County Approves Next Step In The Racetrack Effort Near 20-Mile Bend

The Palm Beach County Commission on Tuesday, Aug. 20 voted 7-0 to move forward with a possible multi-use racing facility at a site near 20-Mile Bend.

After hearing a report from county staff that found “no regulatory fatal flaw or physical constraints” to the project, commissioners instructed staff to put together a request for proposals (RFP) from would-be track developers. The RFP was to allow for uses such as an off-highway vehicle (OHV) park, a drag strip, road course and go-kart track.

“Palm Beach County is known as an iconic place for racing,” said Palm Beach County Mayor Maria Sachs, a longtime racing fan. “I’m looking forward to this… but let’s make sure we build it in the right place.”

Late Monday afternoon, some 50 Arden residents rallied near the construction site for the new West Acreage Area Elementary School, carrying signs and telling members of the media that the 20-Mile Bend location is not the right place.

Arden resident Corey Kanterman, a leader of the protest group, said, “This is crazy. The track doesn’t belong here. Nothing good will come from this.”

For the most part, the protesters said noise and increased traffic on Southern Blvd./State Road 80 were their main concerns. On Tuesday, they voiced the same issues to the commissioners.

Ben Brown, also a leader of the Arden protest group, said residents of the neighborhood were aware when they moved in of other noise issues in the area. They include being under the flight path for Palm Beach International Airport, in close proximity to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Training Facility gun range, the nearby Palm Beach Aggregates facility and FPL’s West County Energy Center.

The racetrack would be something different, he said, with the new school at the southwest corner of the development only a mile from the proposed track.

“The impact of the noise to the school would be very detrimental to the children and their chance to learn… [and] have a negative impact on property values,” said Brown, an Arden resident who also owns and manages other properties there. “People would stay away.”

Arden resident Nicole Conway said that she is not opposed to motorsports, “But I am opposed to a racetrack with high-performance vehicles being in our backyard. The sound will come home with us and be in our bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens, affecting every aspect of our lives.”

District 6 County Commissioner Sara Baxter, a strong proponent of the 20-Mile Bend project, said that she understood the concerns of Arden residents, but a recent noise study done as part of the due diligence for the project does not bear them out.

The study commissioned as part of the report by county staff stated that sound levels in Arden would be only minimally affected by the track.

“From what I’ve seen and people I’ve talked to, I believe most Loxahatchee and Acreage residents are for it,” said Baxter, whose husband and sons are involved in racing.

Meanwhile, members of the racing community turned out in force at the county meeting, emphasizing that racing is not merely about turning fast laps, it’s a family undertaking that bonds children and parents.

“We have a whole family, and we all race,” Thomas Brown said. “I have an 11-year-old son who races. This isn’t just a drag strip to him. This is his football field. This is his baseball field.”

Despite commissioners allowing the RFP to move forward, many racers left the meeting disgruntled that the board did not agree to greater incentives to would-be developers beyond a long-term, little-money lease on the 161 acres of county property off County Road 880.

Madelyn Marconi, who hosted a “State of Motorsports in Palm Beach County” community event Aug. 12 in Riviera Beach, outlined the “three asks” that were frequently referenced during the county commission session.

One, the county needs to bring utilities — water, sewer, electricity — to the property line, she said. Two, the heavy, wet muck soil that covers the land needs to be removed and replaced with construction-ready soil to 10 feet above the water table. And three, a noise variance needs to be passed to ensure that a racing business in that location cannot later be shut down by complaints from current or future neighbors.

“I’m asking commissioners to take action to get this property shovel-ready before the RFP is released,” Marconi said. Otherwise, “while it may not be intentional, this process is currently designed to fail.”

However, the commissioners quickly balked at the requests. Commissioner Maria Marino pointed out that typically, when the county provides land for a project, that is the extent of the county’s involvement. Everything else is on the developer or municipal government that is gaining the land.

“This is county land,” Marconi said later. “Right now, it’s just sitting out there undeveloped and undevelopable… We have the opportunity to pioneer a way to preserve motorsports that could be a blueprint for the rest of the country.”

Sachs said that any venture at the 20-Mile Bend site must be a public-private partnership.

Marconi has said that while the county would incur considerable upfront costs by agreeing to the racers’ three asks, the track would generate up to $130 million annually, and that the positive impact would go beyond dollars and cents.

She said such a facility would “help get kids off the streets” and could be used for research and development, and for education.

Baxter said she hopes the RFP can be out by November. Responses typically take between three to six months, she noted.

Racing has a long history in the county, dating back to the founding of Moroso Mortorsports Park on the Beeline Highway west of Palm Beach Gardens in the early 1960s. The track was later sold and renamed the Palm Beach International Raceway, but it closed in the summer of 2022 with the land to be used for warehouse space.