Organizers of a drag racing group in Elma are asking why a permit was denied by the county and are accusing the county of misdeeds in the way the permit was handled.

Outlaw Drags, organized, promoted and operated by Rod Emerson and his wife Shawn Emerson, was held at the privately owned Elma Airport during the summer of 2015. The Emersons said they had contacted the county last year to ask about permitting and they were told no permit was necessary.

Shawn Emerson said she spoke with Jeff Nelson in the county health department.

“We worked with him for Sanicans and getting some concessions — he was very helpful,” Shawn Emerson said.

Nelson told The Vidette he was approached by the promoters last year via email. The email was worded as if the drag race was a one-time event.

”Regarding your proposed drag racing event this weekend at the Elma Airport – The Environmenta Health Division does not require any permits given you will not have food vendors nor provide overnight camping,” Nelson wrote in an email reply that was provided to The Vidette. “I cannot speak directly on behalf of other departments but I have made the Planning and Building department aware of your intent to use the airport and also discussed it with our Prosecutor’s Office and Sheriff’s office. They may contact you for more info but so far, they have not indicated to me that additional permitting would be required.”

With no permits required, as far as the Emersons were aware, the racing was on for the entire 2015 season. Every other weekend, July through the end of September. All told, it was about 20 races for the season.

Outlaw Drags runs a one-eighth mile track down the runway at Elma Airport. The cost to race is $25 for a driver all day, with as many races as the driver chooses to run. Action is every Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Spectators pay $5.

“We wanted to make it family oriented — we got whole families who came out here,” Rod Emerson said, noting that no drugs, alcohol or pets were allowed. “We wanted to make it a safe environment to race and to keep racing off the streets.”

The vehicles were mostly street vehicles, reaching only about 70 mph before the race was over.

“It’s like getting on a freeway,” Emerson said. “You can be anybody and race on the track.”

And while the hours were weekend hours during the day, the vehicles still made noise, and the Elma Airport has neighbors. Some neighbor’s were expressively opposed to the racing, and they contacted the county.

The runway has been quiet all summer.

Denied

The county now is saying the racing was illegal. The Emersons take exception saying at times during the 2015 season police officers were spectators of the races.

Despite the previous season, the owner of Elma Airport (Jeff Wysong), had to apply for a conditional use permit through the county in order to hold drag races on the runway. The property is zoned for industrial use with language allowing for conditional use for racing.

On Friday, Sept. 2, the Emersons learned their application for a conditional use permit was denied.

“The Grays Harbor County Code requires the applicant show that the proposed drag racing facility is compatible with existing and potential uses and in keeping with the purpose of the district. However, Ander’s provides that neighbors and the county have the burden of proof showing incompatibility and nuisance,” the county hearing examiner, Stephen K. Causseaux Jr. wrote on Aug. 29.

The applicant, Jeff Wysong, didn’t prove drag racing meets the criteria for a conditional use and did not show the racing could meet noise requirements set in the Washington Administrative code, the hearing examiner wrote; meanwhile, the county staff and neighbors have shown how racing is not compatible for conditional use.

Should the applicant choose to appeal the hearing examiner, the matter will go before Grays Harbor County Superior Court.

The Emersons recently took to social media to air their griveances with Commissioner Wes Cormier, who they say politically played both sides of the aisle. Cormier responded on social media and reiterated his side in a coversation with The Vidette.

“The Board of County Commissioner passed an ordinance to allow for a hearing examiner. We did everything we could to accommodate them,” Cormier said. “We made it all as timely as legally possible.”

Cormier said, as commissioner, he’s able to forward complaints to the appropriate departments within the county (which he says he did), and the hearing examiner’s decision is out of the commissioners’ hands.

“Being mad at the commissioners for the hearing examiner’s decision is like being mad at the president for the Supreme Courts decisions,” Cormier said.

Miscommunication

The Emersons don’t believe they were treated fairly in the process.

“In my opinion, we’re being screwed over by the county — the commissioners are telling us they support it, but they’re on the paperwork as having denied the application,” Rod Emerson said. “This whole thing has gotten really political and it has just gotten way out of control.”

