MARYSVILLE – Most of the people who showed up at a public meeting Thursday to talk about a proposed NASCAR racetrack in the north Marysville area didn’t appear to be race fans.
They didn’t come to talk about a favorite driver or team, or review the Nextel Cup or Busch Series standings. They came to challenge information about International Speedway Corp.’s track proposal, from people they view as out of touch with their concerns about a racetrack in their rural neighborhood, and about possibly even losing their homes.
“We moved here to live in a rural area, not to have a racetrack in our back yard,” Rudy Espinoza said.
He and his wife, Joan, had trouble getting into a home on 151st Avenue NE, and they worry that if authorities widen 152nd Avenue NE to help handle race-day traffic, “it’ll wipe out our house,” he said. “Then we’d have to move back into an apartment.”
His wife said she doesn’t trust the information presented by track supporters.
“They’re just not telling us what they know,” she said.
About 70 people showed up at Shoultes Elementary School Thursday to listen to members of Snohomish County Citizens Against a Racetrack (SCAR) and Fans United for NASCAR (FUN) present their points of view.
Each side was asked to make a presentation on the following issues:
* The impact of a racetrack on Berry Farm property values and taxes. The Berry Farm developments are south and west of the proposed track site.
* The effect of track noise on the community.
* The impact of the plan for widening 152nd Street.
* The overall impact of a racetrack on the quality of life for Berry Farm residents.
The crowd frequently applauded responses by Eyeleen Shouman and Ernie Fosse of SCAR to questions from the public.
“The only way for this racetrack to not affect us and our quality of life is to never build it here,” Fosse said.
Some attendees questioned why FUN representatives didn’t have more details of the actual plans, costs and effects.
“The final layout is not completed,” FUN member Gigi Burke said. “We’re all still in a fact-finding mode.
“We wanted to give people an opportunity to come in and express their concerns and listen to them. I personally wanted to hear what these people who are living close to the site have to say. I respect that people are going to have different opinions on this issue.”
Burke said FUN representatives would be happy to meet again with local residents when more details are finalized and they have more answers.
But Fosse said before the meeting that he believed the track was being pushed through.
“We’re concerned that this just doesn’t fit. It doesn’t make sense to drop something of this size into a residential area of 17,000 to 20,000 people,” Fosse said.
SCAR members also contend that the track, after construction, would create only about 40 to 50 permanent jobs. Fosse noted that an advance economic study predicted the track would bring in between $80 million and $120 million.
“That’s about (the amount generated by) the average Costco store. But they only need about 20 acres to do that instead of 850. We just think it’s a gross misuse of the land for the little return it will provide,” Fosse said.
He said SCAR also considers the $50 million that ISC has offered to pay “an insult to the public’s intelligence. It will cost $300 million to $600 million by the time you get all the infrastructure in.”
The track has polarized area residents.
“For a lot of us in the Smokey Point area, this is a one-issue election. We’re voting for the people who will oppose this racetrack,” Fosse said.
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
