Council Delays Racetrack Agreement

By Julie Fernandez

Tulare - Developer Bud Long failed to get City Council approval for a much-needed agreement Tuesday after he told Councilman Richard Ortega that the Tulare Motor Sports Complex limited partnership “cannot or will not” repay within two weeks the $1 million it owns the city.

Ortega was the deciding vote in the 2-3 action, which saw a motion by Vice Mayor Phil Vandegrift to approve a 20-year development agreement go down to defeat. Mayor Craig Vejvoda had seconded the motion.

Immediately after that vote, the council – upon Ortega's motion – voted 5-0 to bring the matter back in three weeks.

“Hopefully there can be some progress made,” said Ortega, who has been a strong proponent of the motor sports project.

Long's group needs the development agreement – which addresses issues such as impact fees – to move forward with the project, but the council wants assurance the $1 million it spent on an environmental impact report will be repaid.

Concern over the repayment was heightened after City Attorney Steve Kabot told the council the developer had transferred an account he had set up at Citizens Business Bank to guarantee repayment without transferring an agreement that said the money could not be disbursed without the city's approve.

The city agreed to allow the transfer only on condition that agreement went along with it, Kabot said.

TMSC attorney Myron Smith had drawn up a new document that included the terms of the earlier agreement and brought it to the Fresno airport for Mayor Craig Vejvoda's signature on Feb. 6, Kabot said.

City officials were told the agreement would be taken to Long for his signature and then to the bank, but that did not happen, he said.

That happened on a Friday, the money was transferred on Monday and on Tuesday he got a call from the Fresno bank asking if the money could be used as a pledge of security on another loan, Kabot said, adding he said “no.”

Long was insistent that terms of the agreement followed the money. (So was his attorney Brady McGuinness who was interviewed Monday for a story that will appear in the Tulare Voice on Thursday.)

Kabot told council members that if they approved the development agreement, they would lose any leverage they had to make sure the money was repaid.

Long said he did not think a three-week delay in approving a development agreement would hurt the project.

After the meeting, he said he had no further comment.

“The attorneys have said it precisely,” he said.

Attorney Michael Lampe, who represents opponents of the lawsuit, read several excerpts from correspondence between Kabot and TMSC representations – which he had obtained under the Public Records Act -- that indicated the city attorney's concern about the willingness of TMSC to reimburse the city.

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