Catchfence

The owners of a more than century-old farm have given up their legal fight against NASCAR driver Michael McDowell’s planned go-kart track off Mazeppa Road, after McDowell’s DryLake Entertainment LLC agreed to pay them $14,000 to settle the case, court records show.

Linda Overcash said she and other landowners who filed the lawsuit against DryLake and the town of Mooresville last year couldn’t afford the $20,000 in lawyer fees to continue the case before the N.C. Court of Appeals. The landowners have already spent $10,000 on the case, “so we couldn’t afford that,” Overcash told the Observer.

Iredell County Superior Court Judge Charles Lamm ruled against the landowners in March, saying the town’s decision to grant DryLake a conditional use permit allowing the track to open wasn’t “arbitrary or capricious” and contained no errors of law.

Lamm also ruled that landowners failed to present evidence that they’ll suffer damages because of the town’s decision.

The Mooresville Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on June 20 to agree to the settlement. The town isn’t paying anything as part of the agreement, town attorney Steve Gambill said.

- Lexington Herald Leader