Kneehill County council reminded of racetrack concerns

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Although Kneehill County Council held a public hearing to discuss the revised Land Use Bylaw #1718, the meeting quickly turned into a platform for Rosebud-area residents to protest the proposed Badlands Motorsports Resort.
The public hearing began with Barb Hazelton, Kneehill’s senior planning and development officer, describing key changes to the Land Use Bylaw, highlighting new Section 24, Environmental Review, which states if proposed use of an environmentally significant area (ESA) will likely have a detrimental environmental impact, a qualified environmental professional must conduct a full environmental review. Hazelton also referred to Part 12, Land Use Districts, which outlines four Direct Control Districts (DCs). DC4 lists the uses allowed in the proposed Badlands Motorsports Resort site.
Kneehill County Reeve Bob Long invited members of the public to speak, but stated council would hear only new information, not information already received. He was referring to 26 Land Use Bylaw-related letters and e-mails to council, 23 of which protest the proposed Badlands Motorsports Resort.
No one spoke in support of the Land Use Bylaw, but 13 people spoke against it, 11 of them specifically addressing the proposed Badlands Motorsports Resort.
Wendy Clark, who farms near the Resort’s proposed site, told councillors the LUB’s environmental review section gives the impression it will protect environmentally important areas. But she said the County’s ESA report states the primary guideline for development in ESAs is avoidance.
“Why in heaven’s name would you list hazardous and noxious uses, destruction of over 10,000 square metres of riparian areas, waste management facilities, wrecking yards or major recreation facilities as uses in an ESA?”
Existing wildlife corridors were omitted from Badlands Motorsports Resort’s environmental review maps, Clark said, and the Resort would destroy those corridors by fencing wetlands. The Badlands Motorsports Resort review also omits protection for nationally-threatened bank swallows and Alberta Environment’s year-round setback for prairie falcons.
Clark challenged council to conduct an independent environmental review for public study. “Leaving our natural habitats intact for future generations is the most important legacy we can leave,” she said.
Sean Hoegy, conservation specialist with Western Sky Land Trust, said the Trust works to preserve land and valuable properties, and they believe in preserving ESAs “so our children may enjoy them as we did.”
Area landowner Brenda Kelemen-Tkachuk called Kneehill County’s ESAs the County’s pride and joy. “The tourism you’re striving for is the very thing you’re driving away.”
At public hearings to discuss the Badlands Motorsports Resort proposal, “we watched as you stared at the ceiling, rolled your eyes and played with your phones. [You’ll] be forever remembered for destroying this pristine river valley,” said Kelemen-Tkachuk to applause from the crowd.
Rosebud resident Shauna Murphy read a letter from LaVerne Erickson, Rosebud Theatre and Rosebud School of the Arts founder. Saying Rosebud hosts tens of thousands of guests yearly, Erickson called Rosebud: “A historic prairie community intentionally preserved and culturally designed.”
He reminded council of historic events originating in Rosebud, including the Canadian Badlands brand.
“The growth of the Canadian Badlands as a brand depends [partly] on intercommunity cooperation and mutual respect,” he stated in his letter. “Pitting one community against another is not helpful.
“Within earshot and sightlines from the hills overlooking the hamlet of Rosebud is planned a $400 million all-inclusive urban motorsport resort,” the letter continued. “Kneehill County is considering a development that totally violates the Rosebud Area Structure Plan, but will exist within the sightline of the Rosebud hamlet boundary. The hamlet of Rosebud is defenseless.”
Landowner Clive Elliott said under this LUB, council could create a Direct Control District over any land, including ESAs, leaving them vulnerable to destruction. “This is direct dictatorship and a cancer that cannot be allowed to develop within a democratic society,” he said. “The purpose of a Direct Control District is not to allow for abandonment of approved government guidelines.”
Kneehill County resident Jon Groves said approving the Badlands Motorsports Resort in the Rosebud River Valley would start a ‘slippery slope’ of environmental destruction.
“We are environmental stewards of that land,” he said. “We need to protect them.”
Hugh Ham, lawyer for Save the Rosebud including 65 farmers, said it surprised him that Kneehill County hired a biologist to designate and prevent development in ESAs.
“Then for some strange reason, they approved the Badlands Motorsports Resort in the Rosebud River Valley,” he said.
Section 24, he said, would make it even easier to destroy ESAs. Ham compared Kneehill Country council to Donald Trump’s supporters, saying they “ignore reality at any cost.”
He referred to cultures such as Easter Island, which collapsed due to environmental destruction.
Counc. Carol Calhoun asked Ham if he thought the Environmental Review section should be omitted. Ham commended Kneehill County council for including the section, but said it is terribly drafted and completely backward, and should be rewritten consistent with the Municipal Development Plan.
Landowner Rick Skibsted affirmed his value of wildlife. He reminded council that golden eagles, classified as sensitive in Alberta, live on the proposed Badlands Motorsports Resort site.
“Who in their right minds thinks you should have a gas bar in an ESA?” he asked. “Who in their right minds thinks hazardous and noxious uses are appropriate for ESAs?”
Joanne Skibsted, another landowner, said Badlands Motorsports Resort should relocate to a Kneehill County area that already has infrastructure, so the developer could save money, the County could get the development and the Rosebud River Valley would be preserved.
Ann Gray-Elton said she and her husband live in Beynon because the area is unique, and asked council to consider what they’d lose if they proceeded with Badlands Motorsports Resort. She said she hopes council will consider leaving the Rosebud River Valley as it is.
Reeve Long concluded the meeting by saying council would review all information presented, but reminded the public the meeting was about the LUB, not about a specific development.