TRUMBULL COUNTY Rep urges funds for track study

The trades council has offered to contribute $5,000 for the $160,000 study.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan is urging local officials to come up with an estimated $160,000 to further study the feasibility of building an indoor motor sports racetrack in Trumbull County.
Ryan, of Niles, D-17th, told developers and local officials Thursday that he was close to finding partial funding for the study -- from where, he would not say -- and that the community should work together to find the rest.
This would be the second government-sponsored study of a $300 million racetrack proposed for a site near Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna Township.
The first study, commissioned for $60,000 by Mahoning and Trumbull county commissioners, found that the idea had merit and that a publicly owned racetrack could run in the black, even if it didn't get a big race.
The second study would provide a more in-depth look at the market conditions and potential for the 40-acre covered racetrack proposed by Brant Motorsports of Wheeling, W.Va.
Discussion of who would own the racetrack and who would pay to build it are premature before this and a third, financial study are done, officials say.
"We may do the study, and it may say it is a no-go, but it may say we should go for it," Ryan said. "To have an opportunity like this, we have to be very careful not to dismiss it."
Offers $5,000
Don Crane, president of Western Reserve Building & amp; Construction Trades Council, immediately offered to contribute $5,000 from his organization for the second-phase study. Developer Bob Brant estimated that racetrack construction would take two years, create 1,800 jobs and result in $93 million direct spending in the area.
Once completed, the racetrack could contribute $100 million to the local economy each year, the first study concluded. Ryan said tourism and entertainment dollars from a racetrack could replace lost manufacturing jobs.
Plans to build the racetrack have been stalled since Public Financial Management finished the first feasibility study in September with a pitch to buy the second.
Both Mahoning and Trumbull County officials say they will look for ways to proceed with the studies despite lean budgets.
Mahoning County Administrator Gary Kubic said commissioners have offered their support but anticipate that Brant and the county convention and visitors bureau also would chip in.
Brant said contributing for the study was a possibility. His company already has spent $5 million developing the plans.
"We have to see exactly what is needed, then we will come up with [the money]," said Trumbull County Commissioner Joseph Angelo.
siff@vindy.com