A local board has given the green light to a hotly debated go-kart track that a homeowner built on his western Howard County property.

Charles “Chris” Siperko, a Highland community resident, built the track for his motorsports-loving son on their 11-acre property on Mink Hollow Road. However, he did so without getting the necessary county and state permits.

In the past year, he’s faced a stop-work order, code violations and neighbors who are fiercely opposed to the track. Siperko retroactively submitted a conditional use application last August after construction ended.

Thursday afternoon, the county’s Board of Appeals voted 3 to 1 to approve the applicant’s conditional use application.

Siperko did not attend Thursday’s meeting. His attorney, Sang Oh, said they are pleased with the board’s decision.

“We think they followed the law, but honestly there are no winners here. You have neighbors that are angry with one another, it’s a tough situation. So we’re hoping we can [all] move forward and heal,” Oh said to reporters after the board’s decision.

But the fight isn’t over.

G. Macy Nelson, a land-use and environmental attorney who represents Siperko’s neighbors, is prepared to appeal the decision in Howard County Circuit Court.

“We got three or four or five years of work ahead of us,” Nelson told reporters Thursday. “This case is not going away.”

Over the past two months, the board heard nearly 16 hours of public testimony from a range of participants including professional race car drivers, Siperko’s neighbors and a civil engineer.

The board on Thursday deliberated at length about potential noise from go-kart tires on the track and the effect it could have on farm animals.

While Siperko got permission for now to let his son ride laps around the track, it came with several conditions. They include:

• The property’s driveway must be closed where it accesses the track when the track is in use.
• Track operations are permitted five days a week and no more than two hours a day.
• No more than two carts are permitted on the track at any given time.
• Adult supervision is required when minors are using the track.
• Low-emission tires must be used.
• Tire debris must be cleaned monthly.
• A buffer against non-native vegetation must be built.
• The track cannot be used during heavy rainfall or when a storm is forecast.

With the approval of a conditional use permit, Siperko now must create a site development plan and an environmental concept plan.

“We have to comply with all the laws,” Oh said. “There’s a lot of work ahead of us.”