Los Alamitos Race Track is set to seek final approval of its expansion plans at the Monday Cypress City Council meeting, but track officials are saying the plans are far less complex than has been reported.
Los Alamitos Race Track is set to seek final approval of its expansion plans at the Monday Cypress City Council meeting, but track officials are saying the plans are far less complex than has been reported.
The track expansion calls for the current oval track to be lengthened around the lake on the former golf course area, but not widened. There will be no new lights or even removal of many, if any of the trees that line Cerritos Avenue and help block residential areas.
The track is not asking for approval to build new barns and is not planning to bring in any more than 700 thoroughbred horses. The explanation came from LART Consultant Brad McKinzie, who said the bulk of the expansion is basically about “moving some dirt.”
“All we’re doing is bringing this barn back up to where it was two years ago,” McKinzie said.
According to track figures supplied by McKinzie, the track stabled 1,648 horses in Dec. of 2011. Currently, the track stables 820. The drop in horse population has been the cause of the track reducing it’s number of race days from six nights a week, to its current three-night schedule.
But adding horses and some extra weeks of daytime racing is about keeping the track viable. McKinzie said the track employs more than 700 people in the stable areas, maintenance support and the grandstand operations. Their estimated annual payroll is nearly $15 million for all the employees and McKinzie said track owner. Dr. Ed Allred wants to keep it as a working racetrack, for many reasons.
“We’re really proud of this race track,” McKinzie said. “This race track is an economic engine, not only for Cypress, but we think for the region.”
And the racing game has changed dramatically from its heyday. The days of massive crowds are gone, while online and off track betting has become the tradition. McKinzie said the track is not expecting much of a change in the attendance figures, but the boost in betting revenue from other venues can increase the bottom line for the track. In 2012, the City of Cypress received $679,011 in revenue from on track wagering, according to track figures.
McKinzie noted the guest column written by Los Alamitos Traffic Commissioner Dave Emerson, in the Nov. 20 issue of the News enterprise, as having misinformation. Mostly regarding the plan to build new barns and the addition of more than 700 horses. While approval for more barns is in the agreement, McKinzie said there are no plans to build at this time.
He also said that the thoroughbred association is not willing to pay for stabling of more than 700 horses, so LART couldn’t bring in more than that even if they wanted. McKinzie also disagreed with the speculation that race fans would increase traffic through residential neighborhoods, noting that race fans have been leaving the track for decades with no measurable impact on residential side streets. The track once drew up to 12,000 fans per night, but is now down to around 1,500.
“If we’re lucky, we’ll get maybe 1,000 more people than we’re already drawing,” McKinzie said.
Emerson said he spoke with Allred and while some of his concerns were addressed, he said there is still too much ambiguity in the plans and some unanswered questions, particularly on traffic and how it affects the area.
“I think some mitigation of traffic should be done, and the whole thing should be re-evaluated every year to determine if it continues,” Emerson said.
McKinzie said the track has always worked to be as least intrusive on their neighbors as possible, and will continue to do so. He also balks at the idea that they have gotten fast tracked by the city, noting the hundreds of pages of environmental impact reports and traffic studies that have already been done. And 12 conditions that the city added on after the initial permit requests.
“It’s hardly a free pass,” McKinzie said.
