It appears the plan to build a controversial motorsports park at a city-owned landfill has crashed and burned.

Developers had been negotiating with the city of Bowling Green to purchase the Glen Lily landfill and build a “Disneyland of motorsports” at the site, to be called PowerPlex Park.

A May motorsports event was scheduled as a sort of kickoff of the project but was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city commission in January had agreed to lease the land to developers for the event, and developers subsequently approached the city about selling the property. After the May event was canceled, negotiations ceased and the park developers announced on social media recently that they had found a new location for the motorsports park. They did not return calls seeking comment.

Bowling Green City Manager Jeff Meisel said of the plan to use the landfill, “it’s done.” He said the city had not heard from the developers “since they canceled the May event.”

That will likely come as good news to many areas residents, who filled a gym at Barren River Baptist Church for a public meeting in March. The vast majority of the 100 or more people in attendance spoke against the project, citing noise, congestion and safety concerns in the largely rural area.

The city opened the 30-acre landfill in the middle of a 270-acre tract at 5301 Glen Lily Road in 1973. The landfill closed in 1981, with the city continuing to monitor the site and clear off any leachate – water that has percolated through the landfill debris.

The developers said the location was an ideal spot for a motorsports park featuring permanent bathroom/shower facilities, a parking lot and facilities to accommodate up to 20,000 attendees and numerous tracks for various kinds of off-road racing.

Meisel said the city has heard from others who were interested in holding similar, albeit smaller, events at the landfill site, but “that hasn’t happened either.”

“We would have to look at the desires of the neighbors (and) we’d have to look at what (the area) can handle in terms of roads,” he said.

Meisel said the city is still open to selling or leasing the landfill for “the right project that would fit the neighborhood, especially on the traffic side.” As for the PowerPlex plans, “I think it went too fast, too soon.”

The landfill property is in the city limits but is surrounded by county land.

Fifth District Magistrate Mark Young said he was glad to hear the project was off the table.

“I am thrilled they found somewhere else,” he said, adding that the majority of his constituents who lived in the area were against the project, “and I don’t blame them,” he said.