Mission Raceway Park has publicly announced its opposition to the District of Mission’s Waterfront Revitalization Plan - even thought the plan is still in its conceptual stage - and is asking residents and racing fans to voice their opposition to council.
On Thursday (April 10) afternoon, a long post was placed on the raceway’s Facebook page that said raceway operators feel “as though we have been kept in the dark on this plan and after meetings with the city and their Waterfront team we still have very little info and feel like we have not been included whatsoever in all the planning and future of the Mission Waterfront.”
It goes on to say that it is “fairly obvious” that the plans have “no regard for the continuing operation of Mission Raceway and will be doing their very best to force us out by building town homes and apartments directly beside the property.”
The property beside the raceway is owned by the Braich family and the Facebook post says the raceway was told the Braichs were in favour of the city’s plans.
However, it has come to the raceway’s attention that the Braich family does not agree with the district’s plan and wants to do a separate project with the Martini Group to “develop their property into commercial buildings and warehouses for businesses such as Netflix and a window manufacturing business” along with many others.
The post says such a project could bring more than 2,000 jobs to the District with large amounts of commercial tax dollars. It also states the developers would “work hand in hand with Mission Raceway” allowing it to continue to operate.
It wants supporters to reach out to council and make their voices heard.
“We will not go without a fight and after 40+ years of operation in the City of Mission we feel we should be given the respect to continue to operate for many more years.”
A few hours after the post was made public, the District of Mission also took to Facebook to respond to the concerns.
On the official District of Mission Facebook page, it states “We are aware of a Facebook post by the Mission Raceway Park alleging that the District will be shutting them down.”
It goes on to explain that “Mission Raceway Park is private property and the District has no intention of shutting it down, nor can the District force a closure. The raceway’s existence is entirely up to Mission Raceway Park management.”
The post also says Mission Raceway Park has “long been recognized as a significant tourist attraction, economic driver for Mission, and a benefit to many businesses and residents.”
“The District is proposing to develop a land use plan for Mission’s entire waterfront area. This process has not yet started, but will include setting a vision, goals, objectives and potential land uses for the entire waterfront area for the long-term, which will span many years. The planning process will involve all stakeholders, property owners and residents of Mission.”