Raceway fans applaud county

Racing enthusiasts turned out in force Tuesday evening to thank county leaders for buying Spokane Raceway Park.

“It’s the greatest thing that’s happened around here for a long time,” said Norm Ellefson, who was among the dozen or so people who testified during a Tuesday evening meeting of the Spokane County Commission.

Commissioners Mark Richard and Todd Mielke last week approved the county’s participation in an auction to buy the raceway and surrounding properties. Including closing costs and other fees, the county will pay $4.4 million for 315 acres.

Even Don Morse, a Deer Park businessman who bid on the track and last week questioned why the county competed against a private interest, mostly gave praise for the county’s decision. “It looks like the track’s been saved and that’s the main thing,” Morse said.

He added that if the county decides to sell the land, he would be interested in buying it.

Jim Sloane, a former race car driver and former Spokane city attorney, said the track likely wouldn’t last as a track if it was in private ownership. That’s because once the land is worth more than the revenue it generates, it would be sold and developed into a shopping mall or residential subdivision.

He said the racing community is working to set up a nonprofit group that will raise money for track improvements, adding that numerous people have volunteered to help clean up the site.

Commissioner Bonnie Mager, who voted against buying the raceway, said she wants the raceway to be maintained, but believes it should be the private sector that takes the lead.

“I don’t think you can help but be moved by the passion they have for their sport,” Mager said after the meeting.

A consultants’ report recommended spending about $500,000 this year to improve the site with an additional $300,000 next year. It also said the county would have to spend up to $500,000 for equipment for the site.

Patty Bonner, a county roads department employee, was the lone voice of dissent during public comments. She said the $4.4 million spent on the raceway could have gone to improve county employees’ compensation.

Besides improvements and the price of the land, the county also may have to pay to remove environmental hazards. But how much the county is on the hook remains unclear.

Earlier this month a county test indicated that a well on the property is contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE, a solvent used as a degreaser that is listed by the federal government as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.”

Barry Davidson, the court-appointed receiver for the site who controls the money made at the auction, agreed to set aside $1 million from the sale to pay for possible environmental cleanup of the site.

Mielke and Richard said the agreement helps protect taxpayers.

“It certainly is a very strong commitment,” Richard said last week.

The agreement says the receiver agrees to “remediate and remove any hazardous substances from the property” and says the amount it pays for cleanup could go above $1 million if the costs increase.

But in another location, the document says the “seller shall have no liability to the buyer for any remediation beyond expenses in excess” of the $1 million set aside.

Mager said she’s concerned that if costs go over $1 million there won’t be money left from the sale to reimburse the county. She said county employees advised commissioners that cleaning up TCE at the site could reach $5 million.

“How are you going to get blood out of a turnip after all the proceeds have all been dispensed?” Mager said.

Davidson said last week the agreement only covers environmental studies and cleanup related to TCE.

An initial environmental study of the land said the soil at the raceway may be contaminated with lead.

Mike LaScuola, environmental health specialist for the Spokane Regional Health District, said the contaminated well likely will have to be cleaned even if it is abandoned and Airway Heights city water is brought to the site.

Depending on numerous factors, the cost of cleanup could reach six figures, though it is more likely to be in the tens of thousands of dollars, LaScuola said.

TCE contamination has been a significant problem on the West Plains. In 2004, a well adjacent to an abandoned missile site, near Euclid and Wood roads, was found to have TCE at much higher levels than was found at the raceway. TCE contamination also has been a problem in and around Fairchild Air Force Base. The chemical was commonly used on the base to clean airplane parts.

LaScuola said TCE contamination in the raceway well likely was generated on site but added that Fairchild can’t be ruled out as the source.

Two county tests measured TCE in the raceway well at about 11 parts per billion. A third test didn’t find contamination. The state cleanup level for TCE is five parts per billion.