The Southwest Area Commission has been hoping for the developers of the vacant Cooper Stadium site to attend one of their monthly meetings for quite some time.  

Commissioners say they would like to discuss Arshot’s proposal to redevelop the 46-acre former baseball stadium into a multi-use motorsports complex.  

So far, all of their tentative plans have fallen through, but the commission believes the public meeting could soon become a reality. 

During their Feb. 17 meeting, the commission said representatives from Arshot Investment Corporation, including their noise study engineers, have expressed an interest in holding a community forum to answer any questions or concerns they might have in regards to the motorsports complex. 

Commission members also stated they would like to have the consultants from ROAR’s independent noise study come to that meeting as well.  

ROAR, or Redevelop Our Area Responsibly, is a coalition of local business owners and residents of the neighborhoods surrounding Copper Stadium. ROAR members have shown support for redevelopment of the site, but not construction of a potentially noisy motorsports complex. 

According to commissioner Stefanie Coe, the Arshot Investment Corp. developers were proposing dates within the first week of March, but the commissioners believe that time frame to be too soon. The commission would need to call a special meeting, as they meet every third Wednesday of the month. 

Instead, the commission has proposed both groups attend their April 21 meeting, which they claim could be dedicated completely to discussing the multi-use motorsports complex. 

The commission questioned whether their usual meeting place, the New Horizons United Methodist Church on Harrisburg Pike, would be big enough to hold the meeting, which has the potential attract a large number of people. 

“We would have nowhere else to relocate,” said Coe, “but we will do the best we can.”