Residents working on proposal to remove racing, add affordable housing to Metro Nashville Charter
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) —The future of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway has been debated for years.
After former Mayor John Cooper failed to pass a deal to renovate the speedway last year, many are wondering what’s next.
“Affordable housing is a serious need for our city,” said Heidi Basgall Favorite.
Favorite, who has lived near the speedway for more than 20 years, has an idea that would focus less on racing and more on housing.
“What does this conversation look like if we don’t have racing tethered to this property?” she said.
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Favorite and a former Fair Board member, Kenny Byrd, have joined together to create a new petition. It would let voters decide whether to change the Metro Nashville Charter by swapping out auto racing for affordable housing on the list of required programming at the fairgrounds property.
“Bottom line is that Nashville needs to be looking at options for gaining flexibility for this property and for Nashvillians,” said Favorite.
However, not everyone is in favor of the idea.
“I’m talking to you, Nashville. You better wake up and pay attention to this,” said Norm Partin, a longtime supporter of the speedway. “They’re using you to put somebody out of business for greed and their own benefit.”
Partin said he believes renovating the speedway so NASCAR can return is still the best move for this property.
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“It puts money in the coffers of Nashville,” he said. “Now you take that money and go build affordable housing, but you don’t destroy something that’s been going on for decades.”
He also is not in favor of amending Favorite’s plan to amend the Metro Nashville charter.
“Trying to use the charter is manipulating the city to do something for their own personal good, and, to me, that is absolutely unethical and shameful,” said Partin.
Metro’s Charter Revision Commission is the group that will decide whether the issue goes to voters. At the commission’s meeting on Thursday, Feb. 22, members decided not to certify the amendment because it was not correctly formatted.
Favorite said residents plan to fix and resubmit their proposal so it can get into the voters’ hands come November.
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“This property only serves one community,” she said. “The majority of them don’t live in Davidson County. This property needs to serve many people, many groups, many communities.”
Favorite said the plan is to submit the petition later this week.
If approved, she said they would need to either get signatures from 10% of registered voters or bring it before the Metro Council if they want to get this charter amendment on the November ballot.
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