The Emersons point to a May 9, 2016, presentation made by Jane Hewitt of the Grays Harbor County planning department to the County Board of Adjustment.

“We don’t typically see cases like this in front of this board, as far as attention it might get and the amount of people who might show up,” Hewitt had said to the board.

Hewitt told the board that Outlaw Drags had said it planned to fill the meeting room with supporters on the day of a public hearing.

“How much of that is bravado and/or intimidation, I don’t know,” Hewitt had said.

On Sept. 5, Rod Emerson told The Vidette he had asked Hewitt how many people would be allowed to speak during a hearing with the board, adding that he noted they could have any number of supporters at the meeting. He had not tried to intimidate anybody, he said.

Also on May 9, Hewitt had told the board, “On that same subject, I cautioned them to not approach any of (the board members) because it won’t take much to topple the quorum of this board, and then they’ll never get a permit.

“One thing I’ve cautioned them about, and I haven’t seen any improvement, is contact with and possible intimidation to surrounding property owners who have been vocal (in opposition)… I know of it, and I know it’s still occurring. Not necessarily a dotted line, you better not kind of thing, but it’s (implied). It’s one thing to go around to your surrounding neighbors and say, ‘This is what we want to do — how can we make this better? How can we be good neighbors?’ And there’s maybe a different way to do that.”

Rod Emerson says a neighbor has accused him of leaving a note on her van saying he would “fix the van for free if she agreed to allow races at the airport.”

That note was never written or left of the vehicle, Rod Emerson said on Sept. 5.

“I’m not that nice of a guy that I’d offer to fix someone’s van for free, and I don’t even like texting much less hand writing a note and driving to someone’s house to put it on their van,” he said. “It hasn’t been a fair process. Things that aren’t true were entered as fact.”

Following Hewitt’s presentation on May 9, the board agreed to ask a Sheriff’s Deputy to attend the meeting.

“The other thing I think would have some positive effect would be to say we’re going to make a decision by 9 p.m., and I don’t know that you couldn’t say we have the capacity to hear this case until a specific time, at which time if we haven’t heard all testimony or whoever wishes to speak, we will continue this case until our next regular hearing, and that would be the end of it because that’s four racing weekends right there,” Hewitt said.

The Vidette reached out to Hewitt for comment. Hewitt’s supervisor, Joseph Seet, responded.

“In April the county brought on a hearing examiner from Tacoma. Based on testimony, he made his finding and published his finding. That finding was independent of us,” Seet said. “I can’t discuss it anymore than that because it would be inappropriate.”

While Seet said he did not know what exactly transpired between Hewitt and the Emersons, he said the county is being as fair as it can be.

“We want to maintain transparency and to make sure there’s no perception of unfairness, so we went with the hearing examinter,” Seet said.

Cormier said video of the May 9 meeting led to the pursuit of a hearing examiner.

“They probably should not have discussed that at the judicial hearing — they can discuss very basic information, but they went too farn into discussing items of the case before the hearing,” Cormier said. “After watching the video we thought we should go out for a hearing examiner.

The Vidette attempted to contact neighbor Denny Martin, but was unsuccessful. Martin testified during the hearing stating he was happy the promoters had planned to relocate the track to the back of the airport property (a concession the Emersons made in an effort to appease their neighbors), but he still worried the drag racing would dminish his chances of selling his property.

What’s next

With the hearing examiner rendering a decision, the Emersons’ only way to appeal (remembering that Wysong is the actual applicant) is through Superior Court. The Emersons hope to use that option.

But the season is over — drag racing doesn’t happen when the track is wet and the constant rain of Western Washington is sure to return in the near future.

The Emersons aren’t just dejected, they’re passionately upset.

And the Emersons aren’t the only people who feel hurt by the decision and subsequent lack of a racing season. Glenn Ludwig developed a love for racing during the 2015 Outlaw Drag racing season at Elma Airport.

Ludwig had a dream of pursuing an organization that offers recovering addicts and opportunity to race, called Correct Direction Racing.

“I have a dozen people wanting to go already,” he said.

That dream is on hold.

“My dream is starting this program and getting it all over the county, but it starts in Elma,” Ludwig said.