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That's lawsuit number four: Metro Nashville draws another lawsuit in Fairgrounds Speedway deal – Tennessee Lookout [1]
['Anita Wadhwani', 'More From Author', '- July']
Date: 2023-07-03
A professional driver has stepped into the legal fray over the future of Nashville’s speedway.
Howard Tucker filed suit against the city on Thursday, seeking a ruling that the city does not need a supermajority vote by the Metro Council in order to approve a deal with Bristol Motor Speedway to renovate the facility.
Tucker, a driver at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway since 1998 (sponsored by the nearby karaoke bar, Santa’s Pub), favors the deal, which would come with safety upgrades and is billed as elevating the prominence and fan experience at the century-old racetrack. The deal would increase Tucker’s exposure and earnings, the lawsuit said.
It is the fourth lawsuit that has been filed in recent weeks over the future of the speedway.
Nashville’s legal department, a group of Metro Councilmembers and neighbors of the racetrack have separately filed suit challenging a new state law that makes it easier, and more likely, that a deal will go forward by lowering the votes needed to pass the renovation plan from 27 to 21 of the 40-member body.
Unlike those suits, the lawsuit brought by Tucker — who is represented by former council member Jamie Hollin — makes no mention of the new law, enacted by the GOP majority in the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee in May.
Instead, the driver argues that the city has wrongly interpreted the charter amendment all along and a simple majority of 21 votes is needed, not a supermajority of 27.
“Metro’s interpretation is contrary to the plain language of (the charter amendment) and contrary to the history and purpose of the legislation, public policy, and historical facts….” the lawsuit said.
Rather, the language in the charter applies only if the Metro Council is taking a vote on the demolition of the premises, not for the renovations being contemplated, the lawsuit argues.
“The Speedway agreement does not involve destroying the Fairgrounds or the Speedway, putting an end to the Fairgrounds or Speedway, or ruining utterly the Speedway,” the lawsuit said.
“While some portion of the existing Speedway facilities, such as the grandstands, may need to be replaced to make upgrading and improving those facilities possible, neither the Fairgrounds nor the Speedway will be demolished in the ordinary and plain sense of that term.”
The lawsuit also argues it would be “illogical to infer that voters wanted to require a supermajority vote of the Metro Council in order to improve worn out grandstands and facilities in dangerous conditions at the Speedway, when those are the very facilities the voters wanted to save.”
The lawsuit is seeking a declaration from the court that a supermajority vote requirement in the Metro Charter does not apply to the Speedway deal.
Backers of the racetrack deal face a narrow time frame to get it passed before the current council term expires at the end of August, and while four active lawsuits await resolution in court.
Speedway Suit by Anita Wadhwani on Scribd
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https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/07/03/thats-lawsuit-number-four-metro-nashville-draws-another-lawsuit-in-fairgrounds-speedway-deal/
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