Will Carlsbad allow drinking and driving?

A group of Carlsbad residents fighting to keep K1 Speed kart racing from getting city permission to serve wine and beer to onlookers includes the teenager who holds the top scoring position nationwide for performance and winning races.

Carlsbad teen Daniel Eaton spoke against the permit application at the Carlsbad Planning Commission and is planning to speak to the city council later this month. The planning commission voted in favor of permitting K1 to serve beer and wine under carefully controlled conditions. Opponents appealed the approval, which goes to the city council Aug. 22.

“When people are under the influence they can get mean, there are a lot of bad things that can happen,” young Eaton said. “I don’t want fights going on..… I just want to have fun.”

Eaton is the highest ranked driver nationally with K1. (Second place is held by San Diego Zachary Francavilla.)

His grandmother, Nina Eaton said that Daniel has been racing at K1 for four or five years.

“It’s teaching him sportsmanship and camaraderie,” she said. “It’s the only sport he’s involved in and he is passionate about it.”

Ms. Eaton said that the track’s focus is on driving and racing, not on drinking.

“It’s mostly men — a lot of testosterone, but it’s good clean fun,” she added. “You go there to race, you don’t go there to watch. You could be there three hours and do four or six races or less. The rest of the time is spent sitting at tables waiting for the next race.”

The 75,000 square-foot kart racing facility has been in an industrial neighborhood for more than a decade and fought successfully against a city planning department recommendation it not be allowed to open its doors.

“At first blush, combining drinking and driving just doesn’t sound like a good idea,” planning commissioner Marty Montgomery said. Montgomery was one of the two commissioners who voted against granting the permit in the 5-2 vote.

Paul Klukas from Planning Systems said that the company is going to great lengths to make sure there is no overlap of drinking and driving. Their plan is to put bracelets on people who came to race and remove them once they have a drink. They will also use a hand-stamp scheme at the bar so drinkers are well marked.

“K1’s goal here is simply to improve on their menu in their concession area café,” he said. “The beer and wine drinking will take place only in the café area. People won’t be able to meander throughout the facility. They don’t have any intention at all of turning this into a bar.”

The go-kart facility competes with indoor golf and movie theaters, he said. Those establishments do serve beer and wine and have a wider range of selections on the menu so they attract more fun-seekers.

K1 has a breathalyzer at the door and if the cashier thinks someone has been drinking, they require a breathalyzer test before they’ll let people drive. The company anticipates that 85 percent of its revenues will come from racing (up to $19.99 a pop), and 15 percent from the restaurant. Of that 15 percent from the restaurant, just 15 percent will come from alcohol sales, Klukas said.

“This is going to be a very minor part,” he said.

The commission’s main concerns were around the possibility of kids getting alcohol and of intoxicated people driving.

“I understand that after an event you want to sit down and chat with your friends and have a beer or some wine and something to eat,” commissioner Lisa Rodman said. Another commissioner called adding beer and wine “an undesirable combination of activities.”

Commissioner Jeff Segall noted that the commission had similar concerns with granting a permit to a gun range that yielded few or no problems.

“There will not be any driving the karts after they’ve been drinking,” Klukas said, noting that the company’s insurance rates are staying low in locations where beer and wine are served. “It’s a corporation. The investors can’t afford to get into situations where the insurance rates get too high.”

A group called Wake Up Carlsbad has joined with the North Coastal Prevention Coalition to oppose allowing alcohol to be served. John Byrom, identified as a prevention coordinator, said that he has been sober of 31 years.

“It’s getting so it’s hard to find a place that isn’t serving alcohol,” Byrom said. “There are folks in Carlsbad that don’t drink.”

Byrom said the group offers training for servers and urged the panel to add an alcohol service training component to the permit. Apparently, Carlsbad does not require such training.