RIVERSIDE COUNTY CRACKS DOWN ON NATE ADAMS: Then, Shockingly, Gives Him A Second Chance To Get Permits For His Backyard Freestyle Course; Still Needs A Hearing

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper:

Freestyle motocross champ Nate Adams may be too extreme for Riverside County code enforcement officials, who called for the X Games gold medalist to fill in his storied backyard training course in Temecula.

But on Wednesday, September 9, the county gave Adams, 26, a reprieve. It’s a chance for Adams to get the right permits and keep his track, the former practice course of freestyle motocross pioneer Brian Deegan and his band of riders known as the Metal Mulisha.

Adams met with staff from the planning and code enforcement offices and Supervisor Jeff Stone’s office Wednesday after pleading his case to supervisors at a board meeting last week.

Nate Adams has pleaded his case before the Board of Supervisors, and then with planners and code enforcement.

“My palms are sweating, and my heart’s beating,” Adams told supervisors at the public hearing last Tuesday. “I’m more nervous now than for any X Games run or anything. I’m seeing everything that my life revolves around?my backyard?I’m seeing it maybe get taken away today. … This property is everything for me to be able to go to contests and win.”

The county will place on hold the code enforcement case against Adams while he seeks a conditional use permit that would allow him to keep the course and bring it into compliance, said John Boyd, director of county code enforcement.

Adams has acknowledged that the county never issued permits for the construction of the track or the foam pit he uses to practice his stunts. But Adams did not perform the work, said Brian Collins, his engineering consultant. Adams did not know the course lacked permits when he purchased the roughly 2-acre property on Madera De Playa from Deegan in 2006, Collins said.

Doing dazzling freestyle motocross stunts takes practice, and Nate Adams’ course of choice has been right outside his back door. Freestyle motocross pros such as Adams and Deegan compete to impress judges with dangerous backflips and high-flying, adrenalin-pumping tricks with names like the “coffin,” the “kiss of death” and the “suicide can.”

The Temecula area has become a haven for the sport. Adams’ competitor, Blake Williams, told supervisors his friend is a considerate neighbor who never practices before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m.. Williams, 24, told the board he moved to Temecula from Australia to train with Adams on his course.

“That’s like a desk to you guys. That’s our office,” Williams said of Adams’ backyard. “That’s what we need to do our sport.”

Adams and Williams presented a petition to supervisors from nine neighbors supporting Adams. The Board of Supervisors would have to hold a public hearing and vote to approve a conditional use permit.

www.nateadams.com