AURORA, Colo. – This fall, voters in Aurora will decide whether to repeal an ordinance that prohibits the city from using public funds to help build a racetrack.
The Aurora City Council on Monday voted 7-3 to approve the measure. Councilors Berzins, Cleland and Richardson were the dissenting votes.
If approved, the ballot measure would repeal a 1999 amendment to the city charter that prevents the city from using public money to provide incentives for any kind of motorsports venue.
City leaders would like to see an “entertainment district” in the northeastern part of the city – north of I-70 and east of Hudson Road – that could include a racetrack of some kind. Officials say the 1999 amendment has made it impossible to lure such a facility to the area.
The ballot measure going before voters in November would re-write Section 11-18.5 of the city charter to allow using public funds for incentives, so long as such a facility is located at least half a mile from any residential property. The measure also would include language prohibiting the use of public money generated outside such an entertainment district from being used to subsidize the development of any part of the entertainment district.
