[illustrative photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmentd/ / CC BY 2.0]

The Kenton Neighborhood Association has won a major victory for cutting down noise from the Portland International Raceway, says Ryan Pittel, the association’s noise subcommittee chair.

At a Jan. 13 public meeting, the Noise Review Board denied PIR a multi-year variance on allowable noise limits in four upcoming racing events. Instead, the board voted to review only 2010’s races.

“My stance was that variances should be applied for on a yearly basis,” Pittel said. “We just wanted a voice.”

Mark Wigginton, track manager for PIR, says promoters operate on thin margins to bring these lucrative events to the city, and that applying for yearly variances will increase the cost of business. He says three one-year variances would cost a total of $16,600, or $5,535 per year, while a three-year variance would cost $6,795, or $2,265 per year.  “It was a surprising change for a board that in the past had granted multi-year variances to most promoters,” Wigginton said.

The board also denied PIR a full variance for the Portland Historics car event in July. Wigginton says the event had operated under a 112-decibel variance for many years, but now must make do with only 110 decibels. Wigginton says the difference is barely perceptible audibly, but it could nevertheless threaten the event’s scheduled appearance of vintage Formula 1 cars.

Pittel believes the public meeting saw a higher attendance this year because the board required PIR to send out a special mailer card to residents. He says the December meeting only drew about 10 residents, but January’s saw nearly three times as many.

“By doing the cards, people came out of the woodwork,” he said.

Wigginton says the board mandated the PIR send out mailers in addition to a notice in the Portland Parks and Recreation schedule of classes. He estimates the mailers will cost $2,000 - $3,000.