A community in western Howard County is stepping up efforts to remove a go-kart track on one family’s property.

Chris Siperko built the track for his son on their 11-acre property in the Highland community, but he did so without the necessary county and state permits.

The Greater Highland Crossroad Association, which advocates for new development complementing the Highland area, recently voted to support Siperko’s neighbors and join in opposing the go-kart track, located off Mink Hollow Road. In a Dec. 20 news release, the association called the track an “inappropriate, obtrusive and illegal use in our rural residential zone.”

Siperko built the track because his son loves motorsports — so much so that the 11-year-old travels every weekend to Florida to train. The family says their son sacrifices time away from friends and family, so they decided to build a roughly half-mile track at home.

“My son races karts,” Siperko, who owns a commercial roofing company, said in a phone interview. “Like any other sport you have to practice, practice, practice.”

Siperko’s project, however, hasn’t sat well with nearby residents, who have concerns about noise. Or with county and state officials.

The county issued code violations against Siperko and his wife early last year. The couple could face fines of up to $250 per day until the violations are addressed. Siperko said he has paid $500 in fines, while a county spokesperson said the county hasn’t assessed any fines. And the state is pushing the family to remediate wetlands damaged by the track’s construction.

The family didn’t seek permits because they didn’t know they needed to, said Siperko, who blames an asphalt paving company that he says told them they didn’t need permits.

Siperko also said he didn’t see anything on the county’s website about needing approval for go-kart tracks and didn’t find any asphalt inspectors.

“They waited the whole time until it was completely finished to tell us to tear it up,” Siperko said of the response to the track.

Lynda Eisenberg, the county’s planning and zoning director, said in a statement that her department is waiting on information from Siperko about how the violations will be addressed.

The family hopes to negotiate a resolution with the county and state. Siperko’s lawyer, Sang Oh, did not respond to a request for comment.

Highland neighbors vs. the family

Despite pushing for the track’s removal, the community association said it understands the family’s predicament.

“We are sympathetic that a family has gotten itself in a such financial and emotional situation,” the association said in the news release. “Everyone wants to help their children succeed in their aspirations.”

But the family isn’t looking for sympathy.

“My neighbors suck,” Siperko said. “My family is a mixed-race family. Highland is 1% Black — they treat us differently.”

In a petition on Change.org, Sarah Troxel, Siperko’s wife, wrote: “My husband and son got excited and at worst went in 100% head first but the intention was never to disregard the law, damage the environment or have a public track.”

The family’s online petition seeks support for stopping efforts to remove the family’s track. As of late December, the petition was inching to 3,300 signatures.

To resolve the issue, the family wants to compromise, including offering to use electric motors at “certain reasonable times” to address concerns about noise, Troxel wrote.

Troxel wrote that those in opposition “don’t care” if issues are resolved because, according to Troxel, “they want the whole track ripped out simply because they don’t want to look at it or have it in ‘their neighborhood!’”

The Greater Highland Community Association has held two meetings about the project since July.

At a meeting in July, Siperko and Troxel were not present — they were in Italy for their son’s racing. Instead, Oh and Rob Vogel, a civil engineer, represented the family.

The two answered a series of questions — 51 in all — sometimes with just one-word answers, according to meeting minutes. They said the track would be used by the family’s son and two friends. They also said the track’s construction cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Violations, inspections, courtrooms

In the past year, a stop-work order and code violations have been issued.

Siperko, Troxel and two other family members, Richard and Susan Troxel, each received individual formal notices of violations regarding the go-kart track from the county on Jan. 10, public records show.

The code violations state that construction of a racetrack is not a permitted use on rural, residentially zoned property and that the project disturbed wetlands and soil.

According to the citations, the couple could be ordered to pay fines of up to $250 per day to the county’s finance director until the violations are addressed. No fines have been levied yet, a county spokesperson said.

The Maryland Department of the Environment inspected Siperko’s property in May and September as part of the application process for a stormwater runoff permit.

According to the September report, MDE inspectors said that “the unauthorized nontidal wetland and wetland buffer disturbances remain the same as the last inspection.” They did find “good grass growth,” though there were still a few bare patches.

The community association wants all environmental violations to be found and fixed.

“It appears that the only way to accomplish this would be the removal of the track and restoration of the ground under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Environment,” the association said.

“The wetlands thing, that is kind of a joke too,” Siperko said.

What’s next?

Dan O’Leary, chairman of the community association, said in an email that he thinks there will be a public hearing before the county’s hearing examiner in 2025.

However, Eisenberg said how the family addresses the zoning violations will determine any future public hearings or meetings.

Any decision can be appealed to the county board of appeals, and then to the Howard County Circuit Court, O’Leary said.

Siperko said his engineer has sent a revised plan for the track to the county that involves tearing up a some of the track and moving it, effectively relocating it from 20 feet inside his property line to 100 feet.

“The neighbors just aren’t happy,” Siperko said. “It’s been a mess.”