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More than a year has passed since Bill Schottenstein announced elaborate plans-which the county commissioners approved-to retrofit the 78-year-old Cooper Stadium with a half-mile racetrack and a drag strip.

The 2008 announcement, which included futuristic renderings of Coop de NASCAR, was met with cheers from the stadium's Franklin County owners. After all, Schottenstein, as the principle of Arshot Investment Corporation, agreed to purchase the otherwise potentially useless stadium in the wake of the Clippers move to Huntington Park, and take it off the county's plate for a cool $3.3 million. It was money that would help the county pay what were then escalating construction costs for the new $55 million Arena District ballpark.

But the proposal was met with jeers from Realtors, neighbors and bird enthusiasts, including the Ohio Audubon Society, all of whom were concerned about the racing's noisy reputation, and the impact that might have on south-side people and wildlife surrounding Cooper Stadium.

A group of dissident residents barely had their name picked out (they eventually settled on ROAR, or Redevelop Our Area Responsibly) before the project seemingly went silent.

"My friends at the county aren't returning calls," said Carol Stewart, chairwoman of the Franklinton Area Commission and a co-founder of ROAR. "There's either something super-sneaky going on, or nothing's moving."

That silence is the sweet sound of due diligence, said Joe Sugar, the attorney for Arshot.

Sugar confirmed that the project is still on, and that the economy's downturn wasn't the brake that slowed the racing proposal.

"We're moving very cautiously," Sugar said. "People have concerns about noise, so we're working to make the best case when the time comes."

Taking extra time to build that case includes hiring two out-of-state acoustical engineering firms. Sugar said the engineers are expected to complete a noise impact study this summer. Once in hand, however, it appears the project will take the proverbial fast track. Arshot hopes to have the whole project approved and perhaps even incentivized with a 10-year 100-percent tax abatement, before their sales contract with the county expires.

The county already approved a one-month extension of the 17-month contract last December, setting the development company's new deadline at Nov. 2, said Franklin County Administrator Don Brown.

Brown said the county worked with the city and affected civic groups to tap engineers for the noise study.

"Hopefully the city, county and civic representatives will have confidence in whatever conclusions are reached," Brown said.

Angry neighbors likely won't be pacified to learn that so far, preliminary news looks good for the proposal.

"All indications so far from our acoustical engineers suggest this is a project that will work for the community," Sugar said.

Sugar declined to name the out-of-state noise study consultants, saying he'd prefer they not be contacted, but he expects their final report to be released to civic groups within weeks. Shortly thereafter, they'll approach the city with their redevelopment plans.

ROAR, on the other hand, has paid for its own noise study, the results of which also are to be released later this summer, Stewart said. She, too, declined to name their New Jersey-based consultant.

"Our consultants were in the process of writing the report," Stewart said. "There are concerns about the surrounding population and the businesses that will be affected."

In the meantime, Arshot has a lot of selling to do.

"It's our job to convince everybody that this will work," Sugar said. "We're educating the public on how we anticipate the facility is going to be programmed. We're not going to be racing loud cars 24-7, seven days a week. There are only a handful of events per year that a facility like this can host."

As for the birds, they've dropped from the developer's radar.

"The bird issue is a non-issue," Sugar said. "We've spoken to several bird experts who have told us that the science supports the conclusion that birds are not impacted by noise, which is evidenced by the way that birds congregate around airports."

The project's human opponents-who might also have been known to congregate around airports a time or two-might want to wait to weigh in on the final proposal.
Based on the engineer's input and expertise, "there are ways to modify the design of the building to best manage the noise," Sugar said.