Could a Fresno racetrack curb street racing? Here’s why city leaders pumped the brakes
Fresno leaders hired a consultant last year to explore developing a motorsports facility to combat the growing trend of dangerous and illegal street racing in the city.
Early on, however, the idea was parked because city leaders did not want to add traffic or contribute other potential harms to one of the city’s most pollution-burdened neighborhoods, Mayor Jerry Dyer told The Bee.
The dangers of street racing took center stage at the end of 2020 when a speed-racing driver caused a multi-vehicle crash in northwest Fresno that killed four people. Since then, Fresno law enforcement agencies have cracked down on street racing, but drivers continue to cause disruptions.
Dyer told The Bee he believes providing a positive outlet for racers could help curb the issue, along with the upcoming rollout of the police department’s street racing unit.
“I do know the benefit of venues like this, but I also understand the potential impact to neighborhoods,” Dyer said.
Through a public records request, The Bee obtained a city contract from June 2021 with the consulting company hired to analyze the project. The city paid Advanced Drone Services & Consulting about $19,000 to hold a number of meetings with city leaders and draw up conceptual designs for a motorsports facility, Dyer said. The company is partially run by Dave Swindell, a racing specialist, drone pilot, event promoter and more.
Southwest Fresno location
Initially, city officials, including Dyer and Councilmembers Luis Chavez and Mike Karbassi, considered developing a motorsports facility on about 120 acres of land near the Fresno Police Department training facility on Central and Hayes avenues in southwest Fresno. Dyer said city officials thought it might be ideal since the training facility already produced noise and the location was fairly isolated.
A few different concepts were discussed, including an oval track, drag strip or go-kart track. The operation would be private and commercialized, Dyer said. Construction likely would be pricey and require a lot of paving and measures such as tree planting to reduce noise and other pollution. The project also would require extending public utility infrastructure for water, sewer and electricity.
Dyer said he shared the idea with community members in the area and received “a significant amount of resistance.” Because of that, he decided to press pause on moving forward with the project.
“That was pretty much it for me,” Karbassi said about the community input. “Their voice matters to me, and if they don’t want it in their area, we’re not going to do it there. It’s pretty simple.”
Debbie Darden, chair of the Golden West Side Planning Committee, said since that part of Fresno already has some of the worst air quality in the country, opposing the project was a “no-brainer.”
“We wanted to just let them know…that in west Fresno, we didn’t want to be any part of that or District 3 as a whole,” Darden said.
Around the time, southwest Fresno community members were fighting a proposal to rezone 92 acres of land from mixed-use to light industrial. The area includes most of Fresno’s historically redlined neighborhoods.
“I informed the mayor that he was proposing a solution in southwest Fresno for a problem that was primarily happening in northwest Fresno,” Councilmember Miguel Arias said. “I said his solution would be to locate a significant pollution-generator in the most-polluted region in the state of California, and that I thought it was a dumb idea that would not have the support from the community and wouldn’t solve the problem of street racing.”
Dyer said he still believes a motorsports facility would help reduce street racing, but he respects the neighborhood’s wishes. He asked councilmembers to suggest potential locations in their districts that would be compatible with such a facility.
Solutions to street racing
Darden also said she didn’t think a race track would reduce street racing.
“It’s a big problem everywhere,” Darden said, adding that such a facility could increase liability for the city. “These people come and sign up simply because they want to drive erratically. These are not professional racers out here. These are people who are really just driving recklessly and carelessly.”
Arias said he thinks harsher consequences and stricter laws are the best way to tackle the problem.
“I think people who spend $50,000 and are putting the lives of commuters at risk should have their vehicles taken away for six months and should be willing to pay the full price of the damage that they’re causing,” he said.
Karbassi said that while street racing has subsided a bit, it remains a problem, and he’d still be interested in a motorsports facility.
“I think that in terms of recreation, this can be a great facility for people of all ages. It can be family-friendly, but it can also be an outlet,” he said.
He said he’d also like to see more pedestrian-friendly and safety infrastructure around schools to help protect students from street races on busy roads such as Bullard and Herndon avenues.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 5:30 AM.