Idea for Sauk Rapids auto track met by objections from neighbors, zoning board

SAUK RAPIDS — A group of about 40 people gathered in the Sauk Rapids City Hall chambers Tuesday evening for a joint city/township meeting where a St. Augusta resident outlined his idea to build an automobile complex in eastern Sauk Rapids.

Michael Morgan, who owns Morgan's Motorplex in St. Cloud, spoke during the 10-minute public input section of the Minden Township/Sauk Rapids City Joint Planning Board meeting Tuesday after advocating to be put on the township agenda and give a presentation about his plan.

The track would be built near Minnesota Highway 23 and 35th Avenue Northeast.

About 30 people who said they lived near that area showed up to tell officials they opposed the track, citing safety and noise concerns.

Nine people who support the proposed venue also attended the meeting and said Central Minnesota needs a recreational track like the one Morgan plans to build. Over 1,200 people had signed an online petition in favor of the course by Wednesday afternoon.

'They don't have anywhere to go'

Morgan said at Tuesday's meeting he has been looking for land to build this complex since 2017. He said he created a full business plan with the St. Cloud State Business Development Center and had contacted Stearns, Benton and Sherburne counties about his business venture.

The course layout would be similar to Brainerd International Raceway or Camp Ripley Driving Range, he told the St. Cloud Times. Drifting and autocross racing — where drivers navigate a road course of small cones — has become more popular in recent years, but the closest drifting track is in Brainerd, Morgan said.

"As an amateur or someone that's just getting into the sport, there's really no place for them to go and do it unless it's on a back road or you drive down to the cities from St. Cloud," he said. "So we want to have a spot of land where we could call home and do various different types of events catering to these cars that are built specifically for this, but they don't have anywhere to go."

Morgan said he'd like to develop a dirt road course for bikes, side-by-sides, karting and cars with a long-term goal of building an asphalt road course that could host events like autocross, drifting, karting and motorcycle races.

Morgan said this kind of traffic would not generate very much noise and he could build a wall or limit nighttime hours to address resident noise concerns.

"We have a six-race series this year for 2022. We did four of them last year. We're doing six this year. I mean we've had over 100 participants just show up for a day of autocross. I couldn't imagine what we could do with a weekend," he said. "There's a huge demand for it and it'll also give a safe spot for everybody to go to. It'll keep people off in the streets, especially with what's going on with down in the cities with street takeovers and everything like that."

Board declines to consider

The Minden Township/Sauk Rapids City Joint Planning Board said at the meeting their comprehensive plan has "specific language to protect the residents in our township and our county and it's already been decided that that use doesn't fit our area."

After Morgan distributed flyers about his business plan to neighbors recently, community development director Todd Schultz said he was bombarded with phone calls from residents who opposed the plan, and said some people are already listening to noise from Granite City Speedway a couple miles away.

Schultz said in order to build a complex like this, Morgan would have to advocate to get the zoning in the area changed from highway commercial to industrial.

Because the board chair was not interested in the complex and the board already talked about this topic formally, they are not obligated to put it on the agenda, Schultz said.

Becca Most is a cities reporter with the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-241-8213 or bmost@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter at @becca_most. 

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This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Residents rally against controversial auto track idea for Sauk Rapids