After more than 500 people turned out March 18 at a public hearing on Spokane Countys potential purchase of Spokane Raceway Park, the county commissioners are taking a close look at buying the facility and the acreage around it.


Commissioner Todd Mielke said last week that hes ready for the county to make a pre-auction bid for the 580-acre property or to make a bid for it in an auction scheduled April 10.


Im convinced it pencils out, and we should engage, Mielke says.


Officials were stunned by the size of the crowd at the public hearing at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center, Mielke says.


(Spokane County CEO) Marshall Farnell said it was the largest public meeting he has seen in his 30 years with the county, including all of the high-profile meetings on the waste-to-energy plant, which opened in 1991, Mielke says.


More than 70 attendees urged the county to buy the property, while just three people spoke against the idea, Mielke says. He says the commissioners held an executive session on the matter March 24 to gather more information and will hold another such session today, April 3.


Spokane is as much of a gear-head town as any city in the country; we have as many street rods per capita as any city, Mielke says.


Commissioner Mark Richard says he would prefer that a private, racing-oriented bidder buy the track, but if no one shows up, or if someone shows up with an interest in doing something else with it, then I believe we have an obligation, based on the input that were getting, to preserve a community asset.


Hes trying to urge potential buyers from the racing world to make bids for the track, Richard says. If no such bids emerge, somewhat reluctantly, Ill be there, but Ill be there for sure, he says.


Commissioner Bonnie Mager says she has yet to make up her mind on the issue.


I do think the Raceway Park should be saved for future use as a racetrack, which might not happen if it goes to a buyer that has other plans for it, Mager says. She, too, says, My preference would be that it stays in the private sector.


Doug Greenfield, general manager of the Pacific Raceways track, in Kent, Wash., says the operator of that track, Racetrack LLC, of Seattle, has told Spokane County that it wants to manage Spokane Raceway Parkand if it became the parks manager, Pacific Raceways would move its National Hod Rod Association-sanctioned Schucks Northwest Nationals drag-racing event to Spokane.


The rain is a real problem. Theres years we have to extend the event, Greenfield says.


During nationally sanctioned events, the motels would sell out, the restaurants would go crazy, council members would love us because we bring in tax revenues, the airport would be busy, he says.


Spokane Raceway Park has the best potential of any track in a 300-mile radius of Spokane, says Greenfield, who graduated from Coeur dAlene High School. Spokanes hot, windless summer days are ideal for racing, and the track would draw racing fans from the West Coast to Montana and into Canada, he says.


He adds, Right now, the only thing thats known about that track is that it isnt safe. And its easy to fix.


Mielke says Racetrack LLC has said it doesnt have the resources to buy the track, but if a solid racing operator bids for the property, I would like to believe that we would stand down.


Still, Mager says environmental clean-up costs could run into the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and the park sits atop a natural channel that could carry polluted runoff to the aquifer. While an initial limited-scope environmental study has been done, shed like for the auction to be postponed to allow time for a more extensive study.


I have no intention of delaying the auction, says Barry Davidson, the court-appointed receiver who is selling the park. He says he has had no requests for a more extensive environmental review.


Its possible for parties to submit a pre-auction offer, as Mielke suggested, Davidson says, although as of last week he had no solid indication that a bidder would submit such an offer.


I think theres a strong public interest, he says. I think the public should be heard. Im hoping that a race-track operator will bid.


A Spokane County Superior Court judge named Davidson in June 2005 as a receiver to supervise financial operations at the racetrack, as a legal battle continued between operator Orville Moe and other investors in the raceway.


Mielke says the turnout at the March 18 hearing was a strong showing of the publics interest in the raceway. Besides, he says, the Spokane area, which has produced such champion race-car drivers as Tom Sneva and Chad Little, has a strong racing heritage.


Its in our blood, says Mielke.


An appraisal done for the county by three consultants found that even though the park went into receivership more than two years ago and has operated with very little promotion since then, it has continued to operate in the black.


Its a diamond in the rough, and the consultants believe it can operate in the black from day one,Mielke says. He says that operations should be lucrative enough to cover both operating costs and much-needed improvements.


