Racetrack Community Survey
The City and Bristol Motor Speedway signed a letter of intent back in March to expand the Fairgrounds Speedway and host NASCAR events. There was no plan to get deep community engagement and input for the plan, so we took it upon ourselves to make sure this happens. To make sure the community is heard, we have been out since mid May talking with neighbors, knocking on doors, and collecting surveys to ask residents about their thoughts on the racetrack surveys. We asked three simple questions:
- Do you support the current plan to expand the racetrack?
- Do you have any concerns about the impact of the development?
- If the racetrack expansion continues, what are your TOP THREE Benefits/Outcomes from the development?
After two months of collecting responses both in-person and online, we analyzed the surveys of residents living within 2 miles of the Fairgrounds Speedway site. We got a variety of answers, but we found most residents were not in favor of the current plan. Even more residents had reservations and shared concerns about the effects of noise, traffic, and other concerns on quality of life, and a number of neighbors were alarmed about the speed at which the development was happening.
Our most important mission in taking on this survey is making sure that communities are at the center of decision-making. The residents we talked to near the Fairgrounds want to be heard in the process. It takes time to talk to neighborhoods—but it was time well spent.
We put in the work to amplify their hopes and concerns. Is everyone ready to listen?
How Did We Do It?
The Vinehill, Bransford Avenue, Wedgewood Houston, Chestnut Hill, Rosedale/Hurtwood Heights, Woodland in Waverly, and Woodycrest neighborhoods around the racetrack were surveyed via doorknocking. Each door was knocked 2-3 times to provide residents multiple opportunities to fill out the survey. 236 in-person survey responses were collected out of an estimated 1,100 doors knocked, resulting in an estimated 20% response rate. An additional 361 surveys were collected online—Facebook ads were utilized to share the online survey link with those living in a 1.5–2mi radius around the speedway. Repeat responses from the same individual were not analyzed, leaving only the most recent response to be included in the analysis. The distance of each survey respondent from the Fairgrounds Speedway was determined, and only responses from residents within 2 miles of the racetrack were analyzed (n=310). Responses from all questions were analyzed by evaluating the frequency of each response type or category—it should be noted that the open-ended responses from questions two and three were categorized before being analyzed. Some respondents listed multiple concerns, meaning that some responses fell under multiple categories. For such responses, all possible concern types were categorized and counted.
If you have any questions on how we conducted or analyzed the survey, please feel free to reach out to us at info@standupnashville.org
