Miller Motorsports Sale Update

[rybo]

Hello everyone -


Hopefully many of you were able to tune into the Ignite Media feed regarding the public hearing in Tooele County tonight.


http://www.ignitemedia.tv/live_stream.html


There is a lot of detail, and I encourage you to watch the whole thing, but for those of you who do not have the time (or the patience, after all many of you are racers) - here is a quick summary.


The meeting took place in 5 phases:


Phase 1:


The county discovered during due-dilegence for the sale that some control of the Miller property had been conveyed to an RDA (Rural Development Association) at some point in the past. The records were incomplete and there was no certainty that consideration (payment) had been received by the county for the transfer. As a result the responsibility and ownership for the property has been re-established by the county. This was purely procedural.


Phase 2: Presentations


There were 4 presentations given this evening.


Presentation 1 was by county attorney Scott Broadhead. In his presentation he articulated the series of events that brought us to this date and hearing. He was detailed in his explanations of how each of the bids was reviewed, what groups were consulted before the decision was made and some of the reasons why the MiTime Bid was selected.


Presentation 2 was from UMC President Alan Wilson articulating the plans that MiTime has for the facility.


Presentation 3 was from a professional assessor who was paid to prepare a "fair market value statement" for the sale of the property. He explained in detail the different ways that you can use to appraise a property value, which they selected and how they used that method to arrive at a market price of about 9 million dollars for the facility.


Presentation 4 was from Zion Bank based on an analysis they have done to determine the market impact that the operation of the motorsports park has on the local economy. It would be an understatement to say that the numbers are staggering and the facility is an extremely important part of Tooele County.


Phase 3: Public Comment


During this phase about 30 people spoke. What, in the past, has been a split between supporters and opposers of the sale to MiTime, tonight was 100% in support of the sale to MiTime. Not a single person spoke against the sale.


It is important to note at this point that Mr. Cartwright (owner of Centerpoint, the competing bidder) was in the gallery and chose not to speak in support of his own proposal or to defend the current lawsuit he has filed against the county in an attempt to block the sale.


Phase 4: Vote


In this phase the Commission voted unanimously to approve a purchase and sale agreement with MiTime for the motorsports property. This sale agreement has built in a "backup" clause whereby if the sale is blocked either by the lawsuit or by a delay in the approval of the sale to a foreign entity by the Federal Government the county can lease the property to MiTime in an arrangement similar to the arrangement the county had with Miller.


Phase 5: Public Concerns


During this time a resident from Tooele County stood, commended the commission for their decision to approve the purchase and sale agreement and publicly called for Mr Cartwright to drop his lawsuit.


This was met with tremendous applause from the gallery - it was the only public concern articulated.


The commission then voted to adjourn.




Stay tuned -more exciting announcements are queued up, we're going to have a great 2016 here in Utah!


Thanks to everyone who came out and supported tonight. The hearing room was full of supporters and concerned citizens - our voices have been heard!

[WolFeYeZ]

Man, that was a good looking concerned Tooele County citizen. I wonder where he came from.

Thanks for posting!

[tecknojoe]

Like button

[Drano]

So, I just read that a judge has stopped the sale to Mitime in order to hear the suit filed by Center Pointe.
http://www.sltrib.com/home/3323130-1...sale-of-miller

What's more troubling is what I read in the report by Sport Rider: http://www.sportrider.com/planned-sa...oration-halted

Mitime said that total added investment over the next decade would be around $270 million. Center Point was reportedly planning on some $140 million worth of upgrades that included homes and condos on the facility grounds.

Nothing improves the chances of survival for a racing facility than having some homes and condos next door... /sarcasm

Have you heard any further details Rybo?

[blaircsf]

I assume Rybo will chime in, but I did see his response on facebook (that I can't find now) so I will paraphrase. He said it was a setback, but not the end. Tooele and MiTime have a fallback lease agreement in place, so the track will be operated by MiTime in the same way Miller was operating it (Miller was leasing it from Tooele). It does delay the projects/investments MiTime wanted to start on the motorsports park though. Everyone at this point expects the track to be operating next year.

