The City of Tomball is considering a plan that would bring the first-ever bicycle motocross racing track to the city, essentially establishing a youth sports complex on Ulrich Road.

The proposal is headed by David Mayes, who presented a plan to the Tomball City Council on July 18. Mayes’ proposal calls for a full scale BMX track to be constructed, at the cost to the city, on a large city-owned parcel of vacant land on the northeast corner of East Hufsmith and Ulrich.

The tract of land proposed for the site lies across the street from the Wayne Stovall youth baseball complex.

Mayes told the council that the creation of a BMX race park would “provide an opportunity for sports-related tourism to frequent the Tomball area, which generates taxes and hotel/motel usage.”

Council member Derek Townsend said he was approached by Mayes about a month ago regarding his proposal and has since held exploratory meetings with City Manager George Shackelford and Mayor Gretchen Fagan.

Townsend called the proposed race park a “no-brainer” for the city and said he would support the plan.

Council members Mark Stoll, Preston Dodson and Rick Brown expressed varying levels of support for the plan as well, but also raised concerns about construction plans for the park.

Chiefly among those concerns was Mayes’ initial plan to install a “base material parking lot” at the site of the park. City building codes allow only for concrete or asphalt parking lots for new developments.

Dodson called the plan for base material parking only “a real breaking point for me” for the proposal.

Mayes said park organizers would likely apply for a variance from the city’s Board of Adjustments in order to gain approval for the base material lot.

However, Dodson said he felt the city should grant no such variance.

“I do not want the city to do anything we wouldn’t allow our citizens to do,” he said.

Townsend said the city should consider allowing the variance since the park has the potential to have an economic boom in the city and bring to Tomball the highly-coveted tourists the city has targeted in recent years.

In his presentation to council, Mayes provided an example of Rockford, Ill., which recently hosted the three-day Midwest Nationals, a similar event which the proposed Tomball BMX park could also likely host.

Mayes explained that Rockford city officials reported between 1,000 and 1,400 “hotel room nights” were filled during the weekend of the race, which had a “total economic impact” of approximately $260,000.

In an initial cost analysis of Phase I, which Mayes said would get the park “to an operational point,” would be $149,300. He added that the amount was also a high estimation,

That cost included the purchase of dirt for the track ($20,000), exterior lights ($40,000), a sewer system ($10,000), a public address system ($1,000), as well as several other operational and construction costs.

Shackelford told council members that where the $150,000 to fund construction would come from in city funds is “yet to be determined.”

Part of Mayes’ plan calls for Tomball BMX, or whatever name it would go by, register as a 501 c3 non-profit corporation so that any money the park earns either be paid back to the city or go directly to operational costs.

If the park comes to fruition, it would be one of only 11 American Bicycling Association-sanctioned tracks in Texas. The closest track, Armadillo Downs in Conroe, recently announced that it was closing due to the purchase of the land.

The only other nearby track is Beltway 8 BMX in Houston.

The council charged Mayes and city staff to provide more detailed information about the plan, including more specific costs of construction and a plan to install either an asphalt or concrete parking lot.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed