The owners of Laurel Park want to build 775 residences and more than a half-million square feet of offices and retail shops near the racetrack's entry road from U.S. 1.
MI Developments Inc. of Ontario, the parent of Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns the track, has scheduled a public information meeting on the new Howard County proposal at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Savage Library on Gorman Road.
The company did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The residential units probably would be apartments, with some townhouses, said Howard County planning director Marsha McLaughlin, who received a briefing on the 64-acre project Sept. 24.
"They're clearly looking for a mixed-use project," McLaughlin said.
That type of project, mixing residential, commercial and office uses near the MARC train station used on race days, is allowed under the Transit Oriented Development zone applied to the land in Howard County. The project would replace a parking lot in the U.S. 1 commercial corridor. The track itself is in Anne Arundel and near Laurel, in Prince George's County.
Tracie Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Anne Arundel's Office of Planning and Zoning, said the track's owners have not updated plans filed in 2006 that call for a redevelopment of the facility.
That proposal included plans for a new clubhouse and grandstand, a 350-room hotel and parking garages, totaling about 750,000 square feet. Barn and stable facilities would be relocated under the plan, which was submitted before the passage of slot machine legislation by the General Assembly and before the recession constricted credit.
Magna filed suit in June after being disqualified for a slots license for failing to include a required $28.5 million in fees with its bid. Maryland's high court ruled in July that Magna's challenge had to wait until the state slots commission awards the licenses.
What the new proposal means to Magna's efforts to get slot machines or to the future of the track is unclear. The Cordish Cos., which bid to open a casino at Arundel Mills, appears to have the inside track for the Anne Arundel slots license, but its proposal has stalled amid a local zoning dispute.
Magna filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March.
McLaughlin said she thinks MI Developments is positioning itself for the future.
"They want to get started and get into the [development] pipeline," McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said that in making decisions on Laurel Park, Howard County officials should consult with officials from Laurel and with state transportation officials who control the train station at the racetrack.
Laurel Mayor Craig A. Moe said last week that he knew nothing about the proposed development at the racetrack.
Howard County enacted the transit zone to encourage development near MARC stations as a way to revitalize the U.S. 1 corridor and to attract residents who might commute to work by train rather than private vehicles. A mixed-use project is planned for the MARC station in Savage, a few miles north of the racetrack.
Crowding at nearby schools could pose a problem for the Laurel project. Current projections indicate that the nearest elementary school, Laurel Woods, will be crowded in 2012, and Howard County laws could delay development until crowding is eased.
