Pilots fear NASCAR track would clip their wings

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, March 3, 2004

ARLINGTON — Many city officials and residents are almost floating at the idea that the Smokey Point area might have a good shot at landing a new NASCAR racetrack.

But pilots and aviation buffs in a group called the Arlington Airport Alliance fear they may be grounded if the track ends up too close to the airfield.

Bruce Angell, an Arlington pilot who helped form the alliance in the summer, said, "One of the sites we understand is under consideration is directly south of the airport and in line with the main runway."

That would run counter to safety guidelines that try to steer large concentrations of people away from the ends of runways, said John Sibold, director of the state Department of Transportation’s aviation division.

"There are certainly some land uses that are probably not compatible around airports," Sibold said. "Things such as hospitals, schools."

The Smokey Point area is competing against sites near Monroe, next to Bremerton National Airport, in Thurston County and in Oregon.

Given how preliminary NASCAR’s two-state site selection process is, Sibold said he is optimistic a solution could be found if race officials decide to build near the Arlington Airport. One idea might be to move the track slightly west, away from the main runway’s approach path.

But Angell worried that even moving the track west of I-5 to the Lakewood area would still not be far enough away. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, caused changes in federal aviation rules, including temporary flight restrictions over military installations and sports stadiums, among other things.

"Any sport that is the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NCAA Division A football or NASCAR with a seating capacity over 30,000 automatically imposes a temporary flight restriction, which is like a no-fly zone in a three-mile radius" and up to 3,000 feet, Angell said.

Such a no-fly zone would shut down the airport from one hour before the NASCAR race to one hour after.

Not every race at the track would be a NASCAR event, based on the experiences of other tracks. But Angell said another security rule allows major sports organizations to request an airport to be shut down if they expect at least 12,000 people.

Reports that the Kansas City NASCAR track, which could be similar to one built locally, has 210 events each year make pilots such as Angell nervous.

"We’re not opposed to NASCAR," Angell said. "We understand the economic benefits it would bring to Snohomish County and the state. Where we do have a problem is where it adversely affects Arlington or any other airport."

Arlington, Marysville and Snohomish County still would have influence over security plans affecting the airport, said Rob Harper, a spokesman for the state Department of Emergency Management, a branch of the federal Department of Homeland Security.

"Each county has to have a plan with us, developed from the local area," Harper said. "They would make the assessment of what’s vulnerable and how do we address it."

Those local plans would be subject to a security review by his agency.

Mark Funk, spokesman for Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, said talks have been too preliminary to get into much detail about airport issues.

Mary Swenson, chief administrative officer for Marysville, said her staff met with Sibold and Arlington officials Wednesday.

"We’re very interested in what the impact would be at the Arlington Airport," she said.

The airport would be just one of many infrastructure challenges, including wetlands concerns, improving road access and others.

Swenson tried to reassure the flying community that local officials would want to get the details hammered out in writing before any deal with a new racetrack was finalized.

"I think if they understood how we’re approaching this, they’d feel better," she said.

Kristin Banfield, city administrator of Arlington, agreed.

"Our goal is to make sure the airport is operational during those events," Banfield said.

Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.