The Tulare Motorsports Complex Debacle

I've been following from afar the process that's taken place as developers have attempted to get approval for a vast motorsports complex near my old home in Tulare County California. The wrangling has been going on for five years now while the state is mired in political gridlock and Tulare County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation...

Here's a little chronology:

From early 2008: http://www.brandman.com/TMSC-EIR/index.html

Shopping and accomodations at the top, Speedway in the middle and Drag Strip at the bottom.

Project Description:
The Tulare Motor Sports Complex, L.P. (applicant) proposes to develop a 711.09-acre site with uses including a 1-mile, D-shaped oval super speedway racetrack; and drag strip. Both facilities have grandstands and sky boxes. The proposed seating capacity is 52,800 spectators for the super speedway track and 39,800 spectators for the drag strip. The track and drag strip are expected to host a wide variety of national, regional, and local racing events. The racing venues would provide approximately six large events and numerous smaller events per year. A Go Kart Track would be constructed between the oval and the drag strip. In addition, the applicant proposes a mix of uses to be developed to include entertainment-related uses, luxury condominiums, commercial offices, a technology-oriented business park, retail stores, hotels, a 59-acre RV park, public services, and improved infrastructure. A complete project description is provided in Section 3 of the Draft EIR.
The racing venue will provide approximately 6 large events and numerous smaller events per year.

Location:
The proposed project is located along the southeastern city limits of the City of Tulare in Tulare County. The site is adjacent to the Tulare Ag Expo site along its eastern boundary and north of the Tulare Airport.


From late 2008: http://www.jayski.com/pages/tracks/ncalif.htm

Tulare City [CA] Council OKs motor sports complex: The Tulare City [near Fresno CA, approx.. 250 miles from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA] Council, in a split 3-2 vote, approved late Monday night the proposed Tulare Motor Sports Complex, a 711-acre project that calls for the construction of a race track, a drag strip and commercial and retail development in south Tulare. Tulare Mayor Craig Vejvoda, Vice Mayor Phil Vandegrift and councilman Richard Ortega voted to approve the project, while councilmen David Macedo and Wayne Ross casted a “no” vote. Fresno-based developer Bud Long, who is fronting the project, said he was excited about the outcome. The vote came at the end of a lengthy, three-and-a-half hour, single-issue special meeting held at the Tulare Senior Center, drawing an estimated 240 people. The project will now go before the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission in about a month’s time. The Tulare Planning Commission had already approved the project at a meeting earlier this month.(Visalia Times-Delta)(12-30-2008)

One Mile "D" Oval with road courses inside.

From 2009: http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=6550.0

Tulare needs additional grass roots support, Kern County needs financing.
By Dan Fleisher VSP Racing Columnist:

Here is the status of two proposed race facilities:

TULARE MOTORSPORTS COMPLEX: This is a 711-acre development near Tulare’s International Agri-Center, the vision of a group headed by developer Bud Long. The complex includes a one-mile D-shaped oval race track with seating capacity of 52,600, and a drag strip with seating for 39,800 fans. Also on the drawing board are 350 condos, a go-cart track and a 59-acre RV park. Added to this would be a tech-oriented business park, retail stores with 1.2 million square footage, commercial offices and hotels, four of which would encompass 1,000 total rooms. The concept was approved by Tulare’s City Council in December of last year, the second favorable split-vote (3-2).

The passage was based on several things including the EIR sub-study done by The Ramsey Group, who says the Complex will bring in an additional $224 million in sales activity.

Earlier in December, The Tulare Planning Commission approved the project by a 5-2 margin. The positives votes were based on forecasts that the complex could provide thousands of jobs and $1.4 million annually to the city treasury. Having the complex built next to the home of the World Ag Expo was another plus for supporters including Council Member Richard Ortega. The Ag Expo is currently being threatened by competing shows in Florida and elsewhere because of a lack of near-by, available lodging for exhibitors and visitors. The addition of this complex could help secure its continued survival.

“This opportunity is a once in a lifetime, I am going to support it” he said.

Despite the Council’s and the Planning Commission’s approval, Long said there’s a long way to go for the project, first introduced at a Council meeting way back in November 2006, gets underway because of continued opposition.

Those (opposition) forces are still fighting the plan and yet another Council Meeting is planned for Tuesday June 30. (A previous meeting scheduled for the 23rd was taken off the agenda at the last minute) to discuss the matter. Apparently, two council members, Wayne Ross and David Macedo, are attempting to stall the project hoping other groups, or possible lawsuits, will intervene and “make it all go away,” my quote.

I’m not totally familiar with the political process, but I don’t understand how they (City Council) can continually rehash something that has already passed TWICE.

A GRASS ROOTS EFFORT is needed by supporters of the complex, especially racing fans who would love to have a state-of-the-art facility in the Central Valley. You’re encouraged to attend the meeting on the 30th at 7pm and voice your support of the project. The developers are scheduled to provide a project up-date and show a five-minute computer generated “fly through” of the complex. The address is 137 N. “M” Street, Tulare.

In the event you’re unable to attend, PLEASE contact Councilman Ross (559/303-1988) and Councilman Macedo (559/901-7081) to vocalize your approval of the project.

