GREENFIELD — Franklin County Agricultural Society President Michael Nelson says the fairgrounds will not host any additional motorsports events — except for September’s Franklin County Fair — until the city can study and address concerns of air and noise pollution.

Although the news came only days after the venue hosted the Overdrive Monster Truck Show over the weekend, which neighboring residents previously argued brought noise and air pollution to the neighborhood, Nelson said the decision to ease off the gas was not prompted by any particular fairgrounds event.

“This is actually something that we, as a board, have been considering for some time,” Nelson said. “We’ve been working closely with City Hall, as well as the city’s Health Department, to make sure that events that continue to be at the fairgrounds are an asset to the city and not a burden. We want to make sure that these events are something that people are enjoying and not creating undue problems on the neighborhood.”

Nelson said the weekend’s monster truck show brought “mixed results,” with some residents expressing concern about noise and smoke and others noting that they enjoyed the event.

In response to residents’ concerns that events such as the Overdrive Monster Truck Show fill the air with harmful and noxious smoke, the city, through the Health Department, recently ordered air quality monitoring systems be stationed at the Franklin County Fairgrounds 24/7.

The city plans to use the testing results from those monitors, which Nelson said should be installed within the next few weeks, to draft air quality guidelines for future events. Although no clear timeline has been planned yet for the motorsports moratorium’s duration, Nelson said the fairgrounds will likely take these events under consideration again after the city has drafted its guidelines.

Nelson added that with the exception of the Franklin County Fair, which is already exempt from the moratorium, the venue did not have any more motorsports events planned for the rest of the year or for 2025.

“It really just gives us a moment to pause and reflect as we move forward with new activities,” he said.

News of the moratorium came as a pleasant surprise to Precinct 7 Neighborhood Association Steering Committee member Kate Broughton, who has rallied her neighbors behind air and noise pollution reduction at the fairgrounds. Broughton said her organization began meeting with Nelson to address noise complaints that arose during the Green River Festival.

Broughton said some members of the Precinct 7 Neighborhood Association took decibel readings of the fairgrounds area both before and during the Green River Festival in an effort to report the event’s volume. Through this work, Broughton said the organization ended up working with fairgrounds leadership to negotiate sound mitigation efforts for the venue.

“This is a result of a really constructive collaboration among Michael [Nelson], the fairgrounds, the Mayor’s Office and our group. I didn’t expect it to come this quickly,” Broughton said of the motorsports moratorium. “We’ve just been trying to repeat this mantra that this isn’t the right place for that type of activity. It’s small, it’s residentially zoned and it’s surrounded on several sides by houses.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.