Drafter
Clerk 03/17/2010
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AN ORDINANCE relating to zoning; creating a special district overlay entitled "Regional Motor Sports Facility"; amending Ordinance 10870, Section 337, as amended, and K.C.C. 21A.08.100, adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 21A.38 and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 21A.06.
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BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. Pacific Raceways is the only motor sports facility in King County. The facility was constructed in 1959 and the track began operation 1960 with a mission of providing a safe, controlled environment for racing. Before 2002, the facility was known as Seattle International Raceway.
B. In the 1960s and 1970s, the racing facility hosted many premier road racing events such as the Trans Am racing series which attracted some of the world's foremost professional race car drivers.
C. Over the years the sanctioning bodies for racing events have increased the standards for racing facilities in order to create a safer racing environment for spectators and participants.
D. In order to regain the ability to host significant racing events, Pacific Raceways must be upgraded to meet professional motor sports sanctioning body requirements.
E. Pacific Raceways is a leading promoter of motor sports activities in the Pacific Northwest and currently hosts more than three hundred events annually for a vast range of motor sports events including drag races, sport car races, motorcycle races, club races and vintage car races.
F. For the past twenty-three years, Pacific Raceways has been host to the National Hot Rod Association's Northwest National drag race event, which draws up to one hundred thousand spectators and generates over ten million dollars in new revenues to the local economy.
G. Pacific Raceways is on a three-hundred-twenty-seven-acre site located east of Kent, approximately one-quarter mile off of State Highway 18.
H. Pacific Raceways is a mixed-use road racing facili...

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