Fairgrounds Speedway Racetrack expansion to 30,000 seats

[Melrose]

22 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

Autoweek article on the meeting regarding the speedway. Seems like Jerry Caldwell is releasing information and answering questions. Also seems like board member Jason Bergeron is finding every avenue to squash it. 

A couple key points:

• The deal is only for 10 years (unlike the 30 years Soccer has), but can be extended up to 30 years via four 5-year extensions.
• SMI would honor the 10 race weekend limit set out by the Charter (already known). only ONE weekend would be a Nascar race weekend (I presume one date will move away from Bristol as they have had their share of issues in recent seasons). The other 9 would remain local and regional races including the All American 400. So only one weekend of the 140 dB and the rest of the weekends to oblige to the muffler rules.
• 20 midweek test session throughout the year including at least one for Goodyear tire test (this in my opinion is the most important test). Personal note; most "test" sessions are not a full field of cars, so the noise level is very reduced. Test sessions are not practice sessions that occur on race weekend.
• No detailed parking plan – what a shock! This has been a concern throughout the soccer stadium as well. 
• $15.50 per hour wages for event and regular staff
• As rendering that Mark shared above they would relocate the infield tunnel to turn 3. This allows for the park along Craighead to be continuous. 
• The rendering above does show sound mitigation walls going from turns 2, down the backstretch and through turn 3. They are currently rendered as 20'-0" high, concrete walls. This height may vary around the track though. 
• The "organizational building" in turn 4 I would believe have the infield car in it along certain race day admin offices. Personal note; I presume that additional structures, like garage bays, will need to be built. Also possibly a fueling facility. I also dont really believe the entrance to pit road is all that feasible. Dropping off a banking like that into a very sharp left-right movement is bad news for race cars.
• SMI intends to promote two concert series events to help with less track days than ideal.
• Jason Bergeron had to be cut off by the Fair Board due to constant questioning (that the article claims borderline berating). Bergeron voted to delay things by a month and was voted down.
• A public commenter claimed we have 5 venues within 30 minutes that host Nascar and Formula 1. This was obviously a soundbite line, but goes to show that there are people that dont understand things fully. We obviously don't have Formula 1, but we also only have one venue that can host any of the top 3 series in Nascar.

The next meeting - scheduled for June 8th - is expected to have a formal plan presented. A formal resolution is expected to be presented and voted on during the July 12th meeting. 

That Weaver writer seems like just a wee bit of a racing cheerleader.  For example,  i don’t see anywhere in the Charter that says anything about 10 races.   Seems like the guy has some facts wrong.

It didn’t sound like any of the Fair Board members were very comfortable with the time lines,  even the ones that didn’t vote to officially extend the timing.
 

Lastly,  it seems like the Fair Board should be asking a lot more questions than they did,  since the Bristol people can’t even say things like how much the project costs. That doesn’t sound ready to vote on yet.   

[markhollin]

I received this letter today because I live a few miles from the Fairgrounds Racetrack:
 

[Skyscrapergeek]

So if you’re against the track, you’re against helping kids in need. No one’s against helping kids in need are they?? Are they??

[nashvylle]

https://twitter.com/MattWeaverAW/status/1402344808199475200?s=20

https://twitter.com/MattWeaverAW/status/1402351125697794048?s=20

[nashvylle]

Putting the financing aside, which I have thoughts on, if your concern is noise, this proposal really is a no brainer to me.

https://tennesseelookout.com/2021/06/09/study-bristol-motorsports-plan-would-reduce-racing-noise-at-fairgrounds-nashville/

 

[titanhog]

3 hours ago, nashvylle said:

Putting the financing aside, which I have thoughts on, if your concern is noise, this proposal really is a no brainer to me.

https://tennesseelookout.com/2021/06/09/study-bristol-motorsports-plan-would-reduce-racing-noise-at-fairgrounds-nashville/

 

Obviously, Bristol knows the big money…and the way they will pay for expansion…is that one NASCAR top-level race weekend.  I would imagine that one weekend will bring in more money than all of the other weekends combined.  It will also be the one weekend that’s as loud as it is currently.   So basically…they’re asking residents to allow that one major weekend a year with an equally loud set of races as now (would be louder than now without sound mitigation)…and then they’ll reduce activity and sound the rest of the year.

Sounds like a good tradeoff…at least on paper.