From last September: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/09/21/2087780/ruling-stymies-tulare-motor-sports.html

Ruling stymies Tulare Motor Sports Project
By Lewis Griswold / The Fresno Bee

The Sierra Club scored a legal victory against Tulare and the planned Tulare Motor Sports Project when a judge ruled that the city must rework the project's environmental report.
Tulare County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Hicks' tentative ruling, which was issued last week, stymies -- but does not stop -- the controversial 700-acre project.
The ruling was made public Sept. 16 and, barring any legal protests, becomes final in three weeks.
"We won," said Gordon Nipp of Bakersfield, a member of the Sierra Club Kern-Kaweah chapter. "They're going to have to redo the EIR and go through the process."
The ruling was against the city of Tulare because the city wrote the environmental study, although Tulare Motor Sports Complex is named in the lawsuit.
No building permits can be issued until the environmental report passes legal muster. It likely won't have an immediate effect on the project being developed by Bud Long of Fresno, which has been making slow progress.
Although the ruling is a setback, "it will definitely not kill the project," said Myron Smith, Long's attorney.
The environmental report fell short by not offering "factual, reasoned analysis" in its rejection of mitigation measures to make up for loss of prime farmland, impacts on air quality and effects on climate change, the judge ruled.
City Manager Darrel Pyle downplayed the ruling and its effect on the project, which was approved in late 2008 by a 3-2 vote of the Tulare City Council. The city will soon file supplemental reports to clarify the city's rejection of the mitigations, he said.
One environmental issue noted in the judge's ruling involves generating electricity. The report says that 5% would come from solar panels, but the Sierra Club asked why a greater percentage wasn't chosen.
The city "completely ignored that question and gave no response," Hicks' ruling states.
But Pyle said the city has paperwork to back up the environmental recommendations.
The report cost the city $1 million, which has become an issue in the current campaigns for City Council. The money is to be recouped when parcels are sold before the start of construction.

Earlier this month from: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/10/11/2113706/tulare-vice-mayor-resigns-to-settle.html

Tulare vice mayor resigns to settle suit

Posted at 11:13 AM on Monday, Oct. 11, 2010
By Lewis Griswold / The Fresno Bee
Tulare Vice Mayor Phil Vandegrift has resigned to settle a lawsuit accusing him of a conflict of interest while serving on the council.
Vandegrift resigned Friday after reaching a tentative settlement of a lawsuit filed against him in July by a former Tulare mayor. The lawsuit alleges that Vandegrift, a real estate broker, was illegally paid $200,000 in connection with a real estate deal involving the city.
No criminal complaint has been filed against Vandegrift.
Vandegrift said he resigned because he didn't want to spend money fighting attorney Michael Lampe of Visalia, who is representing former Tulare Mayor Tom Drilling and others.
The abrupt resignation represents the first political casualty of the controversial Tulare Motor Sports Complex, said Mayor Craig Vejvoda. The racetrack has roiled Tulare since December 2008, when the council approved it on a 3-2 vote.
"Mike Lampe wants to stop the motorsports complex," Vejvoda said. "It's about taking away the votes on the motor sports complex."
Lampe said he disagrees with the mayor that the the lawsuit is to force council members to resign. But the racetrack "is at the heart of some if not all of the litigation" because the city's role -- it spent $1 million on an environmental impact report -- caused him to examine council members' actions and find potentially illegal behavior, he said.
The lawsuit against Vandegrift involved a real estate transaction unrelated to the motor sports complex. It said Vandegrift was paid $200,000 by a group of property owners who sold 10 acres to the city, despite playing no role in the transaction. Also, he failed to correctly report the payment on his statement of economic interest, the lawsuit said.
Vandegrift said he was a longtime adviser and broker for the property owners and was compensated for work performed unrelated to the sale. Failing to correctly report the income was an oversight, he said.
On Friday, Lampe, Vandegrift, Vejvoda and others held a mediation session with former Tulare County Judge Howard Broadman. The proposed settlement will come to the council Oct. 19 for approval. The the city must pay Lampe's legal fees, Vejvoda said. He declined to say how much that would cost.
It also calls for the council to put on its agenda an item on whether to declare racetrack developer Bud Long in default for not paying the city the $1 million it spent on the environmental impact report.
Long "intentionally deceived the city" about paying the $1 million, Lampe said. Long's attorney Myron Smith said he could not comment.
The settlement also covers two other lawsuits for which the city will admit to violations of the state's Brown Act governing open meetings and the public records act.
With Vandegrift's resignation, the Tulare council is down to four members -- two who voted yes on the racetrack and two who voted no -- and has 30 days to appoint a replacement council member.


Finally it was announced today: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20101026/NEWS01/101026005/Financing+set+for+motor+sports+complex

Fresno-based Developer Bud Long and Southern California-based company S.C. Global Investment announced financing to buy land for the proposed Tulare Motor Sports Complex project has been arranged.
“We are nearly finished with our due diligence process and expect to be funding the loan mid-November subject to completion of the loan documentation,” said Sax Smith, S.C. Global Chief Operating Officer. “The ambitious scope and vision of this project fall right in our bull’s eye.”
Work on the speedway, drag strip, hotels and other facilities could start within 12 months, Construction Manager Mark Mathieson said.

This pronouncement comes one week before the November elections when the Tulare City Council that's been split 3-2 in favor of the track project may be realigned once again endangering the project.

Any questions on why things get tied up in California? This project means thousands of jobs and untold millions in tax revenue to the state and local governments so what do they do out there? Tie it up for years in legal mumbo gumbo…

Is it any wonder why the state of California is billions of dollars in the red? Sure is a great way to run a state.

For more information go to: http://www.tularemotorsport.com/