multiple public hearings, generating 132 pages of transcript, showed “the commissions’ attention to detail and the consideration they provided to all parties’ concerns.” That process of collecting testimony for and against the track more than qualified as substantial evidence, the judge said.

Fagras also noted that although the commission loosened restrictions on the track, it recognized neighbors’ concerns and didn’t go as far as Hickory Ridge owners George and Dana Heath had initially requested.

“The record is replete with the commission amending the initial requests of the applicant. ... In total, the commission imposed 14 conditions on the applicant,” Fagras wrote. “Obviously, the commission gave due consideration and deliberation to developing these 14 conditions ... as required by the commission’s duties and responsibilities.”

The lawsuit also claimed that Warren County’s zoning code is so vague and allows the county commission such unlimited discretion for issuing permits that the code violates the Missouri Constitution. Fagras denied that claim outright as well, saying the county’s zoning code specifically outlines the commission’s decision making, and was followed appropriately.

This is the third round of court battles over the Hickory Ridge track. The first lawsuit in 2016 sought to prevent the track from being established at all. That case made it to the Missouri Court of Appeals, which sided with the county commission and Hickory Ridge in 2018.

Fagras noted several similarities with that first case in his own ruling in favor of the motorsport track. Most notably, the Appeals Court decision affirmed that it is the county commission’s authority to decide the outcome of a permit request when there is competing testimony.

A second lawsuit against Hickory Ridge and Warren County in 2018 was later dropped.

Hickory Ridge Motorsport Park owners George and Dana Heath declined to comment for this article. Representatives of the Warren County Commission had not replied to a request for comment as of press time.