Commerce City – Residents say they will push for a vote to keep a NASCAR track out of their community after the City Council balked at putting the proposal on the April ballot.
The council, after hearing from residents for nearly four hours Monday night, declined to put a nonbinding resolution dealing with the NASCAR question before voters April 3.
NASCAR critics say they will begin a petition drive for a special election to change the city’s charter to prevent the track from locating to the city.
“If the council is not going to do it, we will have to do it ourselves,” resident Kathy McIn tyre said.
McIntyre said valid signatures from 1,200 residents needed to force the special election should be easy to get.
“People are starting to get away from that, ‘Oh boy, it’s NASCAR,’ to the realization it’s going to hurt property values and it’s going to hurt taxpayers,” McIntyre said.
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing oversees the country’s largest motor racing events.
Rocky Mountain Speedway Corp. – a subsidiary of International Speedway Corp. – says it is looking at two parcels of land in Adams County as potential sites for a racetrack.
One is near the Watkins exit off Interstate 70 in Aurora. The other is in Commerce City off E-470 between 88th and 96th avenues.
Speedway planners are doing a study of the economic impact of a racetrack in the region, said Steven Silvers, spokesman for Rocky Mountain Speedway.
Meanwhile, a decision on moving ahead on one of the two parcels is likely to be made in two months or so, Silvers said.
“There have been absolutely no promises made to any city and no city has made promises to the ISC,” he said.
Commerce City Councilman Scott Jaquith voted with the 5-4 majority to keep the NASCAR question off the April ballot, saying residents and officials need to hold off on any judgment until an actual plan is before the city.
“We have procedures in place for people presenting plans for economic development in the city,” Jaquith said. “There is no need to jump ahead of everybody.”
Residents in new subdivisions in north Commerce City have been especially adamant in their opposition to a racetrack, saying it will produce noise while spectators from out of town will put a strain on local highways.
“Technology does not exist that will prevent something that big and that close to a residential area from ruining our quality of life,” said attorney Jim Benson, a resident of the 1,300-home Reunion development.
While most of the 140 people who spoke Monday night were against the track, others want to see a final proposal before they make a decision, Silvers said.
“I think a vast majority of people are eager to hear what this is all about,” he said, “and then they will come to their own conclusions.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
