Guam Motorsports Association speaks out about Yigo Raceway Park negotiations

The non-profit organization fighting to reopen the Yigo Raceway Park speaks out after three months of slow lease negotiations.  The Guam Motorsports Association wants to show the Chamorro Land Trust Commission the poor conditions of the once thriving facility which has been forced to close its gates over a year and a half ago. 

A water leak, algae and overgrown vegetation are seen in a drone shot of the once bustling Yigo Raceway Park a year-and-a-half since its forced closure. As mandated lease negotiations between the CLTC and the Guam Motorsports Association drags on, KUAM News checked-out the abandoned facility ahead of their scheduled site inspection next Monday. 

GMA vice chair John Burch, Jr. spoke out, stating, "I’m hoping to show the CLTC board members and the staff the conditions of this property. When the community was up here volunteering to cut the grass and take care of this place, it was thriving."

Burch says the local motorsports community has been left waiting in suspense as they look to get their "home field" back.  

"This is their homefield," continued Burch. "Every sport has a homefield. House Angels has their homefield in Dededo on CLTC property. I want to throw in that they don’t get charged anything. Guam Rugby  Association has their homefield right there, another CLTC property and they don’t get charged at all."

As reported, the GMA offered $1,000 a month for some 100 acres. CLTC suggested $33,000 a month, per the fair market value price - that’s more than $1,000 a day. 

"We don’t want a catastrophic number like [David] Herrera suggested - $30,000 to $35,000 is crazy," he noted, adding their initial proposal was $500 plus 5% of all fees collected. 

But this offer was shut down by CLTC’s legal counsel, Attorney Norman Miller, during a working session.  "He said ‘Well, it’s a little bit hard for CLTC to conduct that type of accounting, so let’s just get rid of the percentage and give us a solid number.’ So we said okay, we will double our offer and go to $1,000. We take their lawyer’s proposal and present it to the board and the board says ‘no, we want profit-sharing.’ That’s exactly what we offered in the beginning," Burch recalled.

He says the GMA is willing to work with their demands, but needs the CLTC's board, director and legal counsel to be on the same page and give a real counter offer.  "That’s where the frustrations started. We’re out there negotiating in good faith," he said. "Every single time we show up, we try to come with a better offer and something that makes sense to our community. But we don’t necessarily get an offer back or a counter offer."

Both parties also had different interpretations of the public law mandating the lease negotiations, Burch remains hopeful.  He says the biggest takeaway from the last meeting was that the CLTC finally agreed that the law says it ‘shall lease’ all or a portion of the property. 

Burch said, "I say let’s open up this place. There’s so much benefit that can come from the community, from our local community, our private partners and for public safety."