AURORA | City voters will be asked this fall whether they want to repeal an ordinance that prevents Aurora from giving economic incentives to motor sports facilities, such as a NASCAR-style speedway.
Aurora Economic Development Council President and CEO Wendy Mitchell and Aurora Ward I Councilwoman Sally Mounier spoke to the Sentinel in September about measure 2J, which is slated for the municipal ballot for the November 2015 general election.
“Nobody is standing in the wings,” said Mounier in regards to whether the city was being courted by NASCAR or another motor sports entity. “We’re not jiving anybody. This is just the right thing to do for the City of Aurora and regionally.”
If 2J were to pass, it would free the city to offer a slate of incentives to a speedway developer that would likely be crucial in bringing a NASCAR-style speedway to the Denver metro area.
Mitchell emphasized that no developers are actively courting the city, but that Aurora would bite at the chance for a motor sports facility if the opportunity comes up.
“I want us to be first in line,” she said.
Mitchell said the campaign to repeal the longstanding ordinance will educate residents about the racetrack as a way to attract visitors from outside of Aurora and make the city a tourist destination.
“We’re going to be talking about the regional benefits of having a track or a facility,” she said. “If you look at the future of sporting events, teams are now creating full-on entertainment districts.”
A campaign flyer created for 2J emphasizes the trickle-down benefits of a racetrack that include future shopping, restaurants and concert venues.
The ban on providing economic incentives to a racetrack was passed in 1999 and added into the city’s charter. A citizen group named Concerned Residents Against Speedway Havoc was successful in convincing voters to prevent the city from providing “indirect or direct subsidies” to any type of motor racetrack.
That initiative blocked a large national race promoter from building a track in Aurora, but it was later marred in controversy. Several city officials at the time accused owners of the Colorado Springs Pikes Peak International Raceway of funding the initiative campaign out of fears their speedway would lose business to the Aurora track.
Following the initiative, the city successfully argued in county court to re-word the charter amendment so Aurora could work with racetrack developers and owners as it would with any other business. But the clause that prohibited the city from offering any type of incentives to potential racetracks, such as tax breaks or the waiving of development fees, was left intact.
Mitchell said she didn’t expect there to be any controversy over the racetrack this time around. She said she also doesn’t expect the issue to encounter the opposition that has long-delayed Aurora’s massive Gaylord Rockies Hotel and Conference Center from being built.
Earlier this year, Mounier said she was proposing the referendum not because of any behest from a possible developer, but simply as a matter of principle.
“I’m doing this because I think it’s the right thing to do, and the timing seems to be right,” Mounier said in late January after introducing the idea at a city Management and Finance committee meeting. “I think the (city) charter is not a place to discriminate against a particular business.”
not sure I agree on this one. well, maybe I don’t have all the information…..something about it just bothers me.
Think I will join with you on this one early. I used to enjoy racing our mules and horses on the farm, with my brother riding others. Later in my teens, I enjoyed the horses at our county fair in sulky races, with the rider on those 2 wheelers right against the horse and they could really go. In Canton Ohio one year I watched Jimmy Lynch and his Death Dodgers, driving Dodge cars , motors roaring as they jumped over obstacles, and passed each other with inches to spare.
Now I see enough speed of little 4 wheelers and big trucks-buses-other vehicles driving on the freeways. Speed limits supposed to be between 40 and 65 or 75 but actual more like between 35 and 90, with cutting in and out, lane switching, no signaling. And considering emissions now, with all the fuss about drilling, developing, fracking,, somehow it seems obscene to have race cars doing much faster speeds, using more exotic fuels, with attendant wrecks and mangling of the race cars.
And that includes the racing fanatics driving to the track or raceway on freeways, emulating the race car drivers to get there, and even worse when leaving. Highways are dangerous enough for day to day driving, without adding incentives for all to drive fast. One good thing, with that I don’t drive near as much as I used to, and won’t be in future, either.
WHAT WILL BE, WILL BE THEN.
I am surprised at the support our council is showing for this.
I also wonder at the compensation issues that could be associated with it.
One year ago..:https://www.aurorasentinel.com/news/city-council-narrowly-approves-raising-pay-meeting-stipends/
I need to think this through more, too, but at this point it strikes me as creating the possibility of future corporate welfare, something I generally oppose. It seems like the existing law doesn’t “discriminate against a particular business;” it just prohibits what might be called discrimination in favor of a particular business.
Aurora doesn’t currently offer a destination or an event
that attracts large numbers of out-of-state visitors to the city. Every year,
Aurora residents spend lots of money outside of the city at Broncos games and
Nuggets games and Avalanche games. Aurora has now become the state’s third
largest city and it is about time we start looking at ways to create
opportunities for some reciprocity. Aurora doesn’t mind spending money in
Denver but we need to begin offering opportunities for others outside of Aurora
to return the favor. YesOn2J will go a long way toward pursuing those
opportunities.