FORT ERIE - The man behind the Canadian Motor Speedway project is banking on a groundbreaking by the beginning of winter.
Executive Director Azhar Mohammad said while the results of the Ontario Municipal Board’s decision haven’t been released yet, he’s remaining optimistic.
“There really wasn’t any opposition,” he said of the hearing that ended June 28. “(Opposition groups) didn’t have the experts and (their points) were more opinionated with less facts to back it up, so I think we did a pretty good job.”
He said he expects the results to be released any day now and if everything goes according to plan, a special groundbreaking ceremony could happen as early as this fall.
“It would take a couple of months to do the planning, but we have our teams in place,” he said. “Realistically, there would be no brick and mortar, but maybe some dirt moving and pre-grading work.”
He said he would like to coordinate a date with NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon — a critical design consultant for the track — to have him present at the groundbreaking.
Major construction would most likely be held off until after winter, said Mohammad, as the colder temperatures and snow cover provide limitations as to what can be done on the 821-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Way.
He said one of the first steps following a groundbreaking ceremony would be addressing Miller’s Creek, a 30-centimetre-wide creek that would cut through the one-mile oval.
“In order to move ahead, we have to move the creek. That’s the first undertaking of the project from completion point of view,” he said.
Mohammad said they are expanding the creek to a width of 60 metres and are featuring it within the oval complete with vegetation, a fish habitat and enhanced natural features.
He said he recognizes the OMB has to approve their proposal and that their decision isn’t appealed before their plans can move forward.
“Every dollar we invest into this project without OMB clearance is a dollar at risk,” he said, adding more than $11 million has already been spent on pre-development costs. “We want to make sure we have all of our approvals in place before we start.”
And before any groundbreaking ceremony, Mohammad said a final drawing of the speedway has to be submitted for approval.
“We’ve started 25% of that, and even that is under risk,” he said. “We’re trying to crawl back time.”
The OMB website had the status of the Canadian Motor Speedway case listed as open on Tuesday.
OMB communications consultant Karen Kotzen said in 80% of cases a decision is issued within 60 days.
Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin said he had hoped for a response sooner.
“I thought the evidence in support was pretty overwhelming,” he said. “We’ve had a pretty challenging year with some of the decisions the province has made this year, so moving forward this would be a great boost to the town.”
By the numbers:
$400 million – total project cost
$11 million – pre-development costs
65,000 – capacity of grandstand seating
821 – acres of land including racetrack, camping area, parking, natural features, commercial complex
2014 – targeted completion date
Hopefully this actually happens, certainly further along through the process than the track in Syracuse (or so it seems). I would love both to be built, more tracks is ever a bad thing.