Badland Motorsports: “noise won’t bother anyone”

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

James Zelazo proposes to build Badlands Motorsports Resort (BMR) near the Rosebud River, 4.8 km east of Rosebud.
One road course would run beside the river, another on the plateau above. The 5.8 km of track would accommodate 100 drivers, totalling 400 daily. The resort would accommodate 1,400 people.
Nearby residents are concerned about noise.
“The Rosebud community does not buy into the promise that the track will be quiet,” states the website of the Save the Rosebud group. “With up to 100 high-powered cars on the track at one time, Rosebud knows they will hear the whine of a racetrack in what is now a peaceful hamlet.”
Twenty-four residences are within three miles and 123 residences are within eight miles of the site, said Wendy Clark, a Save the Rosebud member.
BMR commissioned Acoustical Consultants Inc. (ACI), to do a Noise Impact Assessment (NIA).
“I have to rely on the experts that have provided this thing [sound study],” Zelazo said. “That’s for whatever information that they wanted to get regarding it, how we obtain it. To say how the stuff was done … that’s not my area.”
But the NIA says of its data: “Information provided to ACI by Badlands Motorsports Club, Inc. ACI does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the information.”
The report predicts BMR noise would be acceptable at Rosebud and surrounding farms. It would be 37.7 decibels at the nearest residence, it says, and inaudible in Rosebud.
“No additional noise mitigation is required based on the typical maximum weekend course usage data provided to ACI by Badlands Motorsports Club,” the NIA concludes. “Special events which may involve more course cars operating at higher sound levels will need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.”
“The level, which they use for creating for decibels, which is rounded, in our study you’ll see that it has the location of the farms around. And they’re all within the limits of the Alberta Environment’s decibel ratings,” Zelazo said. “This study shows that it was negligible.”
The sound study data, provided by BMR, estimates 81 to 95 decibels per vehicle. But elsewhere, the NIA report indicates a per-vehicle maximum of 103 decibels. And at lotustalk.com, a racing forum, Jay Zelazo, president and CEO of Badlands Recreational Development Corporation, predicts 95 to 98 decibel limits on the upper track, and 105 decibels on the lower.
BMR plans to monitor sound output.
“Competitors carry sole responsibility to determine that their vehicles comply with Sound Control Regulations,” the NIA states. “All cars will be monitored and readings will be posted for competitors’ information. A driver registering a single sound level reading over 103 dBA (decibels) shall not be black-flagged.”
The first two times a vehicle is flagged for excessive noise, it will be required to make adjustments before returning to the track. After the third “strike,” it will be withdrawn from the course.
The valley’s unique topography may affect sound travel, according to Fiona Lauridsen, who posted an open letter to Alberta’s Premier on Save the Rosebud’s website.
“I lived two miles upstream from the hamlet of Rosebud,” Lauridsen wrote. “My home was 500m from the river’s edge. I liked to play my small African hand drum on my deck.”
People in Rosebud told her they heard her drumming, she said. “One little hand drum, two miles away, heard in town.”
Paul Lassen, an acoustician and Rosebud resident, in a statement to Kneehill County Council, described weaknesses in the NIA. The noise projections are unreliable and irrelevant, he said, because they’re based on the developer’s data, which used average noise levels, not maximums. Also, there’s no legislation binding BMR to implement its sound monitoring plan.
Regardless, Zelazo says, people might like hearing BMR noise.
“Sounds are, they can be loud but they’re not unpleasant,” he said. “A lot of people really like the sound of vehicle mufflers too. And it is not only the sound, it’s the type of sound and what sound can be annoying and what isn’t annoying.”
The NIA doesn’t mention noise impact on wildlife, though BMR’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) says the great blue heron and the prairie falcon, both listed as sensitive, and the peregrine falcon, listed as threatened, have been seen on the site, as have the ferruginous hawk, golden eagle, northern harrier, Swainson’s hawk, and the short-eared owl.
The EIA suggests a 1,000 metre setback from specified nests, April 15 to July 15. But Alberta’s Land-Use Guidelines require a 1,000 metre setback year-round.
BMR development won’t touch the cliffs, so the EIA says cliff nests won’t be directly affected. It doesn’t suggest how adults and young in cliff nests will respond to vehicle noise above and below. The EIA predicts wildlife may leave the site during construction, but will return afterward.
Clark and her husband offered to purchase the site at fair market value from Zelazo in 2013, she said. Zelazo said their offer covered only his price for the original parcel, not additional land purchased later. Clark said they’ll re-offer at today’s fair market value, which is significantly higher.
Zelazo said the Badlands Motorsports Resort has submitted all applications to Kneehill County and government bodies, and is now awaiting final approval.
To learn more about the proposed development and the concerns of nearby residents, see badlandsmotorsports.com and savetherosebud.ca.