Motorcycle Club responds to fantastic news

August 9th, 2013

Article originally written on Goulburn Post.

THE Goulburn Motorcycle Club hopes to have a permanent track up and running by Christmas under a compromise struck at Tuesday’s Council meeting.
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The track, next to the Goulburn speedway, will receive the conditional go ahead provided the club can furnish an approved environmental management plan, including wider noise monitoring.

The complex must also firstly secure Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) approval.

The gallery was packed to capacity for this and other controversial items up for discussion.

Motorcycle members crowded into the Council Chambers awaiting the decision and then applauded loudly.

“After all this time, it’s fantastic news,” club president Richard Toparis said on Wednesday.

“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing today with calls from members.”

Pending approval of the plan and a construction certificate being issued, he hoped the track at least would be operating by December.

But the approval was not without contention.

The development application, for several motorbike tracks south of the speedway, has sparked noise fears from surrounding residents. Six people – for and against – spoke their mind during open forum.

But Cr Robin Saville told the meeting it was important to approach the matter with a “spirit of compromise.”

“I’m in support of this facility and acknowledge it will be of benefit to the community but I also stand in support of neighbours,” he said.

“They were there first and I think the onus is on the applicant to ensure the noise is managed. That’s the basis for my motion.”

His motion, which councillors endorsed unanimously, slightly altered planners’ recommendation to conditionally approve the proposal, subject to SCA concurrence.

The environmental management plan must be formulated and approved before any activity can start.

Cr Andrew Banfield, who earlier declared he had “no conflict of interest with any item on the agenda,” added to motion.

He successfully called for a condition limiting the number of bikes on the track to 28 at any one time to be removed and that the type of motorcycles should be open class, rather than limited to 125CC.

The motion followed several speakers’ arguments that a noise study undertaken by consultant Marion Burgess for the Club was “deficient,” did not consider wider noise effects and was not independent.

In addition, they maintained the planners’ report had misrepresented the findings of a Council commissioned peer review and ignored an acoustic study that the residents enlisted.

In an address to councillors, resident Sharon Cooke described all of this as a “shoddy attempt to override people’s legitimate concerns.”

“We don’t want another fiasco like the multifunction centre,” she said.

Husband and wife Jan and Nancy Cheetham also pressed these points in open forum.

“I respectfully suggest that councillors study the findings of the two peer reviews and form their own conclusions before approving this DA,” Mr Cheetham said.

“Approvals should not be based on inadequate information. The Council should not approve a DA before all relevant information is available.”

Ms Cooke highlighted an email sent to Council planning staff by environmental scientist, David Johnson. Mr Johnson undertook a noise assessment for residents which found that the Burgess report was “quite inadequate” and would not be accepted by a regulatory authority such as the EPA.

In the correspondence he challenged Tuesday’s planning report stating that the Council commissioned peer review had concluded that ‘based on current information, the proposed facility is capable of being managed to limit noise levels to an acceptable level.’

“This is not true,” Mr Johnson wrote.

“Nowhere does the peer review say that.”

Later, under questioning, planning director Chris Stewart said this was his clear understanding from talks with the peer reviewer, Alex Jochelson, even if it hadn’t been expressly stated in his report.

Mr Stewart said planners relied heavily on his advice to draw up consent conditions.

Ms Burgess has undertaken background noise monitoring and was analysing this, a late item to the meeting stated.

Mr Stewart told the Post the Burgess data would form the basis of the environmental management plan. The document will also consider erosion, dust control and other aspects. A report would be brought back to councillors for consideration, he said.

While noise was uppermost on some minds, others were fierce advocates of the facility.

GMCC member Andrew Rowlands, while also defending the noise studies, the activity was a valuable weapon in the fight against childhood obesity.

He’d recently attended a local youth forum where it was revealed the Goulburn region had higher than average rates of youth suicide and depression.

“Our young people are looking for us to do something,” he said, while conceding the motorcycle track was not the only answer.

Cr Margaret O’Neill said she was “100 per cent” behind the track and refuted suggestions motorbikes had never operated at the speedway before.

It should be at Wakefield says Peto

FORMER councillor Geoff Peterson called for an alternative location for the motorcycle facility at Tuesday’s meeting.

He also questioned whether Council had given any guarantees about its approval.

Mr Peterson, who admitted maintaining a keen interest in Council happenings, told open forum it was “commendable” that the motorcycle club had modified its plans in response to community concerns and “no doubt, legal advice.”

The number of operating hours had been reduced to about 240 and National events had been removed from the line up.

“The speedway has 40 hours of operation versus 240 hours at the motorcycle track,” Mr Peterson said.

“The residents tolerate the speedway but it will still be six times more nuisance than what’s been there before.”

He noted the “significant divergence of opinion” between noise consultants about the motorcycle track’s impact and suggested the upcoming Am-Cross event at Divall family property, ‘Narambulla’ was an ideal opportunity to undertake an acoustic test.

Mr Peterson described as nonsense Elevate Planning’s statement that the only way to properly test noise impact was to have the track operational.

He told councillors that Wakefield Park was a much better location for the facility as, despite its constant operations, had hardly generated any noise complaints. The club has investigated this option and ruled it out because it wouldn’t be a permanent base.

But Mr Peterson saved the sting until last. He told councillors that Upper Lachlan and Palerang councils had both refused the motorcycle track yet local businessman Neville Burrows had written to the Goulburn Post earlier this year stating the club had purchased land for the facility. This was before approval and after the club had spoken to planning staff about the most suitable site.
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He called on councillors to question what guarantees Council had given to the club.

Planning director Chris Stewart said none were given. He told the Post that while there were pre-lodgement meetings with club representatives, they were about the property on the eastern side of 119 Sydney Rd. The club subsequently purchased land to the south of the site for the track.

Club president Richard Toparis has also rejected any ‘done deals.’