Mark and Somer Brown want to open their family’s personal dirt-bike track to train young motocross riders like their 7-year-old son, Dayton.
He uses a beginner machine with a smaller engine than those of adult riders, such as his father, who started racing as a child and still competes.
Differences in age matter because there are fewer training opportunities for young people starting out in the sport, the Browns say. That’s why they want to host training sessions and camps on their track in the rural Blackwater community in southern Virginia Beach.
They will need a conditional use permit from the City Council to do it and they face concerns about whether the use is appropriate for land zoned for agriculture. If approved, they would be allowed to use part of a 27-acre parcel along Blackwater Road as a recreational area. The council is scheduled to consider the request on Oct. 7.
Dayton has been riding since he was 2 and racing since 4. Plus, he’s watched his dad race “a billion” times. He loves the sport.
“Because it’s fun,” Dayton said. “You get to hit jumps and do all that.”
The goal for the Browns is to teach rules and safety to younger riders who don’t have many opportunities to practice at larger facilities. They may get a couple of laps before a competition or share the track with older riders on bigger bikes.
That could leave some people learning in the middle of a race.
“It’s like showing up with a baseball team that’s never practiced and expecting them to hit home runs,” Somer Brown said.
They’ll focus on beginning riders, generally from 4 to 8 years old.
“It’s kind of like the T-ball of the motocross world,” Mark Brown said. “So, like, just those beginning steps, just learning those fundamentals and stuff at a small age.”
The Browns said events on the track will be limited to camps and training, not competitions.
Their property is being farmed, with much of it leased to a farmer, according to a city staff report. The Browns are raising chickens, and they’ve planted fruit trees and plan to offer a you-pick flower field and raise cattle on their land.
On Sept. 10, the planning commission voted to recommend that City Council approve the permit. John Cromwell, the commissioner representing the district in which Wild Acres is located, cast the only no vote. A farmer, he noted that the proposed training is a business use on land zoned for farming.
“This has nothing to do with agriculture,” Cromwell said.
Commissioner Bryan Plumlee said that what the Browns plan to do could be considered agritourism.
A number of people support the project, including through a petition, though there was some opposition. It included a neighboring property owner who questioned the changes on the land to create the track.
Mark Brown told the planning commission that the track originated for his practice, although it now mainly serves Dayton and his 12-year-old sister, Olivia.
“Now that I’ve gotten older and now that I have kids, it’s turned into being more my kids’ track more than anything,” he said. “I’m on my way out of it, but I’ve been enjoying helping the kids with learning and being able to do it safer.”
The commission’s recommendation for approval comes with conditions, including allowing as many as 20 camps per year for up to 40 participants and two training sessions per week with up to five riders.
Councilmember Barbara Henley, a farmer who represents the area, said approving the permit could set a precedent for other uses on land zoned for farming.
“We’ve always had the policy that something is considered agritourism when it’s connected to a crop,” Henley said during an interview.
The Browns said they plan to meet with Henley before the council vote.
