Coalition of residents settles with county over Laguna Seca contract, agrees to drop lawsuit.

Note: This story has been updated.

On Wednesday, March 20, the Highway 68 Coalition agreed to drop litigation targeting the concession agreement between the County of Monterey and the nonprofit Friends of Laguna Seca covering operation of the county-owned Laguna Seca Recreational Area, which includes WeatherTech Raceway.

With the settlement, Friends of Laguna Seca is once again taking the necessary steps toward assuming operation of the facility, originally slated to begin on Jan. 1.

“A lot of dates came and went,” says Ross Merrill, president of the nonprofit.

For now, A&D Narigi continues overseeing park and track operations under a management agreement that the county renewed in the fall of 2023. That contract had originally been set to expire at the end of December. The county will now extend new dates for FLS to take control of the facility, as well as its other obligations under the agreement.

Under the management agreement with John Narigi’s group, the county bears the responsibility for maintenance and improvement of the recreational area. The concession agreement approved unanimously in July 2023 by the Board of Supervisors puts the costs on FLS, which would run the facility for up to 55 years.

“I’m pleased it was settled so quickly,” Merrill says. “Now Friends of Laguna Seca can move forward.”

The settlement with the Highway 68 Coalition essentially returns the situation to status quo, at a cost to taxpayers of the county’s legal fees, as well as $75,000 in attorney fees the county agreed to reimburse the coalition under terms of the settlement.

According to settlement documents, FLS will retain an acoustical consultant to conduct a sound impact assessment after it assumes operational control of the park. They agree to take sound mitigation measures recommended by the consultant, should those recommendations be feasible—permitted under regulations, capable of being installed and at a cost less than $2 million.

FLS had previously sought a contract with the county in 2016 and Merrill points out that a sound assessment program was included in that proposal.

“It’s nothing new—all of those things are in our focus,” he explains. “It only makes good business sense. We want to be good neighbors.”

Race cars have been running at Laguna Seca since the track was laid out in 1957 on Fort Ord property provided by the U.S. Army. Much of the residential neighborhoods nearby are of much more recent construction.

In December, as the date FLS was set to take control approach, a group of residents calling themselves the Highway 68 Coalition filed a lawsuit with Monterey County Superior Court seeking to block the concession agreement, citing the lack of environmental review, among other alleged violations.

The group claims that the county’s approved use permit, which specifies a number of spectator event days of different sizes, does not address motorsports and that the last environmental impact review of the park—dating to 1983, according to court documents—did not assess noise from the track.

The 1983 EIR does note that race activity and noise generated would remain unchanged, “therefore no change in raceway-related noise at existing residences would be anticipated.”

In hearings, how much track activity was grandfathered in as non-conforming use of the property became a sticking point, with the Coalition alleging that race activity had increased over the levels of historical use. In recent years, the number of major racing events at WeatherTech Raceway have been steady. The track is often rented for private events.

Merrill says that modern race cars are quieter than in the past. They are also more environmentally friendly, with a push toward hybrid power units and renewable materials.

In the settlement, the Coalition agrees to drop the legal complaint. The county is obligated to provide public notice of the Facility Master Plan for the recreation area and take on the responsibility of sound assessment and mitigation should FLS fail to meet conditions in its concession agreement with the county, forcing a termination of the contract.

The conditions come with dates attached that will now need to be revised. They include the nonprofit FLS depositing $6 million into its bank account, sign-off from the U.S. Department of the Interior that the concession agreement meets the terms of the Army’s deed of land to the county and a financial agreement between FLS and the county regarding future profits.

FLS is expected to invest $10 million on the track in its first phase of operations with a goal of increasing income. Should they meet that commitment, beginning in 2028 FLS will pay 10 percent of annual net revenue to the county.

The long-term arrangement provides an incentive for the concessionnaire to invest in improvements at the facility, bringing it up to modern standards.

“Laguna Seca has never had that before,” Merrill says. “It has needed [a long-term commitment].”

Merrill explains that once FLS takes over operations, the first year will involve a full facility review in order to develop a long-term master plan. The sound assessment will be part of that review.