The Alachua County Fairgrounds may get a new home after county commissioners began talk about moving it near a northeast Gainesville racetrack.
Commissioners recently voted to start negotiations with the National Hot Rod Association to have the site outside the Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville, also known as the Gainesville Raceway, said Mark Sexton, communications coordinator for Alachua County.
Sexton said the raceway, 11211 North County Road 225, was chosen as the possible new site for the fairgrounds because of its rainwater systems and extra space for parking.
He added that the county would save money by having the fairgrounds near the raceway and it could use the savings to maintain the site’s infrastructure.
Rich Schaefer, general manager for Auto-Plus, said the idea to move the fairgrounds to the raceway started more than a decade ago.
It recently proposed to share its extra land for the fairgrounds.
The raceway owns about 750 to 800 acres, he said.
Right now, the negotiations include a financial aspect, Schaefer said.
It also has to look at what commitments the fairgrounds already have in place.
If the fairgrounds moves to the site, events at the racetrack won’t be affected, he added.
The negotiations are in the beginning stages at this point, but more details should be worked out over the next couple of months, Schaefer said.
Sexton said that once the fairgrounds is moved to the raceway, the former site will be used as industrial space.
With talks of moving the fairgrounds farther north, getting to the site can be a problem for UF students and residents who rely on public transportation.
RTS busses do not have a route to the speedway.