[titanhog]

I just lost about 50 IQ points reading this article.  These “Stand Up Nashville” people just seem to be opposing this track because they can.  Their questions and assumptions are so wrong on some of this stuff.  One person even thinks this will be  “gentrification” when it comes to improvements at the 100 year old track.  Can’t make that stuff up.  Bristol and the city have given the public notice to ask questions since Dec of 2020 and Stand Up Nashville wants more time.

Sorry…but I’m just tired of people being told they should oppose something and they have no clue why to oppose it other than “Race Track Bad.”  Some act as if there we will 100 NASCAR weekends (there will be 1)…and that will really be the only weekend in the entire year that anything is different than it’s been for decades…except Bristol promises less races overall and sound mitigation which isn’t there now.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2021/07/13/nashville-fairgrounds-speedway-deal-deadline-looms-bristol-motor-sports/7952464002/

As August nears, whether Metro Nashville will meet its July 31 deadline for an agreement with Speedway Motorsports to bring NASCAR back to the city remains unclear.

City officials and representatives for the company said Tuesday that the deal is moving forward, though more time might be needed to cement details. The potential delay comes as a boon for some community groupspushing for Nashville residents to have more input in the decision.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper and Bristol Motor Speedway began public talks in December 2020 and inked a letter of intent in March for a deal to renovate the Fairgrounds Speedway. Under the deal, Bristol would shoulder the financial responsibilities of renovations and company upkeep. Metro would issue no more than $50 million in bonds for renovations to the racetrack, with debt and project costs to be covered by racing and event revenue.

The letter of intent calls for an agreement to be in place by July 31. After that, the city or Bristol can walk away.

No new date has been selected, but an extension is possible in order for city to triple-check terms and facts and revenue projections, mayor's office spokesperson Andrea Fanta said. 

Bristol and city negotiators are ironing out issues associated with the lease and operating agreements as Bristol awaits financing decisions from the city, James Weaver, an attorney representing Bristol, said during the Metro Nashville Fair Commissioners Board meeting Tuesday.

"We're hopeful that we can have agreements to present by the end of the month, but we're going to continue to plow forward," Weaver said.

Hannah Kuhn, an organizer for Stand Up Nashville, is in favor of pushing the deadline. The organization presented results of a neighborhood survey at the fair board meeting, stressing the desire for officials to seek out and consider more community feedback.

 

"I think it would be a really good opportunity for Bristol Motor Speedway, for the fair board and the mayor's office to really take a look at what we need as Nashvillians if we're going to have these huge projects being done," Kuhn said.

Noise, traffic concerns weigh on neighborhood

Those who live closest to the Fairgrounds Speedway have been vocal about their concerns about the deal — namely noise levels and increased traffic. 

An environmental sound model proposes mandated muffler use for non-NASCAR racing events, new buildings and a 20-foot sound-absorbing wall that they say would reduce perceived loudness by nearly 50%. Practice days also could be reduced and race weekends could be limited to 10 per year, with curfews on event times, according to the report.

Heidi Basgall Favorite, an organizer for the Neighbors Opposing Track Expansion group, offered the meeting's sole public comment in opposition to the deal. Having 50% less sound impact "would be beautiful," she said, but she didn't find the sound study reassuring.

"I'd like to see the data," Basgall Favorite said. "I want to be convinced."

Stand Up Nashville's door-to-door and online survey of more than 500 residents within a 2-mile radius of the speedway found 55% of responding residents do not support the current proposal, with noise and traffic ranking as top concerns. Other issues include gentrification, cost to the city, lack of community input and impact on property values. 

Of the 500 residents who responded, 34% did support the racetrack expansion plan, though 74% of those surveyed said they had concerns about the development. Residents called for better community engagement and more time to give feedback, according to Stand Up Nashville.

Weaver said Bristol has held 24 community meetings and sent surveys to 5,000 email addresses in the area, along with 15,000 direct mail surveys to addresses in and around the fairgrounds. 

"This facility belongs to all of Nashville," he said. "It belongs to people who live in Joelton and Antioch and West Nashville as well as people who live in these neighborhoods, so you can't limit your conversation to people who live within 1,500 feet of the fairgrounds ... their voice is incredibly important, but they're not the only voice."

Bristol plans to present a community benefits strategy, which is in its "final stages," to the board along with the lease agreement at a later date. The community benefits strategy involves several "neighborhood-centric" nonprofit organizations from the area, Weaver said, though he declined to name the nonprofits before the strategy is finalized. 

Commissioner Jason Bergeron called on Bristol to cooperate with Stand Up Nashville in the community benefits strategy to ensure that Bristol's efforts would complement the organization's existing community benefits agreement with MLS.

