Jump to content

Concord in the midst of major changes?


Neo

Recommended Posts

Firstly as a long time resident of Concord... I'd just like to go on the record and say that if LMA was to move that would be strike two for this city as far as economical and buisness $$$$ is concerned. Fisrt being the loss of Phillip Morris. County commissioners overreacted and came to the conclusion of the words of anti-racing supporters mostly. People who decided to buy a house with there back yard right next to the speedway....... All I want to ask from theme is didn't you know a race track was there and what it could potentially bring??? If they are so against the noise why did they move to that specific location to begin with??

Secondly what would happen to the city of Harrisburg if the track was to move???? That city thrives off of the race track and the people it brings every year... The people who are complaining about this need to realize. If the track goes.... there goses all of Harrisburg's big $$$. Which wouldn't that lower there tax value anyway because who would want to live there anyway with increased taxes countywide to make up for the income deficit. Harrisburg would turn into the next Rockingham in my opinion.

I understand that people don't want the extra noise, but when your front porch overlooks one of the biggest racetracks in the country.... I have to ask what were you thinking?

P.S. I'm not trying to state this to make anyone angry I'm trying to prove a point...

I have to agree with you on that one. From reading the articles and seeing the headlines, the owner of the track does come off as a brat, who "cries" when he doesn't get his way, however, the home owners knew what they were getting themselves into when they purchased in the area. The track was there before subdivision, and it's not like the Charlotte area is pressed for space like, Southern California or Seattle where you have mountains and water limit the amount of buildable land in the area. They could have moved anywhere else in the area. What would be bad is if the track moved to somewhere else, and the existing home owners there would have to deal with the problem. Plus the plot is zoned for "motorsports". That's my problem with NIMBYs, not in my back yard (even though I knew it was already there), but someone elses it's okay. :rolleyes:

This would be a major blow to Cabarrus County, hopefully a compromised can be reached.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


..... Plus the plot is zoned for "motorsports". That's my problem with NIMBYs, not in my back yard (even though I knew it was already there), but someone elses it's okay. :rolleyes:

.....

The land is not zoned for drag racing so that kinda blows a hole completely in your condemnation of the people who live near the track. Smith wanted to change the purpose of the land that these people from what it was when people bought these homes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not the first one one here to say Smith is just being a brat with the way he's going out this, but on the flip side, realistically how many drag races are there going to be a year at this track? Just a few? Granted I don't know much about motorsports, but is there any reason why he just can't build the dragstrip (itself) somewhere else? Why does it have to be near the Lowe's track? I can't even fathom him taking the track outside the Charlotte region. #1 there are too many ties in this region to Nascar. #2 I can't imagine Nascar even OKing that. It's like moving the White House out of DC #3 If he were to even succceed with that, he would alienate far too many people than he would please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The land is not zoned for drag racing so that kinda blows a hole completely in your condemnation of the people who live near the track. Smith wanted to change the purpose of the land that these people from what it was when people bought these homes.

That is not true, the land WAS zoned for drag racing until Concord City Council changed the zoning on the property to disallow a drag racing facility to be built. That is the controversy. Concord took away the line item that allowed for it to be built.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Folks, this is not about "a few drag races per year". The track would be used throughout the year for testing, training, tourism, practice--just like LMS is currently. What keeps getting glossed over is that Smith sees himself above the law, and above the rest of us. He doesn't have to get a building permit, grading permit, nothing. He's the big Bruton Smith. God-forbid he have to submit plans to city staff like the rest of us do. He's the classic bully.

As for moving, I'll be surprised if he can find that much land anywhere remotely attractive to the sport and be able to make it work. Environmental concerns, water quality issues for runoff on such a large clear-cut site, noise, topography, infrastructure, etc. would all make for a time-consuming process.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone know exactly where the strip is being built? I can't find any article that gives its specific location. After looking at a map at Charlotte.com that shows the proposed location, and trying to figure out where that is on a more detailed map, it looks like the location is between Poplar Tent and Weddington Rd, with Kannapolis Pkwy to the east. Is that correct?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO, even the brattiest of brats wouldn't be stupid enough to spend $350 million just to stick it to the city of Concord. All Smith needs to do is invest a drop-in-the-bucket amount of money in adding sound buffers to the drag strip: problem solved.

