MEDIA-Dispatch latest

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 11:44 AM
By Barbara Carmen

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Franklin County commissioners agreed this morning to extend the deadline for a developer that wants to turn Cooper Stadium into a motor-sports and automotive-research center.

Arshot Investment Corp., which needs time to apply to Columbus to rezone the Franklinton site, will pay an additional $100,000 for the one-year extension. It must now close by May 3, 2011, paying $3.4 million for the 46-acre site.

Opponents, fearful that racetrack noise would ruin life in Downtown neighborhoods, asked commissioners to let the deal expire and find a new developer.

"Green Lawn will no longer be a place for quiet remembrance if this project comes to fruition," said Linda Burkey, general manager of the cemetery next door to the site.

But Dan "Boots" Longenette, a local television and radio show car expert, told commissioners that Arshot's plans to surround the complex with sound-buffering walls would work.

"The southwest side of Columbus needs this development," Longenette argued.

Cooper Stadium neighbor Helen Noltemeyer agreed: "They're offering to bring a training and research center to the West Side. It will bring a revival and rejuvenation."

Commissioners, who voted unanimously to extend the contract, said they have no other offers and need to get county residents the best deal on the property.

"This is not the same project we started out with (in May 2008). I think this project has changed for the better," Commissioner Paula Brooks said. Automotive research, green-car sales and bicycle events are being proposed now, along with as many as 20 short-track car races a year.

The proposed development would bring about 300 jobs to Franklinton, which commissioners said would keep their promise to the neighborhood not to abandon the site after the Columbus Clippers moved to the Huntington Park baseball stadium in the Arena District.

bcarmen@dispatch.com