Weaver said respecting Stand Up Nashville's agreement with MLS is part of being part of the facility.

"I'm reasonably sure that the board can't demand who I work with ... These community benefit understandings are private agreements between two private (parties) ... and we are working with multiple nonprofit entities in and around this part of Nashville," he said. "Those will be presented and the board can take those into consideration or not take those into consideration, but they're not part and parcel of the formal agreement between us and the city."

Edited July 14, 2021 by titanhog

[downtownresident]

Honesty I hope they tell Stand Up Nashville to kick rocks. Ever since they were part of the MLS deal they have tried to insert themselves and try to extract benefit for themselves in every other major development / deal the city has undertaken. 

[PaulChinetti]

It’s just people advocating for their neighborhood. 

Their entire point is too extract as much as possible from developers wanting to build in their neighborhood. The neighborhood is probably at its highest point of desirability it has ever been. Let them get developers for all they can!

In my opinion, at least the people who are speaking up have valid concerns, compared to the Save Our Fairgrounds people who never had a coherent message other than “change bad”.

Addition:

Just to be clear also, I think if the track is given the same deal as the stadium it should absolutely go forward.

 

Edited July 14, 2021 by PaulChinetti

[markhollin]

Deadline looms for Nashville officials and Bristol Motor Sports on Fairgrounds Racetrack deal.

More at TheTennessean here:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2021/07/13/nashville-fairgrounds-speedway-deal-deadline-looms-bristol-motor-sports/7952464002/?utm_source=tennessean-Daily Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_briefing&utm_term=list_article_thumb&utm_content=1056TN-E-NLETTER65

[titanhog]

1 hour ago, PaulChinetti said:

It’s just people advocating for their neighborhood. 

Their entire point is too extract as much as possible from developers wanting to build in their neighborhood. The neighborhood is probably at its highest point of desirability it has ever been. Let them get developers for all they can!

In my opinion, at least the people who are speaking up have valid concerns, compared to the Save Our Fairgrounds people who never had a coherent message other than “change bad”.

Addition:

Just to be clear also, I think if the track is given the same deal as the stadium it should absolutely go forward.

 

The issue I have is how many people are misinformed…who act as if they were there before the track…which isn’t the truth.  Some act as if there’s going to be some huge cataclysmic change to their neighborhood because of one NASCAR race a year.  The biggest change is going to be the soccer stadium and MLS games.  That’s really just about the only thing residents in that neighborhood have to legitimately gripe about…but that ship has sailed.  If this is all about “getting as much as you can from the developers”…well…boo.

The real gentrification of the neighborhood is people buying up land and improving it with better, bigger homes and businesses.  If someone want to gripe about gentrification, that’s it.  However…that’s really just a part of a growing city.  In other words…people will complain about something…but maybe they should point their fingers at themselves instead of a 100 year old race track.

[Bos2Nash]

Stand Up Nashville should be involved, because clearly nobody within the city's organization advocates for residents, especially low income residents. That being said, if the Bristol group aligns with the MLS Community Benefits Agreement (which I think most people in favor of the track renovation on this board are) then there should be no issues from the group. I think Bristol is spot on saying that they need to go get the views/opinions of more than just folks within a 1/2 mile of the racetrack. Gentrification for sure is a concern due to the comfort levels of the residents, but if they have been living in the area for 10/20/30+ years already, there is nothing that will change their comfort level because things are only going to improve with the renovations and the changes around the track.

I keep coming back to the notion of asking the resident if they were in favor of the MLS team and the 10-acre Land Lease to the MLS ownership group then ask them about their opinion on the racetrack improvement. If they are for the first and against the second (and vice versa) then their opinion is clearly un-informed. And the folks that got sold a bid of goods by their realtor with the expectation of the track closing is an unfortunate loss for them.

The neighborhood has gotten to "its highest point of desirability" with a racetrack that is in shambles and not following the rules. So I ask how would improving such a facility to top tier status alongside a new state-of-the-art facility hurt the level of desirability? I do agree that Stand Up Nashville has the appearance of working in lockstep with NOTE to oppose the track renovation. 

[DDIG]

4 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

Stand Up Nashville should be involved, because clearly nobody within the city's organization advocates for residents, especially low income residents. That being said, if the Bristol group aligns with the MLS Community Benefits Agreement (which I think most people in favor of the track renovation on this board are) then there should be no issues from the group. I think Bristol is spot on saying that they need to go get the views/opinions of more than just folks within a 1/2 mile of the racetrack. Gentrification for sure is a concern due to the comfort levels of the residents, but if they have been living in the area for 10/20/30+ years already, there is nothing that will change their comfort level because things are only going to improve with the renovations and the changes around the track.

