Race fans recently mourned the South Bend Motor Speedway’s closure. Now environmental enthusiasts are waving the yellow flag over a developer’s plans to turn the property into an auto auction.
As land use goes, an auto auction wouldn’t seem much different than the racetrack that drew fans for 77 years. But it’s what could happen to the undeveloped part of the 34-acre property that concerns Steve Sass.
The ecologist says the Warren Township land contains what’s perhaps St. Joseph County’s last big black oak savanna habitat. Its unique sandy soils look more like the dunes around Lake Michigan, left from the glacier melt some 10 to 15,000 years ago. Sass says the late botanist Keith Board in the mid-2000s cataloged over 85 species of native plants growing in that area.
Before they’ll buy the land from track owner Kevin Sauer, the Illinois-based Insurance Auto Auctions Corp. needs the county council to rezone the land from residential to commercial. The council will have first reading of the rezoning Tuesday night, and could have a public hearing and final vote Sept. 24.
Sass’ nonprofit IN Nature is rallying opposition to the rezoning. He says most people probably have no idea how ecologically rare the savanna is.
"Generally speaking we are an ecologically illiterate society," Sass said. "If it's not something that you want to see happen, let our elected officials know about that."
