WKRG.com » News Stream » Mobilesmakeover »

Public Views New Plans For Prichard Racetrack

By Steve Alexander Reporter

Published: Thu, June 19, 2008 - 9:39 pm

Short URL: http://wkrg.com/a/15059/

Steve Alexander

People had a chance Thursday night to look at revised plans for the construction of the Alabama Motorsports Park in Prichard.
The park is set to be built on 2400 acres of land off Interstate 65 near Industrial Parkway and Kali-Oka Road.
Developers submitted a new plan after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found the original one would have changed three miles of Chickasabogue Creek and affected over 170 acres of wetlands.
The Corps must issue a permit before the park is built.
Former Mobile Mayor Mike Dow is president of the park.
He says developers have made a number of changes, including working to stay off wetland areas and reducing the size of the oval track by 30 percent.
Dow said, "We had an original site plan with six tracks on it, and we're down to three. And we took the drag strip out and that was a lot of noise. We took the dirt course out. There were a lot of dust issues."
But the executive director of the Mobile Baykeeper environmental group said the Corps needs to do more than just get public feedback.
Casi Callaway wants the group to do an in-depth study before it issues a permit.
Callaway said, "We don't know what kind of condos and high rises and other roads are going to be necessary, so we don't know what all of the impacts are going to be. We let the Corps off the hook on doing an environmental impact statement on Highway 98 and you can see how that worked out for us."
Many people attending the open house wanted questions answered.
Cecelia Fulmer said, "We moved there (in the area) for the quietness, so we were really concerned about the noise."
James Croley said, "I'm against it whole heartedly because of the environmental impact on rivers and streams up there and animals."
But Donald Gardner said, "I want to know when its going to get started. I'm ready for it. "
If everything goes as scheduled, developers say they hope to break ground for the project this September or October and have the track ready for racing in spring of 2010.