CONCORD, N.C. -- The owner of Lowe's Motor Speedway got approval Tuesday night from one city panel to build a drag strip near the speedway.

The planning and zoning commission in Concord approved the drag strip on property owned by Bruton Smith. The City Council, which cited neighbors' concerns about noise when it voted Oct. 1 to halt the $60 million project, is scheduled to hold a public hearing Oct. 26.

In that earlier vote, the city council approved zoning that banned drag strips near the speedway. After Smith threatened to close the speedway and relocate it, the council asked planning officials to consider rezoning the area so drag strips are allowed.

The board unanimously Tuesday night to allow the drag strip.

Smith had threatened to spend $350 million to build a track somewhere else in the Charlotte region.

"I was certainly more shocked than anybody. I didn't expect that attitude," Smith told The Charlotte Observer this week.

Although he said there was a 90 percent chance he would leave Concord, he said he would delay doing that until the City Council reconsidered.

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