Calgary Kart Racing Club closer to construction

Times Reporter  

 

In July 2013 the Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) made a presentation to the previous council about the possibility of moving their facility into town. At the May 7 meeting Werner Fischer, with the town’s planning and development department, presented council with a development permit application. 

The CKRC would like to build a multi-use recreational motorsports park.  The park is not a rental facility. It is club-run, and use of it will be by appointment only.

The use being proposed is defined as an outdoor recreation service in the Land Use Bylaw, and the current zoning for the area, which in the southeast corner of town is M1 restricted light industrial district. 

In order to be able to approve the application, council needs to treat an outdoor recreation service similar to an indoor recreation service. 

“The land-use district allows indoor recreation services as an allowable use, but not outdoor recreation service which we suggest perhaps is a deficiency of the bylaw which will be remedied when the new bylaw comes out,” said Fischer.

He said it is far more common to put outdoor recreation facilities in an industrial park because there are fewer potential land-use conflicts and impacts on adjacent neighbours than there are with an indoor recreation service.  

The town owns the parcel of land being discussed and there is a tentative agreement to lease 20 acres of the site to CKRC for the facility. 

Fischer said administration’s main concern is that they want to minimize the risk of any land-use conflicts as new development happens closer to this facility.

One of the suggestions that development has is that the site be shifted north from the quarter-section line by about 20 metres, which will enable the possibility of an east-west road to be put through there in the future if need be, while also keeping it away from the county boundary.  

A six-metre setback is being suggested for all around the facility, which would enable the construction of a landscaped berm of about 2.5 feet in the future if needed. 

“By and large we don’t see any issues with it, at least not that can’t be managed in the future,” said Fischer, though he did indicate the county has some concerns. 

Fischer said administration does anticipate that the building of the facility and the track will be phased over a period of time, so when new development is added CKRC would come back for a development permit. 

Councillor Denise Peterson said council was well satisfied after watching video footage and talking to the group about the noise being controlled as best as it could be, and suggested that the same video and information be shared with the county to alleviate their concerns as well. 

Noise is always the first concern anyone has when a facility like this is being proposed. Fischer said there would be different vehicles with different engines and noise levels; the loudest vehicle will be 85 to 89 decibels at the distance of one metre. Based on administration’s calculations the owner with the closest farmstead is 762 metres away; at that distance they will still get a residual of about 65 decibels which will be noticeable, but Fischer thinks it will be mitigated by the white noise from Hwy 1. 

Council unanimously approved the development permit application as a discretionary use.