Orange County’s only BMX racing track is scheduled to shut down by the end of the month, and its operators said Monday they are scrambling to find a new home.
The Orange Y BMX track at 2241 E. Palmyra Ave. has been a mainstay next to the YMCA for about 40 years, helping to foster interest in what is for the first time this year an Olympic sport, said Lelani Kroeker, a spokeswoman for the track.
In April, the YMCA of Orange told the group running the track that its year-to-year lease would not be extended, Kroeker said.
“That’s not enough time to move the BMX track,” Kroeker said. “All we’re looking for is a little extra time to move the track somewhere else in Orange County. It’s the last track left in Orange County.”
The track is among the most popular in the country, with riders ranging in age from 3 to 77 years old, Kroeker said.
“It’s a very sad day for these kids,” she said. “We probably had 80 riders out this morning because in two weeks the doors close. So we’re trying to do whatever we can to extend (the lease).”
Meanwhile, the Orange Y BMX track owners are eyeing spaces in the city of Orange and the Inland Empire, Kroeker said. The only alternatives are in Bellflower, Temecula or Chula Vista, she said.
Kroeker claimed the YMCA “wouldn’t even put … in writing” a verbal offer to increase rent from $2,300 to $10,000 monthly.
Jimmy Ozaeta, chief executive of the YMCA of Orange, “really doesn’t want the track there,” Kroeker said.
The YMCA of Orange issued a statement saying that the organization has “made a concerted effort to allow the current track operator to extend their lease agreement in April, but when it became evident that the BMX track operator was neither going to extend their existing lease agreement nor respond to our request to submit a proposal, we, as a board, then needed to take a different course of action as to the future plans of our property.”
The nonprofit “can’t be expected (nor are we able) to subsidize the operational expenses for a for-profit business,” the statement said. YMCA officials also “adamantly deny” they requested an “absurd monthly lease rate.”
Ozaeta said in an email to City News Service that “it’s unfortunate that individuals associated with the BMX track have attempted to defame and slander our reputable, long-standing, nonprofit organization, committed volunteers and staff on social media and in our community.”
–City News Service