Residents in the Rosebud area are rallying together to express their concerns about the possibility of a racetrack in the area.
The Drumheller Mail told readers about plans for the Badlands Motorsports Resort development in its April 3 edition. At that time, Kneehill County had passed the first reading of its Area Structure Plan that could allow the project to move forward.
A number of residents in the area are concerned with the project.
Rick Skibsted farms in the area and says he has a number of reasons to be worried.
“I don’t think it has a warm reception by anyone so far anyway,” said Skibsted. “We are concerned about just about everything. The noise, the environmental aspect, and the fact they are taking agricultural land out of production.”
He says the site is considered an environmentally significant area, and is not an area that is meant to be developed.
“The County and rate payers should be concerned about the environmental part of it, so should the province,” he said.
Wendy Clark’s family has property in the area and she is concerned about the environmental impact of the project.
“It is a pristine location, it is basically untouched, it is fragile and in an environmentally sensitive area,” she said, adding the area has a local, provincial and national significance.
The motorsports park has an Area Structure Plan that includes a Biophysical Impact Assessment as well as an Environmental Noise Impact Assessment for the site. A third party assessment of the Biophysical Impact Assessment found issues in the report and this is included with the Area Structure Plan.
Clark said she too is concerned with this type of development in an agricultural community. The site includes a plateau, which is farmed, as well as rolling hills, wetlands and the Rosebud River Valley. There are many native species of plants in the unbroken land.
“It is in the middle of agricultural operations and there are 145 acres of highly productive farm land. It would be taken out of cultivation,” said Clark. “As farmers, these are back roads we need to move our machinery on. If we have a highway there, we have a lot of trouble.”
Skibsted also sees increased traffic as being troublesome.
“It is going to bring a lot of traffic into the area, it is going to bring a lot of noise into the area and we figure problems with trespassing and infringement on our own private land,” said Skibsted. “It will also impact our agricultural practices.”
He said there could be issues with dust, spraying and moving machinery.
To Clark, it doesn’t make sense to build the track in the middle of agricultural land, miles from existing infrastructure or significant populations.
“When you have a Municipal Development Plan there are exceptions, but from an economic point of view, ask yourself how much better would those benefits be if it were in a proper location?” she said. “If this was in a proper location, maybe it could see even better benefits.”
On June 11 there will be a public meeting to provide feedback on the application. Skibsted says a good number of residents are planning to attend the meeting and share their concerns with Kneehill County.
“It will really disrupt the lives of a lot of people in this area for one guy who wants to build a motorsports park,” said Skibsted.
The project map for the proposed Badlands Motorsports Resort.