Pennsylvania Motor club still being considered after legal fight

By JD Malone The Morning Call KUNKLETOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Eleven years ago Richard Muller visited a serene, wooded property on the north slope of Blue Mountain in Eldred Township and dreamed of building a country club for car enthusiasts, a place where they could wring the most out of their street-legal, high-performance cars. The mountain road course he envisions -- a sweeping, twisting swath of asphalt -- still occupies Muller's mind. After a decade of opposition from neighbors and environmentalists that included court battles, the project last month cleared its likely final legal challenge and has every permit and approval required to begin construction. Muller said a group of sports car owners who want to flex their horsepower will provide another key piece -- money. "As far as I know, this project is ready to be built," said Muller, who once led the project as its principal investor but now works for the current owner as an independent, unpaid consultant. Yet the owner, investor Paul Matinho of New Jersey, teeters between breaking ground and selling the 350-acre property in Monroe County to a conservation group. He acknowledged that makes the car club project sound "schizophrenic." Muller and Matinho said the deal with the conservation group, Palmerton Trustees Council, fell through last year but remains possible. They also said interest in the car club is growing after the developer's court victories. According to Muller, he's sold close to 200 memberships, representing $4 million in investment. Both men believe the club's location, 75 miles from both New York City and Philadelphia, make it unique and viable. "People will drive 150 miles to get to a great place," Muller said of motorsports enthusiasts. "But first you have to build a great place." Ten years ago the price tag stood at $25 million to build the 2.8-mile, 40-foot-wide course with garages, restaurant, resort facilities and other amenities. Today that cost is $38 million and does not include the millions poured into the legal battle, environmental studies and storm water management design, Muller said. Two years ago Muller's original coalition of 40 investors ran out of money, and he and the others were bought out by Paul and Antonio Matinho, who own a Portuguese-language newspaper. Muller paid $1.6 million for the land -- the Matinhos formed Alpine Motorsports LLC and assumed the mortgage. Muller said the transaction was a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Company documents available to those interested in investing or buying memberships say the club is debt-free. The property sits just below the Appalachian Trail, which runs along the ridge of the mountain. Hikers, environmentalists and neighbors who opposed the project formed the Blue Mountain Preservation Association, which filed legal challenges. The band of about 100 people led by Frank O'Donnell, a neighbor of the proposed club, lost appeal efforts last year and last month. Judges said in two opinions that the group did not present expert witnesses to rebut Alpine's experts. The association had until Friday to file a request for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to review the case. Blue Mountain has argued for years that the state Department of Environmental Protection erred when it gave Alpine a permit for storm water discharge. The DEP and two appellate courts disagreed, citing testimony supporting Alpine's engineering design. O'Donnell declined to say if the group would ask the Supreme Court to look at the case. "At this point," O'Donnell said, "we just play it by ear." Paul Matinho said he considers the court battle complete since it is unlikely the state Supreme Court would hear the case. Construction could begin this summer, he said. Matinho confirmed that the Palmerton Trustees Council, a panel set up to oversee the mitigation of the heavy-metal fallout from the Palmerton zinc smelting Superfund site, agreed to purchase the property last year but backed away from the deal. The council's mission is to conserve areas similar to those the zinc plants polluted and defoliated, and has funds available to purchase and protect tracts of land. "We had a tentative agreement of sale, but we did not follow through on that," said Kathleen Patnode, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service's representative to the council, adding that the agreement expired in December. Patnode said the trustees disagreed on the value of the property, and the seven-member board must be unanimous in such cases. She said the Alpine property is a near-perfect match for the trustees' mission because it is large, forested, has the Aquashicola Creek running through it, pristine wetlands and steep slopes. The trustees recently closed on a smaller, 90-acre tract nearby, she said, but remain interested in the Alpine parcel. O'Donnell thinks the club will ruin Eldred Township and his rural home. "There is no reason to destroy this mountain," he said. "There's no reason to be removing oodles of trees." Dan Kunkle, executive director of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, agrees. "The rural nature of that township would be shattered by that race track," Kunkle said. "There are just so many reasons it is the wrong place for it." Muller, as he piloted his Chevrolet Tahoe through a roughed-out trail that approximates the road course, said 175 acres -- half the property -- will be disturbed, though plans call for leaving wetlands, the Aquashicola and the steep slopes untouched. Muller said saving the wooded nature of the land will add to the beauty and challenge of the road course. He said no racing will ever take place at the facility. The club's plans call for a large earthen berm and sound barrier to dampen the growl of Ferraris, Porsches and Corvettes. As Muller sat at a conference table in what may one day be Alpine's clubhouse, he took out enormous binders full of permits, applications, court documents and business plans. He said he has no equity in the project and is not on the Matinhos' payroll, yet he gives tours to people interested in joining, and pitches memberships and investment options. Muller, soft-spoken and congenial, said he just wanted to see the club built and offered his own two-sided quip. "We're in a hurry," he said of the project, "but not in a rush." According to Eldred Township, the project can move forward once Alpine signs a land development agreement and posts an improvement bond. Michael Kaspszky, township solicitor, said the project has every required permit and approval, but he hasn't heard anything from Alpine about starting work on the site. "The ball is in their court," Kaspszky said. Published: Fri, Jun 1, 2012