The outright ban on strip construction was a knee-jerk reaction that Smith undoubtedly perceived as a personal insult; but nevertheless, cooler heads will prevail and a compromise should be reached. If this actually comes to the point of ugly divorce, it's an indictment of both sides for not having the common sense to negotiate a mutually-beneficial solution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The one thing I think that is positive about this situation is that it shows that Concord may actually be paying attention and keeping their word of protecting resident's best interests despite the potential costs. I am a lot more optimistic about the Phillip Morris land getting developed with something other than subdivisions. They initially said it wouldn't and I didn't believe them as they normally bend over backwards for any developer, but if they have the cajones to stand up to the biggest event maker (and economy booster) in the state, then I think it shows they can stand up to a few developers.

I hardly doubt the worst case scenario for Concord will happen, but we shall see. Like Justadude said, how much could sound buffers really cost compared to a new $350 million facility?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forbes Magazine recently released the list of the richest people and of course Bruton Smith was on it, valued at $1.5 billion. Take this into account however that once you take away $350M for a new race track and then presumably add to that a new dirt track, the new drag strip, possible infrastructure costs, land costs, possible new airport (Smith stated he would build a new airport too), etc. then it all adds up to a whopping cost. Smith would likely exert most of his worth just because he didn't get his way the first time with the City of Concord yet he played a huge part in the dealing by grading without a permit and telling Concord to shove it if he didn't get his way.

Smith is completely in the wrong here IMO and I honestly find it quite funny that he's willing to spend a huge chunk of his money on something as stupid as this.

Now here's a question, what could keep someone purchasing the existing LMS track if Smith were to build new facilities (assuming he didn't keep it and use it as a test track for example) and put in for NASCAR to keep the races at the existing track instead of Smith's new track?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe Bruton could rehab The Rock and make it the new home of Lowes. He did just purchase it.

That's another thing about him that ticks me off. "Lowes" Motor Speedway. If he thought very highly of this region, he would have never sold the naming rights to the track. Am I right in my assertion that it is still the only NASCAR track to be "corporatzed"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is not true, the land WAS zoned for drag racing until Concord City Council changed the zoning on the property to disallow a drag racing facility to be built. That is the controversy. Concord took away the line item that allowed for it to be built.

Opps, this was something that I did not understand. It would seem that Smith would have a valid case for a lawsuit then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's another thing about him that ticks me off. "Lowes" Motor Speedway. If he thought very highly of this region, he would have never sold the naming rights to the track. Am I right in my assertion that it is still the only NASCAR track to be "corporatzed"?

At the risk of sounding like a hick for knowing this, Sears Point Raceway in California was renamed Infineon Raceway in 2002. Sears had nothing to do with the first name, but Infineon is a semiconductor company. Why they need to sponsor a track, I have no idea.

Also, I remember NASCAR at one point pushing track owners to market their tracks for names, much like other sports facilities of basically all sports. It's done all over Europe, so why not here? It's just more money and people still know where LMS is just the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're not a hick for knowing that. Lowes and Infineon are the only tracks that are not named for the city, state, or geographic feature near them.

As for financing a new track, I'd think he'd just do what every professional sports team owner does and take out some sort of loan and/or have the new city finance a bunch of it. Look at the Bobcats. Bob Johnson is a billionaire and he has loans from Wachovia and BOA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The land is not zoned for drag racing so that kinda blows a hole completely in your condemnation of the people who live near the track. Smith wanted to change the purpose of the land that these people from what it was when people bought these homes.

Drag racing is what I would call a motorsport...; Even if it wasn't why would you buy within the vicinity of a MAJOR speedway, knowing that sometime in the future they could expand, when I like I stated before, there is plenty of land within the metro area to build on. I'm sorry I feel no love loss for these people. I don't agree with his atittude of "pick up and leave because I can't get my way", but I see his point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't agree with the environmental and developmental disaster that Smith will leave in his wake if he moves...

