EVERETT – Even before NASCAR announced it wanted to make Marysville the newest pit stop on its popular stock-car circuit, would-be fans were busily working to shore up political support.
Documents obtained by The Herald on Thursday from Snohomish County through a Freedom of Information Act request paint a picture of county and Marysville officials piecing together the puzzle of who supports the track, and who they still need to persuade.
After five months of effort and with the Jan. 10 opening of the Legislature’s 2005 session looming, the International Speedway Corp. racetrack still faces significant opposition, despite winning over a strong fan base.
Elected officials in Arlington, Marysville’s closest neighbor, have stayed on the fence about the project all year. But now they may be leaning against the project.
At the state level, race fans will have to bypass the powerful chairwoman of the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, who opposes spending public funds on the project. Legislators from elsewhere said they would look to the local delegation to carry the project
For now, the governor’s office appears to be straddling the fence.
Still, track supporters are optimistic that many of the opponents’ concerns can be addressed. They have already earned the support of the Tulalip Tribes on environmental issues and local legislators such as Sen. Dave Schmidt and Rep. Brian Sullivan on financing the track.
Arlington
The political landscape in Arlington is framed mainly around the city-run airport. Arlington Airport is less than a mile north of the 850-acre track site. That puts the 75,000-seat grandstand too close, according to an Oct. 5 memo from Rob Putnam, the airport’s manager.
The Federal Aviation Administration required the city to include state land-use rules in a 2001 update to the airport’s master plan, Putnam said.
Those rules are designed to prevent development with large concentrations of people, such as schools or hospitals, from being close to the airport’s traffic pattern. Statistics show that’s where most accidents occur.
Putnam wrote that the FAA would not approve the plan until the rule was included.
That aside, the increased air traffic because of NASCAR teams, officials and others using the airport worries pilots of ultralights and gliders. They fear getting crowded out of yet another small airport, a trend that has happened nationwide.
“The intimidation factor is very real,” Putnam wrote. “A lot of our pilots have migrated to Arlington because of the increased corporate activities at airports in the Seattle area.”
Paul Roberts, who is spearheading the track project for the county, said he will continue to work on Arlington’s concerns.
“The issue these people seem to not be willing to address is that with or without ISC, there will be growth and change,” he said.
Dave Waggoner, airport director of the county’s Paine Field in Everett, said pilots in Arlington didn’t seem ready to embrace the additional air traffic. It can work, if the will is there, but that’s up to the city, he said.
The will may no longer be there. Arlington City Councilman Dan Anderson said the council is considering adopting a draft resolution opposing the track at its Dec. 6 meeting.
“The truth is, we’re about to jump off the fence,” he said.
If a majority on the Arlington City Council end up agreeing with such a resolution, it would reverse earlier headway supporters made with the city’s officials.
Council members Ryan Larsen and Graham Smith, as well as Police Chief John Gray, recently accepted invitations to visit ISC races. All came back impressed with how the races were managed.
However, Anderson said his opinion has changed.
“I was sort of eager to embrace it,” he said.
ISC’s initial offer in October to pay $50 million of the $250 million estimated project cost was too low, he said. And almost all the feedback he has heard from Arlington residents has been negative.
“As an elected representative, I have to respect that,” he said.
State legislators
The political landscape in Olympia is similar. Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, told The Herald earlier this month that other lawmakers have given the $50 million figure a cool reception.
Sullivan is crafting tax legislation that would use track-related sales taxes to pay back bonds used to build the track.
Last week, the county and Marysville tried to educate lawmakers with a special hearing in Marysville. One of the visiting lawmakers, Sen. Joyce Mulliken, R-Ephrata, said it helped.
“I came away with this: The Snohomish County legislators need to let the rest of us legislators know what their position is … and make that decision for the rest of us,” Mulliken said.
“That will be a factor in how the other members vote,” agreed Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, who also attended the hearing.
Such a consensus has yet to emerge. Supporters have two months to get more lawmakers on board.
The governor’s office
The governor’s office is certainly still on the fence when it comes to getting behind the NASCAR racetrack.
Gov. Gary Locke hasn’t endorsed bringing a NASCAR track to Snohomish County, but he also hasn’t tried to fight the idea. Dino Rossi, the tentative winner of the gubernatorial race, has said he could support a track if the numbers and impacts are acceptable.
The documents obtained by The Herald show that the agency in charge of wooing new businesses into the state has sent NASCAR backers positive signs with clear neutral overtones.
“ISC should be encouraged by the past responsiveness of the governor and the Legislature in responding to the needs of very large projects in Washington state,” states a Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development memo dated Aug. 25.
The memo details how the state has poured millions of dollars into building new stadiums for the Seahawks and Mariners, and for convincing Boeing to build its 7E7 Dreamliner jet here.
“However, Washington’s contributions didn’t build the projects,” the memo states. “In each case, the state stepped up to fill critical gaps in financing, adjust taxation to match the realities of business, reprioritize infrastructure construction schedules and create workforce-training capacity where none existed.”
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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