BLUE HILL — The Blue Hill Planning Board May 24 granted conditional approval for the first in a proposed series of truck mud runs despite opposition from neighbors in Blue Hill and Surry.

The neighbors’ chief concerns are noise, traffic and litter from the events, which are scheduled for one Saturday a month from May to October from 8 a.m. to sundown.

The truck mud runs, proposed by Dan Brown for his Morgan Bay Road property, are races among different classes of trucks that are missing their exhausts. The track is 300 feet long, 25 feet wide and about 4 feet deep.

The board gave Brown conditional approval for the first mud run, which was held Saturday.

About two dozen residents attended the hearing. The board took comments and read letters it had received until 9:15 p.m. then spent two more hours reviewing the application.

Abutting property owner Andrea Nunn told the board, “I am still cleaning up the remains from last year’s.” The debris included beer cans and cigarette butts, Nunn said.

Another neighbor said the noise from the loudspeaker system was more disturbing than noise from the trucks.

“It was all day long until sundown,” she said.

Brown said he had purchased a new sound system with speakers of a much higher quality than he used last summer. Brown said he hopes the improved speakers will reduce the noise.

Brown also has contracted with Blue Hill Disposal for trash removal. Last year there were trash cans out but they were overflowing, he said.

“I am trying to address the community’s concerns,” Brown said.

David Hersey of Surry and Florida said when he bought his retirement property he was assured that truck traffic was “light and seasonal.”

A mud run will change the nature of the area and is of no benefit to the town, Hersey said.

Planning Board member Marcia Henderson told members of the group that she hopes they understand “we’re limited as to what we can do.”

Henderson said she hadn’t seen or heard anything that would allow her to vote against the permit.

The Maine Department of Transportation has asked Brown to realign Deer Run Lane with Morgan Bay Road to improve site distance coming from Blue Hill.

Brown is to meet with the board at its June meeting to provide the DOT permit and a permit from the State Fire Marshal’s Office. The board is expected to vote on whether to grant Brown a permit for the remaining five mud runs.

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