The increasingly bitter battle between Michigan’s last parimutuel horse racetrack, Northville Downs, and the city of Plymouth Township reached its logical next step on Tuesday, as the harness track filed a federal lawsuit alleging “unconstitutional [and] extortionate conditions” related to the two parties’ negotiation of a community benefits agreement.

The suit, filed by former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, seeks $10 million in damages and the right to build a new racetrack on 125 acres of land that Northville’s operators own in Plymouth Township, a purchase the track claims was “aggressively” pursued by the city.

Plymouth Supervisor Kurt Heise told The Detroit News that the township will “vigorously defend” itself against the allegations, which, as Cox’s complaint outlines, include “extravagant, unlawful, and unconstitutional demands for $5,000,000 in cash, drone shows, soccer fields, pickleball courts, and other items worth millions more to obtain regulatory approval.”

A remarkable turn of events

In speaking with the News, Heise took issue with the $5 million figure, saying that, in the latest round of negotiations, the township asked the track for just $3 million in guaranteed community benefits.

“Gaming is not popular in many circles and so we anticipated that, and we wanted to make sure that the community would see substantive benefit for everybody, regardless of how you feel about about Northville Downs,” explained Heise, who added that asking for such benefits in conjunction with a project of this magnitude was “not an uncommon thing.”

That being said, he reportedly acknowledged that the Northville Downs project was the first for which the township required a community benefits agreement as a condition of Planned Unit Development approval.

The window for agreeing to a mutually beneficial PUD closed this week, casting serious doubt on both the future of Northville Downs, which concluded an 80-year run of live racing at its original facility earlier this month, and horse betting at large in Michigan. The recent developments are the latest in a remarkable turn of events since June, when Plymouth’s Planning Commission unanimously supported Northville’s planned PUD and the project seemed destined for approval.

Since then, vocal local opposition to Northville’s relocation and a frosting of the relationship between township and track have led things to where they are now, with the combatants awaiting their day in court.

Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images