Chris Siperko’s 10-year-old son, Achilles, has a passion for go-kart racing and a dream to one day become a professional driver.

The Siperkos travel to Florida from their Western Howard County home each weekend to practice racing, and often travel abroad to compete, but Siperko wanted Achilles to have a spot closer to home where he could practice. So, he built one in the family’s expansive backyard.

It took about a month and a half to build the track on their land in Highland off Mink Hollow Road. Siperko, 48, who owns a construction company, has said he poured about $100,000 into the asphalt track and that he didn’t think he needed permission from the state or county to build it. Construction was complete by May 2023, and neighbor complaints started arriving to the county in December, leading to citations from the county and state.

In the process of building the 1.5-mile track, nontidal wetlands were disturbed, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, wetlands play an integral role in the ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, as they reduce storm damage and flooding, control erosion, improve water quality, help fight climate change and provide crucial habitats for wildlife. And the go-kart track violated zoning and subdivision regulations, the county found.

Siperko had not sought county or state permits before the track was built. He said he checked the state website, and it didn’t list anything about permits for tracks or roads. When he called paving companies, a paver told him permits weren’t required unless the track touched the main highway. Siperko said he also checked the Maryland Department of Natural Resources mapping site and wetlands were not shown on his property.

“We didn’t know that we needed to pull permits or obviously we would have. We were perhaps naively or stupidly not aware of the permitting requirements and believed the asphalt company when they told us that paving that doesn’t adjoin a public road doesn’t require permits,” Siperko’s wife, Sarah Troxel, wrote on a Change.org petition to keep the track that has garnered more than 1,000 signatures.

The petition also states that the property owners never meant to disregard the law, cause any environmental damage or allow public use of the track, and they would fix any destruction to wetlands and use only electric karts.

Now the racetrack is at the center of a brewing controversy, with neighbors posting to social media, many complaining about noise and wetland destruction, and some offering support to the aspiring racer.

“It’s noise pollution of a very high degree. It’s worse than having a rock concert next to your house,” said Dan O’Leary, chairman of the board for the Greater Highland Crossroads Association.

The association is mostly involved with local zoning issues, and when members contacted the group about the track, O’Leary said, “we were very, very surprised” that a project this large was built without zoning or environmental permits. The environmental issues are likely worse than the zoning problems, O’Leary said, but “they’re equally uncalled for and just way out of line.”

Two community meetings have been held to discuss the issue, one in July and another last week at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Highland. Last week’s meeting was the first opportunity for nearby property owners to discuss the track with Siperko, his attorney and an engineer.

“I’m trying to do everything right,” Siperko said. “I mean, I’m trying to fix everything right.”

The Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning received numerous zoning complaints about the track in December 2023, then inspected the site in January this year and found that it violated zoning and subdivision regulations, according to department Director Lynda Eisenberg.

About six days after the inspection, the property owners were issued a notice of violation for disturbing or filling in the wetlands and stream buffer and the construction of the track, “which is not accessory to a permitted use on a RR (Rural Residential) zoned property,” according to Eisenberg.

As nothing was done in response to the violation, the county issued a citation earlier this year. Siperko’s attorney, Sang Oh, said Siperko admitted to the citation of grading without a permit and the county assessed a fine. To deal with the other citation, they have filed a conditional use application with the county.

Up next is a public hearing to determine if the track is permitted under Howard County code, according to Eisenberg, but the hearing likely will not happen until early next year, Oh said. Once a hearing examiner makes a decision, it can be appealed within 30 days. Parties can appeal all the way to the Supreme Court of Maryland for a discretionary appeal. Though each step through the board of appeals, circuit court and appellate court could take six to eight months, Oh said.

The Maryland Department of the Environment conducted a follow-up inspection in September and found the track site caused unauthorized disturbance of nontidal wetlands and the wetland buffer. The construction site also operated without a sediment and erosion control plan.

“Further investigation will be required once the case with Howard County has been resolved, in which at that time a restoration plan will be required after further wetlands delineations,” an inspection report from MDE states.

O’Leary said after reviewing the original plan for the track, it encroaches on the 100-foot setback requirement for two neighbors. If conditional use were granted, a variance would have to be granted to allow the intrusion on the setback or part of the track would have to be removed, O’Leary said, adding that at that point, the whole track should be removed due to its illegal nature.

The county’s enforcement of zoning laws is primarily complaint-driven, according to O’Leary, as there’s not enough staff to drive around neighborhoods looking for violations. If residents file a complaint and commit to standing with it, O’Leary said, “then you get action.”

The Siperko family moved to their Western Howard County home in 2016 and raise animals on the land. Their farm is removed from the main road, Siperko said, and he didn’t expect this much community uproar about the track. He believes his family is being treated differently than others in the community.

“If my son wanted to swim, I could build a pool. If he wanted to play soccer, we could build a soccer stadium. Lacrosse, they could do lacrosse, any sport he wanted to do, but I can’t build a racetrack so he can become a professional driver,” Siperko said. “It’s just kind of discouraging.”

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