I keep coming back to the notion of asking the resident if they were in favor of the MLS team and the 10-acre Land Lease to the MLS ownership group then ask them about their opinion on the racetrack improvement. If they are for the first and against the second (and vice versa) then their opinion is clearly un-informed. And the folks that got sold a bid of goods by their realtor with the expectation of the track closing is an unfortunate loss for them.

The neighborhood has gotten to "its highest point of desirability" with a racetrack that is in shambles and not following the rules. So I ask how would improving such a facility to top tier status alongside a new state-of-the-art facility hurt the level of desirability? I do agree that Stand Up Nashville has the appearance of working in lockstep with NOTE to oppose the track renovation. 

Why is Stand Up Nashville doing opposition polling and how scientific (and unbiased) was that polling? Seems out of their wheelhouse. 

Updating the race track, making it not being an eye sore and reducing noise seems a win over the alternative: leaving it as is with no improvements and races will keep going as it is chartered.

[titanhog]

And by no means do I think residents of the area shouldn’t have a voice.  It’s just that this was announced in Dec 2020…and there’s been a lot of time to voice an opinion.  Plus…Bristol has already agreed to many things that should make the residents at least “happier.”  My only issue is how misinformed many residents seem to be.  It saddens me to see people use misinformation, for anything, to attempt to reach some end goal.  At least be honest and forthright in your pursuit of knowledge.

[samsonh]

2 hours ago, titanhog said:

And by no means do I think residents of the area shouldn’t have a voice.  It’s just that this was announced in Dec 2020…and there’s been a lot of time to voice an opinion.  Plus…Bristol has already agreed to many things that should make the residents at least “happier.”  My only issue is how misinformed many residents seem to be.  It saddens me to see people use misinformation, for anything, to attempt to reach some end goal.  At least be honest and forthright in your pursuit of knowledge.

I think residents of that area have been voicing opposition for years. That part isn’t new by any means. I would buy in that area next year but I will not because of this. I will instead be buying in the nations area. 

[titanhog]

1 hour ago, samsonh said:

I think residents of that area have been voicing opposition for years. That part isn’t new by any means. I would buy in that area next year but I will not because of this. I will instead be buying in the nations area. 

Because of the track, MLS or the residents of that area?  To me, the people who move near a racetrack and then complain about living near a racetrack are crazy, unless the track does something terribly out of the norm…like doubles their race schedule or something.

[samsonh]

1 hour ago, titanhog said:

Because of the track, MLS or the residents of that area?  To me, the people who move near a racetrack and then complain about living near a racetrack are crazy, unless the track does something terribly out of the norm…like doubles their race schedule or something.

The racetrack is a huge deterrent. I will buy mls season tickets. I love the area except the track. 

[titanhog]

6 minutes ago, samsonh said:

The racetrack is a huge deterrent. I will buy mls season tickets. I love the area except the track. 

Yeah…I wouldn’t want to live near it either.  But…I did move not far from the stupid landfill in Rutherford County (in M’boro)…and some nights, it smells like a thousand dead dogs are walking past my house. But…no use in me complaining since it was here first.  Only thing I can do is hold me nose…or move. 

[grilled_cheese]

15 hours ago, titanhog said:

The issue I have is how many people are misinformed…who act as if they were there before the track

Hang on to that notion.  My family that lived in the area cashed out and moved to Murfreesboro. 

Times they are changing.

[TheRaglander]

8 hours ago, titanhog said:

Yeah…I wouldn’t want to live near it either.  But…I did move not far from the stupid landfill in Rutherford County (in M’boro)…and some nights, it smells like a thousand dead dogs are walking past my house. But…no use in me complaining since it was here first.  Only thing I can do is hold me nose…or move. 

Is that the one near the soccer complex?  Every once in a while we will get a whiff of Mount Trashmore. 

[titanhog]

3 hours ago, TheRaglander said:

Is that the one near the soccer complex?  Every once in a while we will get a whiff of Mount Trashmore. 

Yes.  It’s rumored that it’s coming to an end…but they’re now trying to talk the city / county / state into buying more land next door and keep it going (since it’s basically full now).  Hopefully…they’ll be held to their “deadline” to close it down and find a new site…hopefully further out in rural land somewhere.  This entire area will be somewhat “urban” before too long…so no use having a HUGE landfill still going in the middle of that.

