In Michigan, Plymouth Township’s Planning Commission recently unanimously approved Northville Downs’ request to relocate after racetrack management amended its Planned Unit Development to appease the board of trustees and local residents.
Final approval could be granted by late June. As a result, the current 2023 standardbred meet will be the final one at the harness track’s suburban Detroit location, the oldest horse racing venue in the state, before it moves to a 128-acre site where the former Detroit House of Corrections was located.
Plymouth Township Supervisor Kurt Heise told MI Bets, “There were probably about six or seven people in opposition. The arguments were based more on concerns about traffic, which we’ve addressed many different times. One of the things we’ve had to do here is educate people on what casino laws are in Michigan, because the opposition has said this is going to be a casino, which is absolutely not the case. It’s in our state constitution and it basically says we’re limited to three commercial casinos, all in the city of Detroit.”
Heise said there still are “some engineering and policy tweaks we need to make to the PUD that are not fatal.” In addition, the racetrack and Plymouth Township must concur on a community benefit agreement, including additional parimutuel revenue for the city, plus concerts and July 4 fireworks shows and the creation of soccer fields and pickleball courts.
The racetrack has been owned and operated by the Carlo family since 1944. The site was sold to a housing developer in 2018. Heise noted to MI Bets, “When you’ve been in business for 79 years at the same site, you get used to a certain way of doing things.”
