By Sarah Nigbor

TOWN OF RIVER FALLS – Town of River Falls resident Martin Kretzmann may not have been born and raised in western Wisconsin, but he loves it and has called it home for the past two years. He loves it so much that he’s helping lead a movement to oppose an automotive country club/ road course that’s proposed a scant quarter-mile north of his home.

Kretzmann, his wife Tabitha and their three teenage children live on 770th Avenue about a half-mile east of the River Falls Town Hall. They moved here two years ago in April to escape the urban lifestyle of which they’d grown tired in St. Paul.

“We lived in urban St. Paul for about 15 years,” Kretzmann said. “Then it got to be too much. We have three children. They couldn’t go outside, people were dealing drugs on the corner, there was prostitution, gunshots. When we moved there it was a decent neighborhood, but it got worse and worse. The cons quickly outweighed the pros.”

His wife’s dream was to get the kids out of the city and into a more quiet, rural country setting where they could have goats and chickens.

“We moved to that area for the peace and quiet specifically," he said. That’s why when he learned of Kinnick Development Group’s proposal to build a 500-plus acre automotive country club and five-mile road course along highways 65 and 29, he was devastated. According to developer Neal Krzyzaniak, who met with residents July 20 at the Unitarian Universalist Society building in the township, the proposed track would include a 5-mile private road course with club house, an outside entertainment area for car shows, swap meets and live entertainment; a facility to teach safe driving skills with on-stau instructors, 600 garage-style condo villas, a 100-unit RV park, a smaller training driving track, a skid pad, multiple restaurants, a store, a rooftop bar, corporate ovces, a chapel, steam room, pool and more.

In other automotive clubs across the country, such as Joliet, Ill., “high speed track driving in your car” is advertised as part of the country club membership.

Kretzmann and surrounding neighbors are worried the peace and quiet they cherish will soon be replaced by the constant high-decibel zooming of high-speed cars, not to mention increased travc on local roads from people flocking to the multi-million-dollar complex. This motivated Kretzmann to start the Facebook group “Stop the

See RF TRACK, Page 10

Town of River Falls resident Martin Kretzmann has started a Facebook page called “Stop the River Falls Race Track” in hopes of helping prevent a largescale automotive country club development near his home. Screen shot courtesy of Facebook

Martin Kretzmann was one of many concerned residents who addressed developer Neal Krzyzaniak at a July 20 meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Society.

Photo by Sarah Nigbor RF track

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River Falls Race Track,” which in two weeks has more than 1,000 members, and an online petition, which as of Monday, Aug. 8 had more than 1,100 signatures. The members are from Ellsworth, Martell, River Falls and the surrounding local area, Kretzmann said.

When Kretzmann and his wife spent the first night at their new home, they sat on the front deck enjoying their new-found peace.

“I legitimately thought I lost my hearing for a moment, because I heard nothing,” Kretzmann said. “No bugs, no road noise, no animals. Tabitha started to cry. It was the first kind of peaceful moment that we’ve experienced in a living situation.”

The night he heard about the proposed development, which would light up the night sky like a small city just north of his property, he couldn’t sleep. Nor the next night.

“It would literally ruin everything that we moved to this community for,” Kretzmann said. “Our daughters cried. Everything that we’ve learned to love here, our plans for the future, all of a sudden were a big question mark, what does that mean for us? My son said, ‘we’re going to move, right?’ This is our forever home. We have no plans of moving again.”

Kretzmann said he’s not naïve; he knows people have a right to do with their property what they want, that development happens and he knows the Moodys have been trying to sell that property for years. But out of 100 projects he could come up with, he’d score the proposed track as the worst possible.

“It will have a negative impact on everyone within 10 miles,” Kretzmann opined.

“The light pollution, the noise pollution, the literal pollution to the Kinni and woodlands. It might sound silly since I’m considered an ‘out-of-town’ person, but I’m afraid of in- creased crime, travc issues. 770

th is horse country and they don’t do well with loud noises.”

After the citizen meeting with Krzyzaniak and his team, Kretzmann said Kinnick Development Group realtor David Robson approached him and insinuated that the value of his house will decrease if he doesn’t sell.

Kinnick Development Group did not return a request for comment prior to the Aug. 8 press deadline.

Kretzmann, as a township resident, is frustrated that he has no vote or say whether or not the property gets annexed into the city, should Krzyzaniak request it.

“Everyone in the township that will be affected the most has no vote,” he said. “It’s alarming and frustrating and why I’m encouraging people to be so vocal about it. With the city and county supervisors specifically. Hav ing no representation in this process with no vote is one of the most frustrating pieces.”

Which is another factor in starting the Facebook page and petition. His goal for the page is simple: To disseminate accurate information so that people can decide for themselves how they feel about the project.

“My personal goal was to get information out there,” Kretzmann said. “I recruited some people to help moderate the group. People are people and it’s social media. The last thing I want to do is create misinformation, wrong information. I want it to be a matter of what is being planned, what is the process, how is the city, town and county involved and how does it all work together.”

The goal is to bring awareness and disseminate information so that if people want to act, they can do that.

“I understand the pace at which local government works, it can be fast or slow,” he added. “The last thing I would want is members of the community to be unheard or unaware at that moment.

'Give local ovcials your thoughts." Another locally organized group is pass- ing out flyers and door-knocking, he said. He hopes to organize a public information session soon, to provide people with information on the project, action steps, guidance on how to write letters to ovcials and take part in public hearings, should the project go before River Falls Plan Commission or City Council.

So far, Kretzmann feels good about what has been accomplished so far.

“A ton of people had no idea this was happening,” he said. “What a tragedy that would be if all of a sudden ground was breaking.”

When he ran for Pierce County Board (District 8, against Dean Bergseng), he said he learned that people need to get involved, show up, and ask questions.

“I’ve witnessed a ton of people that didn’t know this was happening,” he said. “The amount of people that are asking and wanting to help is almost overwhelming. Whether you’re for it or not, I want transparency for government at all levels. They need to be held accountable and they work for us. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum.”

Kretzmann also shared that he’s taken a lot of heat from people online because he’s newer to the community. He gets called “a transplant” quite often, and more so in the past week-and-a-half. He said he gets asked why he cares so much. He’s quick to say that many fifth-generation people have given him “amazing insight.”

“Is there some kind of measurement on how much someone can care based on how long they live there?” he asked.

Even though he wasn’t successful in unseating Bergseng, who also opposes the proposed automotive club, Kretzmann said many positives came out of his campaign. He met his neighbors and people involved in township and county government.

“I knew like one neighbor in St. Paul, the next-door neighbor,” he said. “The rest of my neighbors were a revolving door of people. We’ve been able to experience the sense of community out here more than we ever did in Minnesota.”

In fact, when he first moved to Riv er Falls, he ditched his car in a snowstorm. He was astounded when his neighbor was there right away with a tractor, ready to help. “We help our neighbors and they help us,” he marveled. “I’m almost 47 and I’m experienc- ing this for the first time." His enthusiasm has to be tempered with reason, patience and planning, he admitted. He needs more facts and so do his neighbors. Krzyzaniak had said July 20 that he planned to hold an informational meeting Aug. 22. That meeting has since been postponed with no makeup date given.

“The Facebook page, even if you’re for the track, it’s for information and there are so many question marks still. I want it to be a clearing house of accurate, solid confirmed information. Also what we’ve heard, and action steps and who to contact.'

To join the group, search for Stop the River Falls Race Track on Facebook. A new website, separate from Kretzmann’s page, has also been published by the Stop the River Falls Race Track Coalition at stoptheracetrack. com The petition can be found on change.org