Motorsports Gateway construction continues after Michigan judge rules in favor of local business owner
HOWELL, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) — A small access road has been the center of legal action as construction continues on the Motorsports Gateway in Howell.
"I really can't understand why the city comes after a taxpayer who's not even in their jurisdiction to fight so venomously over this," said Aaren Currie, a Howell area resident and local business owner.
The motorsports complex will include garage condos, two tracks that can be combined to create approximately three miles of raceway, and an automotive innovation park. At the center of Currie's concern is about 30 feet of roadway that construction trucks were using to cut through his business's parking lot.
"There was trucks blocking traffic out front, which is very limited sight distance, the road turns, there's an elevation, it's just super dangerous," he said.
Currie was worried about pedestrian deaths or avoidable traffic collisions. But he says the developers didn't return his calls, and the city didn't take his concerns seriously.
"The city said, 'You know what, you're blocking our access, you're trespassing on our property.' Not only did they send the police here twice with excavators to rip out my equipment and harass and badger my family, we had the police coming through our parking lot two, maybe even three times a day," he said.
After multiple court cases and the better part of a year, a judge in Brighton decided in Currie's favor, ruling that the city of Howell doesn't have jurisdiction over that part of the road.
"It has been exhausting, but it was very humbling that the judge saw it and went by the law and said this is not okay," Currie said.
Howell Mayor Robert Ellis was unavailable for an interview on Monday.
Eli Bayless with Motorsports Gateway said the project is still moving forward without using that access road, and developers "are looking forward to several months of solid progress as we work towards opening our track to Motorsports Gateway Drivers Club members in the summer of '25."
