Auto Racing Theme Park (AL)

SELC is seeking to prevent a developer from wiping out 87 acres of wetlands and nearly 3,400 linear feet of streams to build a motorsports park and entertainment complex near Mobile Bay.

The developer, Gulf Coast Entertainment, has cut the number of racetracks in the plan from six to three, thanks in part to pressure from SELC. However, it would still contain a 5,000-space RV park, a shopping center, an entertainment district, and an industrial park dedicated to racing-related enterprises.

Sensitive Ecosystems Put at Risk

The impact on the Mobile Bay watershed and the ecosystems it supports would be significant. In addition to jeopardizing wetlands, the project imperils:

• Chickasabogue Creek, which runs through the proposed site to the Bay. The creek is already impaired, and this project would only make it worse;
• Increasingly rare pockets of longleaf pine forest. Once the dominant forest type on the southern coastal plain, it now occupies just a fraction of its former range; and
• Habitat for federally protected species. 

Seeking Action from the Corps

Because it would destroy wetlands, the motorsports complex requires approval by the Army Corps of Engineers. SELC is urging the Corps to require the company to conduct a thorough analysis of the environmental impact of the proposed development and to identify alternative sites that put fewer ecological resources at risk.