I'm sorry if I sound biased, I was just trying to make people aware of why
this action happened "suddenly" just before our event. I don't recall any
"for" quotes in any report I read, other than he had 6.5M invested, and
"it's a nice facility" by some racers who were not from the area or part of
the hearing. A far as I know according to the press reports the only people
arguing for the continuation of the permit during the two hour hearing were
the owners attorneys, there was no mention of the owner even being there.
There was a large group of citizens arguing against it however (I suspect
that the reports of the hearing were biased since they came from a local
weekly newspaper) From the reports, the only concession the owner was
willing to make was to get the buildings permitted, his side was asking for
an EXPANSION, not a continuance of the special use permit, the outright
cancellation of his permit was a surprise move even to those opposed,
according to the press . It seems to me that his renting the facility for
the tour when he knew that this hearing was to take place yesterday was
another attempt to leverage support for himself or a slap to the face of the
board. According to the reports, he had been notified of being in violation
of his special use permit and zoning ordinances starting a number of months
ago, and he chose to ignore those notices and deliberately continue his
obvious violation. It was bound to come to a head. One of the board members
that voted for the original permit said that she already had two major
racing venues in her district (Phoenix international raceway, a major NASCAR
track and Thunderbird) and that had she known that this was to become a
third, she would never have voted for the permit.
disclaimer: I am pro racing and development of first class AX sites, I can
however recognize when someone is using their wealth or power to try to
circumvent or run roughshod over the system, and find it difficult to be
sympathetic. Close by is Virginia International Raceway, a perfect example
of how a first class racing facility can be developed with the government's
blessing and cooperation. Now, if they would only expand their skid pad...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Murray" <mattm@optonline.net>
To: <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 7:44 AM
Subject: Re: Arizona Motorsports Park
> I sort of read that in between the lines of the article. Granted
> there was a bit of bias by the writer (no quotes from those "for"
> the facility, only "against."
>
> From a Real Estate perspective and those of you in some capacity
> of dealing with zoning boards, if you make them angry and do
> stuff without permission/approval, they become very resistant to
> being accommodating an applicant. It reads like AMP went too far.
> Add to the mix an "outsider" (real or perceived) and it is not a
> good mix. Too bad the permits were pulled right before the event.
>
> Matt Murray
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