At a meeting on Monday, November 22, the Texas Racing Commission voted to delay any final action regarding a request by the Austin Jockey Club to move its license to a new location in Pflugerville, a suburb just north of Austin, until August of 2005. After five hours of public comment, the commissioners voted 6-2 to postpone their decision to give the Austin Jockey Club time to try to prove that the new track is in the public interest, gain community support, and resolve a difficult road issue.

If it cannot meet those criteria by next August, the commissioners said that the Austin Jockey Club will need to present a new site

The track is proposed for 200 acres near the Travis County Northeast Metropolitan Park just east of Pflugerville near the route of Texas 130. It is outside the Pflugerville city limits but is scheduled for annexation next month. The racetrack would front Pecan Street, a two-lane road that is already overburdened. A design for widening the road has been completed, but neither Travis County nor Pflugerville has set aside money for the expansion, which could cost up to $7 million.

Bryan Brown, vice president of the Austin Jockey Club, said the delay would offer an opportunity to seek solutions to the road issue that caused commissioners the most consternation.

The Austin Jockey Club faced staunch opposition from some Pflugerville residents, who said the horse track would detract from the community's family-friendly image. They found a receptive ear with state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who sits on the Racing Commission.

"I believe the people here are speaking up and speaking out," Strayhorn said before voting against the deferment. "It's their home, and I believe that they know what's best for the community and what's in the public interest."

The plan won support from the Pflugerville City Council in October but was rejected by the Travis County Commissioners Court last week. The TRC has the final say.

The track was originally slated for a site near Riverside Drive and U.S. 183 in Southeast Austin. But that plan was killed in 2001 when the city rejected a necessary zoning change. On Monday, the commissioners considered whether to allow the existing racing license to be transferred to the Pflugerville site.