Hudson track's closure may not hurt

Associated Press

Hudson, Wis. Business leaders who oppose locating a tribal gambling casino at Hudson's dog track say closing the St. Croix Meadows track won't hurt the city's economic future.

"The place would not turn into a ghost town with the wind blowing through an empty parking lot," developer Mark Erickson said Monday.

Erickson is a member of a group of businesses called the Committee for a Better Future that opposes a proposal to add Indian gambling at St. Croix Meadows.

Three bands of Wisconsin Chippewa Indians and the track's owner, Croixland Properties, have a partnership to develop a casino at the track. But such a development would need the approval of the governor and other authorities.

When the Common Council approved an anti-casino resolution in early February, track officials said loss of the casino would cost Hudson about 250 jobs and probably cause property taxes to rise.

But Erickson's committee, in a presentation at City Hall on Monday before a council meeting, said the track property was so valuable that it would be quickly developed if the track shut down, and even if the buildings at the 3 1/2-year-old track had to be razed, redevelopment would pay off. Development Pressure

There is so much development pressure on Hudson now that the 126 acres the track and its parking lot occupy would be snapped up in two or three years, Erickson said in an interview.

Erickson said the committee wanted to reassure the public that if the track closed, there still would be plenty of jobs and that property taxes would not be placed in jeopardy.

"The city and the governor have said they are against the casino, so we want to assure the citizens that things won't be bleak if the track closes," he said.

Erickson said the committee was not proposing that Hudson buy the track land for an industrial park, although that is an option. The area already has sewer service, water and a road system. Hudson is considering annexing about 200 acres to its east for an industrial park.

The business committee had an architect and planner design possible revitalizations of the track land, which, it said, would generate $1.1 million to $1.4 million a year in property taxes.

The committee's plan shows the track land divided into about 12 commercial and industrial plots of 4 to 9 acres, some retail space, and four or five strips of housing.

The plan to put about 55 acres of the track into trust land for the Chippewas so a casino could be added has been approved by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Minneapolis.

The plan is being studied by bureau officers in Washington, D.C. Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, who has said he is opposed to expansion of Indian gaming, also would have to approve it.

St. Croix Meadows was one of five greyhound tracks developed in Wisconsin.

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