Lino Lakes raceway plan gears up

Developers are revved up to build an 80,000-seat, NASCAR-caliber racing oval and quarter-mile drag strip in the northeast corner of Lino Lakes.

Whether the plan -- including hotels, racing-related retail and entertainment -- accelerates or sputters may depend on resident reaction and the outcome of ongoing environmental studies.

The development group, International Motorsports Entertainment Development Co. (IMEDC), has met with the City Council and Economic Development Advisory Committee, though no official proposal is yet on the table.

The group, which previously eyed sites in Big Lake and Arden Hills, has made a conditional offer on 400 acres near Interstate 35E and E. 80th Street, close to city borders with Hugo and Centerville. It has not yet consulted officials in those cities.

Lino Lakes officials are listening. But all sides acknowledge more work is needed to address concerns about noise and traffic.

The group is looking at how site placement, design and building materials could mitigate noise, said IMEDC President Jim Farnum.

The speedway alone could generate more than $2 million in property tax revenue, he said, and fill area hotels and campgrounds. The Twin Cities, he said, is the largest U.S. market without a major motor sports complex, although local corporations such as 3M, General Mills, Best Buy and Target are big racing sponsors.

Range of racing reactions

City Council Member Dave Roeser urged the group to go to the council. Conceding that he has much to learn about racing, he said he wants to drive more economic development in Lino Lakes.

He created an online survey to seek resident reaction to the concept. He reported responses both from people who loved and who hated the idea.

The idea intrigues Steve Markuson. He's director of the new Twin Cities Gateway Convention and Visitors Bureau, a sports-oriented north metro tourism board.

"The project would potentially create any number of new jobs, but it would likely spur additional economic development in Lino Lakes and throughout the region," he said. "There are a lot of NASCAR and racing fans throughout the area that are, to a large degree, underserved and have to travel elsewhere to see a professional race."

For nearby residents, noise will be a key issue.

A NASCAR race car creates up to 130 decibels up close, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How that noise travels overland depends on topography, weather, construction of the track and other variables.

The track must comply with Minnesota Pollution Control standards, which allow noise above 60 decibels for no more than 30 minutes in an hour in a residential area. In the back yards in the Clearwater Creek and Hardwood Creek housing developments, a mile or two away, that's a noise level about the same as an ordinary conversation. The bowl-shaped track that the group has proposed will have a limited impact on the spectrum of sound the cars will generate, said Steve Orfield, a Minneapolis acoustic specialist.

"If you have facing houses within hundreds or thousands of feet, those houses are never going to have the same experience once that track goes in," he said. "Anybody who tells you that you can funnel sound into the sky ... if they've got a patent on that idea they'll make a fortune."

Today the vista to the north from E. 80th Street is one of rolling wetlands, fields, forests and farmhouses.

Mary Divine, the city's economic development coordinator, said the city's draft comprehensive plan designates the area as prime for commercial and industrial development, but that wasn't expected to happen for decades.

"Obviously, it is enticing to think about a $250 million facility and all the ancillary development that could come with it," she said. "Certainly, it would have a beneficial economic impact.

"But the question is: At what price? We don't have the answer to that."

Jean Halvorson has lived on E. 80th for 36 years, raising three kids and treasuring the peace and quiet. She and her husband, Duane, built a new house in the middle of their 2 1/2-acre lot last year. The proposed raceway would be in their back yard. Her biggest concern is traffic, especially if the track means a freeway off-ramp on her street.

"Could you imagine 80,000 people trying to get on the freeway out here?" she said. "Had we known [about the proposal] a couple years ago when we were building, we might not have built the new house."