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/...on-as-planned/

[blaircsf]

Just saw this on facebook:
Press Conference today Involving Utah Sportbike Association and NASA as well as racers and small businesses effected by the latest actions by the Judge and Mr. Cartwright. Hear Straight from the horses mouths what the NEWS won't tell you. We will be streaming it. More to come as we get it....
Where: Stansbury Park, Ut
When: 12/22/2015
Time: 10am mtn standard
www.ignitemedia.tv/live_stream.html

[Drano]

Thanks for the updates, Blair.

I honestly think the judge's motivations in this debacle are political. I know it is anecdotal, but my mom's entire side of the family live in Tooele, and I spent a great deal of my childhood there, too. Many of the relatives I've talked to have expressed serious reservations at the idea of a Chinese company owning the land, so it would not even slightly surprise me for the judge's actions to be biased in favor of Center Point getting the land so as to keep it in "American" hands.

That said, it's just my opinion, but when you look at both sides' plans for the facility, Center Point's will almost certainly result in the closure of the track to make room for more residential units. It's seems like they're thinking they can build houses around the track like it's a golf course! They also have zero experience operating a race track. None of which gives a favorable impression, in my book. MiTime's entire focus for the facility is motorsports.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but all the judge seems to have done is slow down the sale process, and seriously jeopardized revenue generation for Tooele County for 2016. Perhaps he would prefer that the park be closed and abandoned rather than let a Chinese (Communist) entity possess it, or perhaps he doesn't want the track to survive at all?

[blaircsf]

Honesty I also would rather see it owned by an American company or group, but the MiTime plan sounds way better than the Center Point plan in terms of a functional racetrack.

Some more info: http://savemmpnow.com/

[rybo]

Hello everyone -

I'm sorry I've been absent for a bit, political activism is extremely time consuming and I seem to have been doing a lot of it lately.

You can read some of the stories at these links, but yesterday racers, race team owners, local business owners and concerned citizens held a press conference / media event here in Tooele to bring public awareness to the situation. You're up to speed up to the point of the judges ruling, so I'll pick up there and cut right to the chase.

Judge Adkins (of Tooele County) ruled the sale of the property to MiTime as invalid because the county didn't receive "fair market value" for the property. The case was brought by Center Point (Andrew Cartwright) and the motivation for the case (according to him) was "solely in concern for the residents of Tooele County." He is not a resident of the county and the only time I've ever seen him here is in dealings for this property. He, to my knowledge, has never taken time to speak directly to the citizens of Tooele County even when he's had ample opportunity and significant assembly of citizens to do so. He simply cannot understand our needs and desires, so he has assumed that our values and beliefs match his own. They do not.

The tide is turning here in Utah. Citizens of the county who were once critical of the sale to MiTime are now vocal and active supporters. They realize that the MiTime offer is the ONLY one that assures the continued operation (and frankly expansion) of the track. As of my last meeting with them to schedule the 2016 USBA season they had booked in excess of 80% of the available track time for the 2016 season. This is unprecedented in the history of the track with the exception of, maybe, the opening year.

Citizens are also coming to the realization that while a housing development on that property would bring a one time boost to our economy, it would ultimately be a cost as the expense of plowing roads, servicing water and sewer systems and maintaining infrastructure would likely not be directly offset by the property tax gains on individual properties, at least not for some time as infrastructure improvements are extremely expensive. As of my last meeting with them to schedule the 2016 USBA season they had booked in excess of 80% of the available track time for the 2016 season.

I'm including some links of the news coverage we received for the press event yesterday. I'm also sharing the text from my opening statement for the event, something I'm not really sharing in many places. I hope you find it informative and useful.

