In May, state environmental officials rejected the golf-course expansion, citing technical reasons, and killed another developer’s plan for mega-yacht docks that critics called “the millionaire’s marina.”

The latest would-be developer’s Formula One racetrack -- plus a 100,000-seat grandstand and fields for international cricket matches -- would be mostly on private land. It needs about 20 public acres, though, to secure backdrop views to rival Monaco’s Grand Prix. In exchange, it would clean up about 200 park acres that are contaminated and fenced off.

Privately Funded

Except for 18 to 24 race days a year, the track would be open for charity events and other public use, according to Tom Considine, a banking and insurance commissioner under Christie, whose environmental department had declared the park ripe for development. Considine, who identified himself as one of the project’s principals, said other backers didn’t wish to be identified, and he described them only as an investment bank and “some people with long affinity with motor-sports racing.”

“This is unlike any project which they’ve opposed in the past,” Considine said of park activists. “It’s a privately funded project that would triple the size of green grass at the park.”

The proposal, though, is a long shot, and early on the group’s name, Liberty Rising, has caused confusion.

Liberty Media Corp., Formula One’s owner, has no affiliation with the project and hasn’t been in contact with the developer, according to an email from Courtnee Chun, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based company. Dave Donovan, a spokesman for Liberty National Golf Club, said Liberty Rising has no ties to a 2014 casino and auto-racing park proposal of the same name, conceived and then shelved by Fireman.

As for Liberty Rising’s pitch to clean up 200 polluted park acres, Christie’s administration in January announced that proceeds from environmental litigation awards will cover that cost. Though Considine said some parts of the project could be ready by 2020, Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state environmental protection department, said Liberty Rising met with department officials but hasn’t submitted a formal proposal.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a former Wall Street trader who started his second term in January, said the project’s noise and traffic would overwhelm surrounding neighborhoods.

“I don’t see any sort of avenue where I could support this,” he said. “You have people from all over the world who aspire to come and see that view. Ultimately what you’re talking about is capitalizing on that view financially.”