Residents race to halt car track near Marysville

MARYSVILLE, Wash. – A Snohomish County proposal to build a $140 million, 75,000-seat NASCAR stock-car racetrack in strawberry fields near Marysville has upset some area residents.

“You don’t expect to have NASCAR literally across the street,” Catrena Garces, 37, told The Herald of Snohomish County.

Garces and her husband moved from California into a new $165,000 home here last year to be closer to her parents. “We were really excited being able to have affordable housing,” she said.

Garces is not alone in opposing the racetrack.

“If the City Council of Marysville wants NASCAR, have them put it in their backyard, not ours,” said Keith Warman, 44.

A computer analysis by the newspaper found the proposed racetrack would be a neighbor to thousands of people living in and around Marysville and Arlington. More than 17,000 people live within a two-mile radius of the site, in about 6,000 homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Snohomish County Citizens Against a Racetrack gathered more than 1,000 signatures opposing the track this year. The group has raised questions about track noise, traffic congestion and public costs of the proposed 600-acre development.

NASCAR track developers are scouting for a Northwest site. Florida-based International Speedway Corp. has hired a Seattle law firm for advice on state law, as well as lobbyists.

At least three Western Washington counties are interested. Snohomish County made its proposal in April.

Kitsap County has proposed a site on the Mason-Kitsap county line, south of Bremerton National Airport.

In Thurston County, possible sites include Yelm.