CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said Wednesday that his administration will not build a professional-grade dirt-bike track and complex at Marion Motley Park at East 72nd Street and Carson Avenue.

Potential track operators who met with city officials earlier this year to discuss the proposal raised significant concerns about noise, congestion and insurance at the location. These concerns prompted the administration to reconsider its plans and search for other sites in the city, Jackson said in an interview. He sat with me following questions I raised this week about why he has not offered an update on the controversial plan during his campaign for re-election.

Jackson said that he remains committed to building a dirt-bike track worthy of hosting professional races and providing a space for bikers who want to perform tricks and stunts on a paved surface.

"Marion Motley park will not work for what we originally envisioned and we are now looking for a larger site," he said, noting that the city may try someday to accommodate amateur riders there but in much more limited scope.

The mayor's original plan, which was backed by Cleveland City Council in January, called for building both a dirt track and paved track at Marion Motley Park. Jackson said the city will no longer pursue a single site for both but rather find a new location for the dirt-bike track and explore other options for providing a safe space off the streets for trick riding, including making Cleveland Municipal Parking Lot available to promoters to host regular trick-riding events.

Jackson cited three reasons for abandoning the Marion Motely Park site, which is an old dump that is surrounded by the Garden Valley housing complex and other homes.

*Professional races would attract 35 to 40 dirt bikes per event and generate far more noise than the city realized earlier.

*The site lacks space for parking and staging for pit crews and their tents, trailers and trucks, and access to the park itself is limited, which would create traffic congestion in the neighborhood.

*Dirt-bike track operators will not assume the liability of operating paved track for stunts.

But Jackson said changing the location of the dirt-bike track does not change the city's plan to remediate the park land which is contaminated.

The city's environmental study of the land, which was done as part of its dirt-bike track plan preparations, shows the old dump is more contaminated than city previous thought, which has forced the city to close the park to any activity. Children had been playing baseball and football in the park for decades.

Jackson said that despite the findings the park will not require more remediation work than previously planned. He said the park will still be capped by two feet of dirt and cost about $1.1 million.

The money to remediate the park and build a track comes from the city's capital fund, which is separate from the city's operating budget that covers day-to-day operations, including paying for police and firefighters.

Jackson said the investment is an extension of the city's investment in recreation activities.

"It's part of the regular cycle of addressing recreation," Jackson said, noting that his critics unfairly suggest the money for the track could be spent on city services.

Jackson reiterated his longstanding arguments that city must reach out to the city's youth by providing recreational opportunities beyond building traditional basketball courts and other indoor spaces. He has said the track would give the city a new tool to help improve police-community relations and connect with youth. And he asserted last summer that the tracks would provide a grounding for youth to pursue work in mechanics, concessions and sports management.

Jackson said Wednesday that trick and stunt dirt-bike riding is "pure urban" and a growing recreational activity that the city must embrace.

"Urban kids have created a new sport," he said.

This was updated to include an additional quote from my interview with Frank Jackson.