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Dixon Downs racetrack to bring regional gridlock and air pollution Imagine a huge horse racing track, with a 5,000 seat pavilion and grandstands for 1,800 more, right next to your quiet community. Imagine hundreds to thousands of patrons descending daily on this site for gambling, horse races or other events. The Dixon City Council is seriously considering just such a facility, the Dixon Downs Race Track, adjacent to the town of Dixon and just 6 miles from the city of Davis. Dixon officials turned down a previous proposal for a race track about four years ago. Now, Magna Entertainment, the Canadian Company behind the original track proposal, has come forward with a new, larger project— a race track and training facility plus a large retail/commercial complex adjacent to the track. Because of promises of tax revenues from the retail complex, which was not part of the previous plan, Dixon officials are now seriously considering the Dixon Downs proposal. Members of the Yolano Group who have been studying this issue have serious concerns about the proposal. This project would result in many adverse impacts on not only the town of Dixon, but on surrounding communities, the environment, and the region. Severe traffic impacts, deterioration in air quality, degradation of quality of life for residents in near-by communities, and negative fiscal impacts are just a few of the problems that would result from approval of this project. The project would also irreversibly change the character of a quiet, semi-rural region dotted with small towns and cities. Project Description This proposal is for a 260 acre phased, mixed-use development including a thoroughbred horse racing and training facility that would also operate as a performance arts center (Phase 1) and a retail/commercial complex that would include a hotel/convention center and office space (Phase 2). The project would lie along Pedrick Road and I-80 adjacent to Dixon. Phase 1 consists of two tracks—a 1 1/8 mile dirt track and a turf track varying in length from 7/8 to one mile—and a training facility with stables, barns, dining and temporary housing facilities for workers, and parking and service facilities. It includes an Entertainment Center—the three-story Finish Line Pavilion—with capacity for 5,000 patrons, that would provide simulcast technology for satellite wagering, live pari-mutual betting, a venue for staged events, and restaurant and bar facilities. Attached to the Pavilion would be an outdoor grandstand with seating for an additional 1,800 patrons. The project would include horse racing and non-horse racing events with attendance varying from up to 6,800 patrons (Tier 1 events) to events that could attract up to 50,000 attendees (Tier 3 events). Non-horse racing events would include concerts, athletic events, automobile/motorcycle events, dirt bike races, tractor pulls, social events, rallies, and others. Phase 2 would not be constructed until after Phase 1 is operational and depends on future market demands for the addition of retail/commercial. Transportation and Circulation Implementation of this project will have significant adverse impacts on transportation and circulation both locally and regionally. Proposed uses will bring thousand of additional vehicles to the site. As a result, many intersections, road segments, and sections of I-80 will have their service levels reduced to “unacceptable” levels. The draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) states that roads, interchanges and large sections of I-80 would have to be widened to accommodate the traffic. Traffic impacts would be felt in surrounding communities and along I-80 to the east and west. Much of the attendance at the facility is expected to come from the greater Sacramento Region — heavily affecting sections of I-80 east of the project and across the causeway to Sacramento and beyond. Pedrick Road/Road 98 would also experience substantial problems. Many other communities use this route in daily commutes. It is heavily used by the farming community and is a major truck route. With the additional impacts from this project, traffic on this route would grow considerably, resulting in dangerous conditions that will be difficult and costly to mitigate. There is a greater safety issue. I-80 is the major east-west route in northern California. With no funding available in the foreseeable future to mitigate for the substantial traffic impacts of this project, portions of I-80 will become gridlocked, producing a serious threat to security and safety. Unlike in the Bay Area, where surface streets can offer alternatives to travel on major free-ways, there would be few alternatives in this case. There are virtually no other significant routes for emergency vehicles and no other routes of evacuation in case of a catastrophic event. The safety study done for the project looked only at local impacts; it did not consider impacts on major freeway routes in the event of a catastrophic event or threat to homeland security. Air Quality Solano and Yolo County are already out of attainment for both federal and state standards for ozone and small particulates. Ozone is formed when reactive organic gases (ROGs) and nitrogen oxides (NOXs) undergo photochemical reactions in the presence of sunlight. Small particulates (PM10) come from diesel soot, dust, combustion, brakes and tires. Trucks and automobiles are the primary sources for these air pollutants. Ozone and small particulates enter the lungs and cause damage to the lining and small air sacs, leading to increased rates of asthma, chronic bronchitis, and cardiovascular diseases. This project would add thousands of additional vehicles trips to this area, adding hundreds of pounds more of health-threatening pollutants to the air, and resulting in a significant degradation of air quality. In addition, hundreds of diesel trucks will be moving into and out of the project to service the facility, to remove waste, and to transport horses, sending more pollution into the air. Even after mitigations proposed in the DEIR, addition of this project would result in significant adverse impacts on air quality. A potential contributor to air pollution that was not considered in the DEIR is the production of ROGs from the urine and manure from more than 1400 horses that will be stabled on the site, year-round, as part of the training facility. The volatile solids from the manure from this number of horses could reach 14,000 pounds per day. Even if only a small percentage enters the atmosphere, the amount of pollution produced from the horse manure alone would significantly degrade air quality. Fiscal Impacts The project would also have negative fiscal cosequences. Alleviating the traffic impacts from this project would require major changes and augmentations to existing traffic routes at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars of public investments. Funding for this expansion would not be available for many years, if at all. According to the fiscal analysis done for the project, there could be $400 million less economic output with the track than with current zoning. Current zoning (commercial/light industrial) would generate 2,000 more jobs paying annually $4,300 more than those provided by the Dixon Downs proposal. Compensation impacts with combined Phase I (the track and training facility) and Phase II (the retail complex) are half what development under current zoning would provide. It is impossible to predict what financial benefits might accrue from Phase 2, as there is no specific project to analyze at this point. However, regardless of any fiscal benefit from Phase 2, impacted communities and the State would still have to contend with the substantial adverse impacts, including significant infrastructure costs for major road and freeway widening and reconfiguration triggered by this project. The costs to human health and welfare are incalculable. Yolano Group members are working with a group of Dixon residents, Dixon Citizens for Quality Growth, who are actively campaigning to defeat the Dixon Downs race track project. We could use your help. Contact Dixon City Council members Steve Alexander, Loren Ferrero, Mike Smith, Gil Vega, and Mayor Mary Ann Courville by email at citycouncil@ci.dixon.ca.us. Their phone numbers are on the city website at www.ci.dixon.ca.us. Let them know how you feel about the track and that you are very concerned with the negative impacts from this project. Tell them they must listen to their constituents and their community when considering whether to approve this project. Contact the Davis City Council also and let them know that Davis should be concerned with the possibility of a huge race track/entertainment center and all the attendant impacts just 6 miles from our city. Davis City Council:
For more information, visit the Dixon Citizens for Quality Growth website. To volunteer to help the Dixon Citizens for Quality Growth, contact Gail and Ada Preston at Gsp5@aol.com or by calling 1-707-693-0642. |
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