Rocky Mountain Motorsports’ proposed $20 million development at its racetrack east of Carstairs will not proceed as proposed after its development permit application was refused.
County council voted 6 – 1 May 8 to deny the company’s application for Phase 2 development of eight buildings at the facility based on the proposed buildings’ proximity to a level 2 and level 3 sour gas facility.
“If this is a public facility, the setbacks can’t be met and the permit cannot be approved,” reeve Angela Aalbers explained to councillors as they began deliberations.
Similar to Phase 1 development of the facility, the council was tasked with deciding what Alberta Energy Regulator definition best fit the proposed development and based on that, what setbacks would be required from nearby oil and gas installations.
The permit the company got for Phase 1 development classified the racetrack as unrestricted country development as a result of the strict control of entry and limitation of no more than 48 people on the track, meaning a 100-metre setback applied.
Without controls on the number of people that would be in the paddock area, that portion of the Phase 1 development met the definition of public facility accommodating more than 50 people, council decided, which required it to have a larger 500-metre setback.
Similarly, many councillors said without entry controls, the proposed vehicle storage buildings proposed in Phase 2 could have more than 50 people in them, fitting the definition of public facility. As such they would have to be setback 500 metres from the level 2 oil and gas assets and 1.5 kilometres from the level 3 assets - a distance unattainable in the proposal.
Whitecap Resources told the company it could work to de-rate the level 3 pipeline to a level 2 and that it could support the development within its emergency plan as long as it was not classified a public facility.
“One of the things that’s impressed upon us on a regular basis is that we need to make decisions based on the whole county,” said Coun. Peggy Johnson. “And when I think about the liability that all out taxpayers would carry if there was some kind of disaster, I think that seeing this as a public facility is absolutely paramount.”
The May decision comes after parties both for the proposal and against it spoke at the April 24 council meeting.
Several landowners with properties near the facility spoke in opposition to the development permit application, saying the expansion would exacerbate concerns they already have, largely around noise.
In voting to turn down the Phase 2 development permit application, Coun. Greg Harris noted council was also turning down proposed additional sound abatement.
Rocky Mountain Motorsports proposed to close the track one half day per calendar week, for four hours, either mornings or afternoons, with the closure to be determined at the company’s discretion and published six weeks in advance provided paddock admission area additional access hours was granted.
“I’m torn with this because this condemns the residents to (Rocky Mountain Motorsports) operating under the current development permit with little to no restrictions on noise because of the (Land and Property Right Tribunal) decision,”
The county issued a stop order on the property in the summer of 2023 requiring compliance with the sound limits under the original development permit. The provincial Land and Property Right Tribunal overturned that stop order early in 2024.
In its decision, the tribunal stated the breaches alleged in the stop order did not demonstrate non-compliance with requirements of the development permit.
When council was first debating the Phase 2 development permit in the summer of 2023, council passed a motion requesting that administration prepare amended conditions regarding noise abatement for the development permit prior to council consideration.