BUT,

I don't think the mayor in Concord should've pulled the high and mighty local government power play that he did. Smith is right, its his land, he got it zoned for motorsports back in 1960. True, he graded without a permit, do to him what you would do to anyone else without a permit, order to cease construction, don't change the zoning overnight. The development came to him, not the other way around. I think those people are foolish who are complaining about potential noise now. It was their responsibility as home buyers to gain knowledge on the surrounding area and what might be built there (zoned 50 years ago, not last week!) I think he should move at this point, not to stick it to the homeowners and mayor, but to set the precedent that local government can't change zoning overnight without going through the proper channels. Take the money and give it to a locale that can handle the effects of their own zoning and politicians.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^Possibly. But as I mentioned earlier, Smith had no problem doing exactly this when it suited his purposes. When he opened the track, he was in a location that did not allow mixed drink sales. When he built the speedway club he wanted to have bars and restaurants that could serve mixed drinks or he was going to lose out on a lot of revenue. So in order to pull this off, he convinced Concord to annex the speedway because Concord city does allow mixed drinks. If we were being completely fair about it as you suggest, Harrisburg should have been able to annex the speedway, but they don't allow mixed drink sales in the town. In fact, I believe it is completely dry. (or at least it was when this happened) Smith pulled the right strings to keep from being annexed into the town where the track actually exists.

So Smith is fine with the governmental changes that make him money but when they go for the common person looking for something similar he gets upset, unhappy and willing to sue. Those people who got the zoning changed in their favor did nothing that Smith had not already done to build up the racetrack in the first place. (And don't get me started on the priority the NCDOT placed on getting those fine roads built around the place)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see that there's an online petition that you can get to from the Observer. Over 1,100 people have signed it since yesterday. It appears people all over country support him, despite his tactics.......

From the comments, its sounds as if the most vocal people don't live within Concord itself which is all that is going to matter to the city politicians. Of course since you can't vote against it on this petition, I would not expect that you are going to find many people responding that they don't want the race track on this website.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone remember Bruton's other tantrum when he illegally cut down lots of trees somewhere near the Speedway but in Mecklenburg County? He pulled this same crap -- whining, crying, bullying and talking about taking his ball and going home. He is nothing but a rich hick who thinks he can do whatever he wants simply because he is rich.

That being said, I think he is COMPLETELY in the right here dispite his absurd lack of thought about the perception by the public of him. I'm not sure how well a quickie zoning change that directly impacts an existing property owners rights with no ability to regain those rights or at least have them grandfathered will hold up anyway.

1) the people that moved to this area obviously knew they were moving next to a very loud neighbor that is the Speedway.

2) he has been there for years and the land is his

3) this area is only on peoples radar BECAUSE of the Speedway. Sure people would be living there, but not nearly as many and the development in the area (Concord Mills, hotels, restaurants, etc) would not be there at all at this random exit off I-85.

Sure he's a bully and baby, but in this case I feel he is right (as long as he gets a permit!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) the people that moved to this area obviously knew they were moving next to a very loud neighbor that is the Speedway.

To play devil's advocate with this remark: Judging from google maps, virtually all homes are currently 3/4 to 1 mile from LMS. If this drag strip is indeed being built to the north of the dirt track, it will probably end up being around 1000ft or a little more from existing homes. 1 mile vs 1000ft is a huge difference. So, despite the argument that people knew what they were buying into (5 NASCAR races a year about 1 mile or more from their homes), I doubt they were anticipating drag races occurring who-knows-how-many times a year 1000 ft from their backyards.

I think a lot of this would die down if Bruton would just release his plans to the public. What is the site plan and what, if any, plans does he have for noise barriers? I am totally on the side of Concord in this, solely because of the way Bruton has gone about this. And I can't believe Rowan, and potentially other locales, are actually wanting Bruton to build in their jurisdiction. Do they really think he won't pull this same kind of crap with them?!

This whole thing reminds me of a western movie: the fat, wealthy rancher who rules the town and stomps all over the local government and townspeople, until finally, one day, someone leads everyone to say "Enough!" and they all drive him out of town. ^_^

Edited by geekUSA1981
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.