A decision on a municipal dispute regarding the Badlands Motorsports Resort is expected in the new year. Wheatland County was disputing a Kneehill County rezoning bylaw.
The road to the Badlands Motorsports Resort is a long one but it is making strides.
In January, Kneehill County Council passed a rezoning bylaw deeming the area to be under Direct Control. This means that the council is required to sign off on the project.
The development borders Wheatland County and shortly after the bylaw was passed, Wheatland appealed to the Municipal Government Board that the bylaw might have detrimental effects.
At issue were the potential impacts on road infrastructure. According to Wheatland’s original submission, “Both the construction and the use of the development necessarily involves a significant traffic increase on Wheatland roads. The impacted Wheatland roads are primarily unsurfaced gravel roads and are not at the standard required to handle the level of traffic generated by the development or the construction of the development.”
This hearing wrapped up and according to Kneehill Reeve Bob Long, they are awaiting a decision, expected in January.
“It is the process you have to go through, but with anything, people are entitled to their opinion, and you have to walk through this process,” said Long.
James Zelazo of the Badlands Motorsports Resort is awaiting the decision, but feels confident they will be able to go on with the development.
“We are waiting for the actual results, I know the hearings are over, the dispute should be settled,’ said Zelazo. “The actual terms haven’t been decided, but I don’t think they are going to be a deal breaker.”
He said it is possible there could be an amendment to the bylaw.
The development is north of Rosebud and the primary access to the site will be from the north coming off Highway 9. Zelazo says they are firm that the road to the site will be paved.
“Any suggestion that we would do the project without upgrading the road as projected in our Area Structure Plan and bylaws, (are false) it is a given.”
A secondary access to the property falls in Wheatland County entering the property from the south. Zelazo said that road is unsafe and they will provide signage to direct drivers away from this route. As it is a County road, the development is not able toclose the road to the property. He said that they will disallow contractors working on the development from using these roads.
The project has been a long time coming. The land was purchased in 2006 with the view of creating a unique development. At the heart lies a road course racetrack. In March of this year, they updated the design. Rather than having three independent courses that could be configured together for one large track, they have designed two distinct road courses that are not connected.
The development is much more than a road course. It is modeled on a resort community with retail, a clubhouse and a paddock. The resort also includes accommodations and residential propertied.
The next step for the development after the decision is to present a master plan to Kneehill County to work towards a development agreement.
“This is a direct control district so all aspects are controlled each step of the way, the permits and the standards are controlled by the County,” said Zelazo.
