BMX-ing the Metro

Local business owners also feel that the track would offer the area more economic traffic. At least one business owner in Louisburg attended the April meeting to lobby the board for the track's approval. However, Nick Reuss, who is on the Astronomical Society's board and lives in Miami County, says the group has a vested interest in the community. "We have a multimillion-dollar research facility located there. Powell Observatory is the only concrete asset we have, and Louisburg is its home."

Reuss concedes that the society is made up of volunteers and hasn't been actively involved in community projects or Louisburg politics, but he says the observatory brings visitors and visibility to Louisburg as well. "We aren't against BMX or anything that is good for kids; we just don't feel that our two interests are compatible being right next to each other," says Reuss.

Park board members thought they had interpreted Young's will to accommodate everyone, letting the observatory lease land there in 1982 and allowing baseball and soccer fields into the park about 10 years later. The park has walking trails, and although a master plan has not officially been put into place, some of the park is slated to remain in a natural state.

Elected officials and residents have raised this question: Why should a municipality allow a structure to be built in a public park to help support a for-profit organization? Others argue that "recreational use" has many different meanings. Still others object to building sports facilities in parks, because they disrupt wildlife and destroy natural scenes.

Controversy surrounds a proposed BMX track in Jackson Park in Asheville, N.C., because the American woodcock has chosen fields in the park for its courtship flight each spring. Wildlife and bird enthusiasts in that city and state have lobbied to have the local park board decision overturned. But in Arlington, Texas, the park board was criticized for fencing off an area of Meadowbrook Park and threatening to issue citations to young BMX enthusiasts who had carved out an unauthorized track in the park.

In a third meeting in April in Louisburg, Minor presented the park board with an artist's rendering, supplied by the ABA, of the proposed site. Several kids wore their jerseys and brought their bikes into the meeting for visual effect. And although both sides seemed to want an amicable agreement, some members of the ASKC felt that the BMX group had an insider's advantage with the Louisburg government. Meanwhile, Minor resents rumors that, he says, charge he came to Louisburg specifically to build a BMX track. "Nothing could have been further from the truth," he says. "Although this has been a dream of mine, I didn't come here with that in mind."

The sometimes-heated debate over the proposed BMX location raged for two hours before Towns announced that the board would look at alternative sites. He proposed a closed meeting with representatives of the board, the BMX group, and the ASKC. "I just wanted a meeting with the parties involved to see if we could come to an agreement," says Towns. "Myself, park board members, and representatives from both groups were present. We did discuss the results of that meeting at our next park board meeting, which was held May 8."

The private meeting from the two groups yielded two alternative sites for the track in the park. One site was farther from the observatory and to the north. "Those were better sites for us anyway," Minor says, "because they already have water and electricity hookups. I just wanted to have another spot that wouldn't cause so much controversy." The Astronomical Society says that any site other than the southern site would be better for them, but they are still concerned about the lights, dust, and traffic.

The controversy may have all but died with Ted Hoppe, who passed away last month. Hoppe was the only Louisburg resident who publicly supported the observatory and was on the Miami County Planning Commission lobbying, unofficially, for the ASKC.

"I am willing to sign any agreement with them (the ASKC) that will make them happy," Minor says. "We are willing to use shielded lights and to turn the lights off by 10 p.m. and schedule practice during daylight hours. I think a row of trees could also be planted between our property and the track to help block the dirt and light."

What remains unclear is how Minor and Groves will acquire the money necessary to get the track operational, since they have not presented a formal business plan to the city. When asked, Minor is vague, simply stating that the money will be secured through donations and fundraisers. The only company that Minor named at the park board meeting that would help the project was Bike America in Overland Park. "We have committed to provide sponsorships and mechanical support for racers at the track," says Nick Alberts, whose family owns the store. "We have also talked about providing some other prizes besides a trophy, but nothing in the way of cash for getting the track started."

Although the ABA supplies plans for the track and labor to have it built, the Louisburg BMX group would have to secure all the funding.