The idea of a multi-million dollar motorsports park in Mountain View County has some residents up in arms.
Rocky Mountain Motorsports president Dominic Young said an application for a direct control re-designation under the land use bylaw has been submitted to the county to build the facility on the southeast corner where Highway 2 and Highway 581 intersect, just east of Carstairs.
But landowners adjacent to the property are already preparing a petition against the proposal.
“Can you imagine seven days a week from 9 in the morning to 9 at night, hearing squealing tires and roaring cars and whining motorbikes and smelling burning rubber and the exhaust from those cars?” adjacent landowner Lou Nail said while shaking with rage during an interview with the Gazette.
“I get up in the mornings in the summer and I stay outside for about an hour every day and I listen to nothing. It's the most beautiful thing in the world.”
She said she enjoys listening to birds, roosters, cows, the occasional donkey and the train while drinking a cup of coffee, which was a retirement promise she made to herself.
“That's what you expect to hear out here,” she said.
But Young said noise studies have been conducted and there shouldn't be any smell coming from the facility because it won't include a drag strip.
The proposed facility would include a three- to five-kilometre track, an area for training schools, an area for the Calgary Police Service to train officers, storage space for vehicles and an area for businesses to set up shop, he said.
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.
“For the most part, the facility wouldn't be used for direct racing. It would be used for time challenges, lapping, performance driving schools, car clubs renting the track,” he said.
“So it's not a facility that's designed for a lot of spectators. We're not going to be bringing big crowds to the facility, it's user-based.”
Another adjacent landowner, Shelly Beyak, expressed concerns about safety and her husband David Koosey's ability to move farm equipment on Highway 581.
“There are no shoulders on that road and I'm sorry, but Dave is not going to take his $500,000 combine into the ditch because some guy is coming at him with a Ferrari,” said Beyak.
“Somebody is going to die. Somebody is going to have a major accident because these guys are going to be speeding up and down here testing their cars before they go out on the track.”
But Young believes the facility will 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.
“We're trying to put, in fact take the racing off the highways and put it into a facility that's designed exactly for that purpose.”
He approached adjacent landowners within a one-mile radius of the proposed location with the proposed development prior to submitting an application to the county in recent weeks.
He said public consultation is important to members of the organization and they will look at reducing hours of operation to satisfy the neighbours.
He said they will also look into constructing a berm on the property to restrict sound.
He opened 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.
Beyak said neighbours have been meeting regularly ever since they were notified of the proposal.
“Our concern is that you've got 1,000 people using this facility, coming from, they're urbanites, they're coming from the city with the need for speed,” said Beyak.
“How safe are our husbands going to be?”
She is also concerned about her property value decreasing.
“This is a major stress. It's not fair,” she said.
Koosey expressed concerns about mental health and said he doesn't believe the facility will benefit local people.
Lou Nail said she hasn't been able to sleep. She was born and raised on the family farm and said if the facility is approved her space will be invaded.
“I can't imagine selling,” said Nail. “That farm is like my lifeblood. I think about it and it just chokes me up. To sell that would be like selling one of my kids.
“This is my home. This is where I live. They can't do that. Who wants to live next to a racetrack?”
She also expressed concerns with possible vandalism and theft, policing, fire, pollution, disturbing wildlife and people driving home drunk.
“What about people that are leaving drunk after they've been here all day watching?” she said.
“And the people that are speeding up and down this road? Because when they come out and they're full of adrenalin, they've just been at a racetrack and they want to see how fast their car can go.”
Trudy Reap, another adjacent landowner, said she will likely sell her property if the development gets the green light from the county.
A fourth adjacent landowner, Susan Campbell, added, “Twenty years ago we moved from Calgary, we invested in our land, we built our dream home and 20 years later we don't have curtains on our windows because we don't have neighbours that can see in. But I can see putting bars up now.”
Young said the land is owned by a private individual and Rocky Mountain Motorsports is currently in negotiations to purchase it.
He said it's slated for future commercial use in the county's Wessex area structure plan that was adopted in October.
Residents would have the opportunity to voice their opinion on the matter once the application for a direct bylaw goes to council for first reading.
Young first presented the idea to the county's policies and priorities committee in April of 2015 but a location for the facility wasn't selected at that time.
His first choice was to build the facility in Rocky View County and he submitted an application in 2014, but it was declined in January of 2015.
He has looked at various locations in Central Alberta and thinks this location is ideal because it's along the Highway 2 corridor and within reasonable distance of Red Deer and Calgary.
The organization is currently based in Calgary but Young said if the application is approved the office would be moved to the facility. This would be the first facility for the organization.
He would like to see construction begin in 2017 and says it would be built in two phases. The second phase would include an emergency handling training school.
“A lot of the activities are really directed at better driving and creating better drivers,” said Young.
The facility will cost roughly $60 million to build and the organization has raised money for the build through private equity, he said.
They will also be selling memberships, he said.
He thinks it will benefit local businesses, create local jobs and “put Carstairs on the map”.
"Can you imagine seven days a week from 9 in the morning to 9 at night, hearing squealing tires and roaring cars and whining motorbikes and smelling burning rubber and the exhaust from those cars?" Lou Nail,adjacent landowner
