Public Meetings

November 9th, 2009 by Glen Harness | Posted in General Information |

Two upcoming meetings will go a long way in determining what the future of the track and the fairgrounds will be.

On November 17 at 4:15 pm, the Metro Council Codes, Fair and Farmers’ Market Committee will meet in committee room 1 on the second floor in the historic Metro Court House.  Executive Director of the Fair Buck Dozier and Fair Board Chairman James Weaver will address the committee regarding the closing of the fairgrounds.

Then at 6:30 pm the Metro Council will meet in the Council Chamber in the Metropolitan Courthouse. The agenda should be posted on Wednesday, November 11. The agenda is now available.

If you support the Speedway and the Fairgrounds, you need to make your feelings known. If you live in Nashville, contact your councilman and tell him what you think.

UPDATE: There are two items on the agenda relating to the Fairgrounds and the use. The first, Bill No. BL2009-585, is “[a]n Ordinance restricting the use of Metropolitan Government-owned property commonly known as the Tennessee State Fairgrounds.” It seeks to limit the use of the Fairgrounds to “to the uses that were in effect as of October 1, 2009, until an agreement for a public-private partnership for the redevelopment of a portion of the Fairgrounds is approved by the Metropolitan Council.”  This would seem to allow for the operation of the Speedway in 2010.

The second item, Resolution No. RS2009-1044, is “[a] resolution requesting the Metropolitan Board of Fair Commissioners to hold a State Fair on the Fairgrounds property in 2010 and to explore a public-private partnership for the development of a portion of the Fairgrounds as a corporate center.” This is apparently a request to the Fair Board to have a State Fair in 2010, while also asking the Fair Board to actually sell a part of the property for use as a corporate center. No mention is made of the Speedway in this resolution. I daresay that if this happens, the Speedway will go away. No business in their right mind would want to locate next to a race track where there could be races or practice during the weekdays.

It’s more important now that you contact your council member and the mayor and let them know that any future use of the fairgrounds that doesn’t include the operation of the speedway is unacceptable.