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/...orsports-park/
http://fox13now.com/2015/12/22/racer...orsports-park/
http://kutv.com/live/tooele-racing-c...or-2016-season
http://www.good4utah.com/news/local-...lout-addressed


My opening statement:

My name is Scott Rybarik and I, along with Dave Kizerian from NASA Utah thank you for being here today. Today we have assembled a group of affected stakeholders that range from concerned citizens to business owners whose livelihoods and lifestyles have already been adversely affected by the uncertainty and delay associated with the sale and operation of the Miller Motorsports Park. This group is a representative sample of a much larger community of people made up of members of represented race clubs, additional businesses that are both directly and indirectly supported by activities at the track and citizens that enjoy the benefits of the tax and tourism dollars that the track, as a powerful economic driver, provides.

I am here as a citizen of Tooele County and the President of the Utah Sportbike Association, a long time renter and user of the facilities at the Motorsports Park. Our organization is made up of over 200 members that come from as far away as Canada to support the track and the surrounding community.

Our mission is simple. We desire to educate the public on the merits of keeping the track open and operational and to stress the urgency of getting that goal accomplished so that a 2016 racing season can happen. In support of this goal I have the following statement from Wayne Rainey, three-time World Champion and President of the Moto America organization that sanctions and promotes national motorcycle road racing in the United States:

"We were happy when we learned that the racetrack in Tooele was back in business with new owners. The Utah Motorsports Campus track is a popular one with our riders, teams and fans and we really enjoyed having them on our schedule in 2015. We are looking forward to going there in June and our fingers are crossed that all the issues will get resolved. It's an important event for us and not having it on our schedule would be a huge loss."

This sentiment is shared by the organizations represented in this room and the people they serve. The current delay is putting most, if not all, of the 2016 season at risk. It is our intention to do everything in our power to assure that the track is open and operational for 2016.

In May, when the Millers announced that they would cease operations at the track at the end of the 2015 season, I, along with others in this room, attended many public hearings and county commission meetings to urge our elected officials to consider much more than the purchase price in their evaluation of proposals. In reviewing the publicly available information it’s clear to me that the Commission took our urgings seriously. The proposal, from MiTime, that the Commission accepted, is in-line with the existing design and zoning of the property and it represents a serious win for both the motorsports and the local communities.

Rod Kujaczynsi is a local business owner and a tenant of the permanent garages at the track. At this time he would like to share his perspective with you.

[blaircsf]

Thanks for the update, I saw your statement and a few others yesterday before the live stream cut out. Hopefully all this can get sorted out and track activity will continue.

Just saw this, sounds like MiTime is still working on it:
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/...s-a-racetrack/

[WolFeYeZ]

Found a lot of good info here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/279852268/...Lawsuit#scribd


I also had the luck/pleasure/displeasure to chat with Andrew Cartwright on FB. The 3 things I took away from the chat were:

1. He thinks that Mitime has a secret agenda... specifically he said: "I know the true Chinese plan. I have someone on inside. You'll see if they get it what really happens."
2. He is planning another lawsuit that will somehow solidify his purchase.
3. He dodged any questions associated with residential development, and assured that the track would never close... yea right.

[rybo]

Nice work Brad -

We've been actively trying to contact Andrew through any available channel, including conversations with his Attorney.

Scott

[asp_125]

Some more on livestream, starting about 9:00 minutes in. http://www.ignitemedia.tv/live_stream.html

[Auron]

Cliff's notes please...

Will be be able to ride there in 2016 or 2017?

[Drano]

Cliff's notes please...

Will be be able to ride there in 2016 or 2017?

1. The bidding process is essentially being restarted.
2. This means each potential bidder will have submit a brand new proposal, and the proposals can take months to prepare.
3. For now, the park is back in the county's hands, and there isn't a management organization operating the park.
4. It's possible that unless a deal (with MiTime) can be made relatively quickly, or a lessee can be found to operate the track until the park is re-sold, there will not be a 2016 calendar until, at least, midway through the year.
5. AFAIK, there is no information concerning Center Point's operational plans for the park, so, if they win (sometime in late spring/early summer), they will have to hire staff, make deals, and so on, to operate the park. That could potentially take several more months into 2016.

Basically, if there is nobody to operate the track, Miller will sit unused until one is found.