May 1st Public Meeting Update
On Saturday, May 1st, the council of Greater Madawaska held a public meeting in the local community hall to hear representations from both sides of the issue on the proposed racetrack and the rezoning application to permit this racetrack. The meeting ran from 10:00am to 4:00pm.
There were about 150 people in attendance and the moderator, Mr. Mirsky, legal counsel for the, Township of Greater Madawasksa chaired the meeting. He outlined the framework for the meeting, which, in our opinion, should have been publicly detailed at least a week in advance. Public participants were limited to 5 minutes and restricted from making comments, which had been made by previous speakers or which did not pertain to land use issues. Many presenters came with prepared text for which these restrictions had significant impact. We were prepared to live with the 5-minute rule but then Mr. Mirsky started cutting off persons speaking in opposition to the track shortly into their presentations because, in his opinion, the points had already been made. We feel these challenges were slanted specifically against persons speaking in opposition to the track. At the outset of the meeting, the three principal track proponents, Mr. Fleming, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Steenbaker were given unlimited time to speak. When the chair of Concerned Calabogie Citizens got up to speak, Mr. Mirsky unceremoniously cut him off about 10 seconds into his presentation.
The experts addressing council included for CCC, legal counsel, Mr. Cohen, land planner, Mr. Fobert, and noise expert, Ms. Giusti and for the proponents, legal council, Mr Vice and noise expert, Mr. Gidamy. The format of the meeting did not include any cross-examination of the expert witnesses nor did council members have any questions for the experts. In our minds, this was extremely unusual. Considering council had no questions of the experts, it can only be concluded that they were completely knowledgeable of all the subject matter.
To quote a few of the comments printed in The Mercury, a local newspaper out of Renfrew.
“Mr. Fobert argued the application should be refused because it is not in keeping with the spirit of the township’s official plan and will not help preserve the area’s rural character, heritage, and resources. He stated that the developers have not proven how they will protect the environment, mitigate effects on neighbours or benefit the area.”
“Dalila Giusti of Jade Acoustics maintained that there is insufficient information on the long-term acoustics of the project to properly judge it. She stated, “a lot of outstanding issues need to be resolved until I’d be comfortable the noise criteria are being met.””
“Summing up for the CCC, lawyer Alan Cohen said the applicants haven’t demonstrated there won’t be any adverse effect on the track’s neighbours. Council is contemplating inviting an “annoyance” into the community. It’s a decision made in a minute but can last a lifetime.” Mr. Cohen also questioned the township’s resources to deal with track-related problems if they arise.”
Mr. Chris Fleming, of Calabogie MotorSports attempted to tie in the opponents of this project to all the past opposition to development in the Calabogie area dating back to the lumber Barons. A survey of our group revealed none of our members had been involved in opposition to other developments in the area.
Mr. Hamilton, Calabogie Motorsports’ marketing manager “said that the company chose Calabogie site because it is strategically placed to attract high performance car-owners from the large cities in Ontario and the north-eastern U.S.” When we hear the words, “high performance”, we feel that is serious cause for concern. Formula 8 racecars are “high performance”.
Mr. Vice, the proponent’s lawyer spent his presentation attacking Jade Acoustics’ report as uncredible because of a “disclaimer” in the report. In fact this disclaimer stated that noise expert Jade Acoustics was not responsible for the conclusions of the proponent’s report, which was submitted by SS Wilson. This referred to routine expert consultant statements within the report limiting her opinions to the facts available to her. This was an unjustifiable attack played out to an audience inexperienced with consultant reports and their routine content.
Mr. Gidamy, the proponent’s sound expert compared the noise of the track as comparable to an air conditioner or refrigerator running in your house. He failed to mention that the listener would have a choice to turn off these annoying sounds.
The major message sent by the track proponents related to the economic benefits to the community of Calabogie and surrounding area. There was no other basis on which they based their support. It was a question of money.
Track opponents on the other hand identified so many other important issues that it made the economic arguments seem trite. A few of these include:
Noise Pollution
Air and Ground Pollution
Water Pollution
Negative impact on wetlands and wildlife
Fire Hazard
Property devaluation
Tourist impact
Highway Safety
It appears that the township is moving forward in the process to pass the rezoning for the track. Whether passed or not, the next step will be an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board.
We wish to thank all our supporters. We will continue to oppose this project to the best of our ability.
Concerned Calabogie Citizens
