Autobahn Country Club wants to open go-kart track to public

The Autobahn Country Club plans to open up its go-kart track to the public next year.

The private country club for racing enthusiasts is seeking city approval for an amendment to its original annexation agreement made 15 years ago in order to open up the facility for public access.

The Joliet City Council votes Tuesday on the proposal.

“This is a really neat way we think of opening Autobahn to the next generation of racers,” club President Mark Basso told the council at a Monday workshop meeting.

Council members did not comment on the plan.

Interim City Manager Marty Shanahan said the club’s go-kart track, which would be expanded under the plan, would be one of the largest in the Midwest.

The track is now a half-mile long and would be extended by two-tenths of a mile.

Basso said new features will include a “12-foot elevation corkscrew” and a redesigned bank “which is going to be very exciting for go-karts.”

He said the track should be ready by June or July.

The public would only have access to the go-kart area, according to a staff memo on the project. Public access would be generally 5 to 10 p.m.

The new go-kart track is one of a number of plans for the Autobahn Country Club in the coming years.

Basso presented a video narrated by club member and former racer Bobby Rahal describing plans that include a new clubhouse and a family zone, which could include a playground, remote race car track and splash area.

Old Richard Street

In another matter, the council is slated to vote Tuesday on whether to abandon the Old Richard Street bridge.

The bridge leads to Geomat, a road construction business, in Joliet, and MPV Inc., an auto body shop that includes a used vehicle business called Auto Concepts, outside the city limits.

The council in February tabled a vote on the bridge abandonment under the advice of former City Manager David Hales, who said he wanted to try to work out an agreement with the businesses. Hales left in October.

Shanahan told the council Monday that it is not in the city’s interest to spend the more than $2 million needed to repair the bridge.

Cannabis dispensary

The council also is scheduled to vote on a zoning variation and special use permit allowing 3C Compassionate Care Center to move its medical cannabis dispensary into a vacant store outside the Louis Joliet Mall.

3C Compassionate Care Center wants to move into a 6,600-square-foot store at 2903 Colorado Ave. last used by Mattress Firm.

The company has been operating in Joliet since 2015 in the Rock Run Business Park.