Update on Cooper Stadium racetrack plans

clipped from www.dispatchpolitics.com Walls will deaden noise, developer says; critics leery Thursday, April 22, 2010 2:53 AM By Mark Ferenchik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Walls up to 35 feet high would trap noise inside the proposed Cooper Stadium racetrack, according to a developer's sound study. Still, some residents at a meeting last night doubted that Arshot Investment Corp. could adequately deaden the noise to protect their home values. A member of the Southwest Area Commission put this question to Arshot principal Bill Schottenstein: Would he live near the track? Yes, he said. "We wouldn't be sitting here if we thought it would have any negative impact," said Schottenstein, a Bexley resident whose company has interests Downtown and in the Brewery and Arena districts. "We're the ones who ultimately run the risk."

More than 100 people jammed into a room at New Horizons United Methodist Church for a Southwest Area Commission meeting to hear about Arshot's noise study, the next step in what has become a bitter fight over whether a racetrack at Cooper Stadium would help or harm the area.

Arshot has an option to buy the 46-acre property for a proposed $30 million development that would turn the former home of the Columbus Clippers into an egg-shaped, half-mile racetrack to be called Cooper Park.

The plan also includes a trackside hotel, restaurant and a conference center, an automotive-research center and technology center that would create 300 jobs.

Noise consultant Chris Menge, based in Burlington, Mass., said the sound-absorbing walls meet city noise standards.

But a local acoustics consultant, Ken Scott, argued that Columbus' standards are too weak. And German Village resident Jerome Smith said Columbus is "totally impotent" in enforcing noise regulations.

Aram Gosdanian, a property manager for the nearby Canonby Court apartments, said his residents want the jobs.

"If you build it, my tenants will come," he said.

The group ROAR Columbus (Redevelop Our Area Responsibly) has fought the racetrack idea and will be presenting the results from its own noise study to the commission on May 19. The Central Ohio Sierra Club also opposes the track.

Arshot has said the track would host 16 to 20 races a year, possibly ARCA stock-car and sprint-car events, along with other events that could include rodeos, snowboarding and BMX biking.

The area commission will vote on the proposal some time after the May meeting.

In March, Franklin County commissioners gave Arshot until May 3, 2011, to buy the property for $3.4million. Arshot must apply to the city by Sept. 3 to rezone the property or the county could back out.

In January, people representing NASCAR's Jeff Gordon said the racing star was involved in the racetrack proposal and would help design the half-mile track.

Franklinton resident Anita Lauer said she felt more comfortable about the idea after listening to the noise study. But she wonders if it really would create spinoff development.

"The baseball games never brought anything into Franklinton," she said.

mferenchik@dispatch.com