[Bos2Nash]

Update from Autoweek about the deadline most likely being delayed. It seems like requests will be made at nauseum for "more details".  I will admit I have not been able to digest all the information (especially the noise mitigation), but I do understand there is plenty of information avaiilable!

Chase Elliott will be joining his father and the rest of the SRX racing field this weekend at the speedway in order to show support of racing coming back to the track

In regards to Stand Up Nashville, I had a pleasant conversation with one of their campaign leaders last night at a meeting for the East bank and one of the interesting revelations that she told me is that many of the people whose door they knocked on had no idea anything was going on regarding the track. Now, I appreciate that maybe these folks are not going to meetings or paying attention to the news at all, but if you are against the renovation without knowing what it is that really isn't a fair assessment, right? There is only so much SMI can do with reaching out to neighborhood groups for people to get involved. Community Input is great, sure, but the notion of having individual people put their hands on every single major development is a bit exhaustive.They are trying to take the Leslie Knope approach where they are trying to satisfy the human instinct of being involved in every decision, when it really just isn't necessary. The representative of SUN told me they want to change the city's approach to major developments for community input, but we cannot expect every major development to do a door-to-door campaign to get people's heads out of the sand. For those that are interested, here is the presentation that SUN gave to the Fair Board. One of the biggest concerns – outside of noise – is traffic, and while I understand that I don't find it as a reason to oppose the track project. The traffic concerns were brought up in the MLS proposal and never resolved, yet approvals were received. Let's be honest, what community input would we be expecting from people? The community has the chance! People just want their door to be knocked on to give their opinion and if it isn't they bitch they aren't included.

Another item is the sound data. People want to see the information, yet they clearly haven't gone to the multiple meetings where information that has been dissected and presented to the Fair Board. 

• Here is sound presentation from June 8, 2021 Fair Board meeting
• Here is the Noise Mitigation Study presentation from July 13, 2021.

Specifically here is a chart that shows that predicts the Nascar event would sound like a freight train if you were standing 100 feet away from it.  The information is available and the meetings are scheduled. People just have to actually go to the meetings.

Additionally, it is not like SMI has ignored or tried to avoid getting input. The below image is from the different groups they have reached out to as of the May 11, 2021 meeting.

Additionally, Bergeron has continued to ask from details on dates and yet this clearly isn't enough for him? I guess he wants calendar dates?

Also, interesting to see this site plan update that came from one of the stadium update presentation that shows Wedgewood "jogging" around turn three of the racetrack on its way to Craighead. I wonder if this has something to do with the new tunnel that Bristol is proposing off of Wedgewood

The new tunnel is circled in red and would be almost directly across from the eastern access drive for the expo center.

Lastly, can you imagine if the track goes from this...

to this....

I can't wait to hear the MarketStreet residents just to the right of this imagine starting using the term "circus" and I will play my world's smallest violin

For those interested, the gray background images came from teh May 11th Fair Board Presentation. It can be found here.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Bos2Nash
add link to 5/11 presentation

[Jamie Hall]

News flash to the Stand Up Nashville folks who think that renovating a 100-year-old racetrack is going to bring massive change and development to the neighborhood: You lost that battle as soon as the MLS stadium began construction. Change, development, and traffic is already coming, so one NASCAR race per year is going to be the least of your worries.

[Bos2Nash]

27 minutes ago, Jamie Hall said:

News flash to the Stand Up Nashville folks who think that renovating a 100-year-old racetrack is going to bring massive change and development to the neighborhood: You lost that battle as soon as the MLS stadium began construction. Change, development, and traffic is already coming, so one NASCAR race per year is going to be the least of your worries.

Change, development, traffic is the natural progression of development and people just don't like that. SUN doesn't appear to be against that.The input I got last night from Stand Up Nashville actually isn't opposing the renovation to the track (that would be NOTE), but rather they want the standard level of community input to be higher throughout the city. Because SMI hasn't presented anything official with regards to the CBA or contract wise (which even SMI acknowledged needs more time) they are speculating on stuff. I think they are a bit naive in thinking that outreach on development will reach every single door. They did the door-to-door push around the track and I think what it proved more than anything are people will always have an opinion even if they aren't informed about it and SUN will use that as community input.

I like the intent and mission of SUN, but the people factor of community input is the hard part.

[Bos2Nash]

Who would’ve thought bringing in top level talent could also bring in the spectators?

Taken from the SRX Instagram story. Largest crowd since 1970!!!!

i also took a video (yes while driving) of Craighead. Just another reason this corridor is RIPE for multi-modal