Mountain View County residents against a proposed motorsports park east of Carstairs have collected well over 200 signatures on a petition against the potential development.
Rocky Mountain Motorsports recently submitted an application to the county for a direct control re-designation under the land use bylaw to build a multi-million dollar facility on the southeast corner where Highway 2 and Highway 581 intersect.
But neighbouring landowners have expressed numerous concerns with the proposed facility.
Linda Neumiller, who owns property adjacent to the proposed location, said some of those concerns include noise, traffic safety and the amount of farmland that would be taken out of production.
“I have an awful lot of concerns,” said Neumiller. “I don't believe they've done a good enough resident impact plan for the residents that surround that area.”
She also expressed concerns about birds nesting in the area and migrating to the area, as well as water and sewage, road maintenance and potential costs taxpayers could be faced with in the future.
“And with Alberta's carbon tax and with the government pushing people to do lower emissions and everything, I don't see how a plan like this fits in with that, because of the amount of gas that would be burnt by vehicles on the tracks and vehicles coming back and forth to the site,” she said.
“The county has already had problems over the gun range. I think that the citizens of Carstairs will also be impacted by the noise, because it isn't that far away,” she added.
Rocky Mountain Motorsports president Dominic Young said noise studies have been conducted and he believes the facility will actually create safer roads.
“The whole purpose for having a track is to let people come in, in a safe environment, where they're not going to run into some innocent person driving their minivan or any other vehicle for that matter,” said Young.
“A lot of the activities are really directed at better driving and creating better drivers.”
He said the proposed facility would include a three- to five-kilometre track, an area for the Calgary Police Service to train officers, storage space for vehicles and an area for businesses to set up shop.
Businesses at the facility would likely include ones that cater to motorsports, like a tire shop, a place to purchase gear and a mechanical shop, he said.
Neumiller expressed concerns with how that might affect existing businesses in Carstairs.
She, along with other neighbouring landowners, have been taking a petition around to taxpayers in the county to garner signatures against the proposal.
She said so far the people she has encountered have readily signed it and expressed their support for it. She said they are hoping to get 1,260 signatures because that would be 10 per cent of the county's taxpayers.
“But we'll be content no matter how many we get because the county has said that any amount of signatures will have an impact,” she said.
Neumiller is one of several residents taking the petition around. She had collected 177 signatures as of press time Friday.
Matthew Pawlow, manager of planning services with Mountain View County, said under the Municipal Government Act (MGA), petitions aren't actually official when it comes to a land use bylaw amendment.
“People may use the term loosely, so what they can do is sign a letter that takes the form of a petition, but it wouldn't have the same legal standing that the MGA would give a petition,” said Pawlow.
“Really it would be a letter with a number of signatures indicating whatever the undersigneds' position was on a certain development, and then council could take that into consideration as an indication of the volume of people (who either support or oppose the development).”
He said an internal review of the application is being conducted.
“When we have an application that comes in, we review it to make sure that it's first complete, has all the information we need to do a full review and send it out to adjacent landowners,” he said.
June 17 was the last day the application was circulated to adjacent landowners within a one-mile radius of the proposed site, as well as government agencies.
County officials are now compiling a package with all of the feedback received during the 30-day circulation period to provide to the applicant.
County officials are also reviewing technical studies submitted by the applicant, including a traffic impact assessment, sound study and environmental wetlands assessment.
Pawlow said once all of the county's concerns have been met – and the province's, since the site involves Alberta highways – the bylaw will go to council for first reading.
If council gives first reading of the bylaw, a public hearing would be held roughly a month later, which would provide residents with the opportunity to voice their opinions. Second and third readings would be considered following the public hearing. If the bylaw is adopted, the applicant would need to apply for a development permit under the regulations of the direct control district.
“We haven't even got that far yet in the process. It's really kind of in the initial stages during this review time,” said Pawlow, adding residents with any questions regarding the technical studies are asked to contact the applicant.
Young has opened up a temporary satellite office on 10th Avenue in Carstairs two days a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, for residents to express any concerns with the development during the application process.
"We haven't even got that far yet in the process. It's really kind of in the initial stages during this review time."Matthew Pawlow,Mountain View County