We end up absorbing the debt service from buying the property, Mielke says. Thats what we do with the baseball stadium and other county recreational facilities, he says. He adds that whether its baseball fans, golfers, kids playing soccer, or hikers trekking across the countys conservation reserve areas, a select few people use each type of county-owned recreational property.


The racetrack includes a drag strip; a 2.5-mile track that accommodates stock cars and motorcycles; and a half-mile oval, of which there are few at U.S. racetracks, Mielke says. He says a county-owned motocross and ATV course nearby give the facility added potential.


The property includes a lot of land besides the racetrack, including a gravel quarry that the countys road department could use and land to the north of the track that could be developed for badly needed soccer fields and softball fields, Mielke says. Also, the Spokane County Sheriffs Office is looking for a site for a regional training facility that it operates at Spokane Community College, in a building thats going to be torn down within the next couple of years, Mielke says.


The property also includes 60 to 65 acres of land along Hayford Road that should be developed commercially and remain on the tax rolls, Mielke says. He says the county, like other bidders, could bid on one or more of the parcels that are part of the raceway park, or on all of the property.


We have an appraisal that divides it into different types of land to look at for guidance, he says. We dont want to overpay. Theres a strong feeling that we would not be interested in using the general fund for operations.


The county probably would use its bonding capacity to pay for at least some indebtedness it would incur if it bought the property, Mielke says.


Marshall Farnell is taking a look at what options the county has, including whether it could tap reserves, Mielke says.


John Bottelli, the countys parks special projects manager, says that if the county bought the park, it would develop a master plan for long-term improvements. In the short term, it would clean up debris, barrels, and car bodies; erect tents for concessions sales; put in temporary restrooms; remove boulders and debris from areas where cars are likely to run off the road track; put barriers around the infield and outer perimeter of the oval track; patch the concrete grandstand and add handrails; and do some painting.


Were still looking at the possibility for a short season in 2008, from late June through mid-August, Bottelli says. The short-term work, which he says could cost roughly $1 million to $1.5 million, also would include a more extensive environmental study of the site.


Long-term improvements would include permanent improved concessions stands and restrooms, likely a rerouting of the road course so it no longer shares a one-mile straightaway with the drag strip, concrete paving of the launchpad at the drag strip to improve traction, and upgrading the entrance off of Hayford Road for drivers and race teams, who use a separate entrance now, as well as spectators. Also, a cost-benefit analysis would be conducted of the oval track, which might be more useful if it were converted into a one-third mile paved track, a shorter high-banked dirt oval track, or even removed, Bottelli says.


Mielke says he believes the racetrack has potential to help boost the economy here by attracting visitors. He says hes been told that at one time, Spokane drew 140,000 people over a weekend for American Hot Rod Association-sanctioned World Finals drag races.


We had a lot of dialogue with the Portland International Raceway, which has a 1.8-mile road track and a drag strip, but no oval track, Mielke says. He says that track pumps $44 million a year into Portlands economy.


Harry Sladich, president and CEO of the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, says the track has strong potential to draw visitors here.


Ive never had so many phone calls on anything ever, Sladich says. We have people call us all the time, asking us, Is it going to be there? When can we use it? There are very few places any more where people can come and bring their motorcycles and cars and race them.


Greenfield, who manages the West Side track, says, We run every weekend.


The track is open all week 24/7 for rental, Greenfield says. Private individuals run their vehicles there, and in the middle of the night, law-enforcement officers hone their high-speed driving skills on the track in training sessions, he says.


He adds, As the price of fuel goes up, your racers stay home. Pacific Raceways provides a family environment, because to be successful economically in racing today, its all about family, he says.


While only about a dozen people work at the track during the winter, the number of jobs at Pacific Raceways climbs to 200 to 300 from May to October during the racing season, Greenfield says.


Richard says the track here once had Friday night racing for teens, and hed like to see that resume, so kids would have somewhere to take their cars besides the streets. I believe in diversity in economic development, he says. Besides, he says, Once this thing is gone and bulldozed over, youre not going to get another one.


Contact Richard Ripley at (509) 344-1261 or via e-mail at editor@spokanejournal.com.