Public Hearing on proposed Northwest Industrial Structure Plan sees clubs pushing to stay put

“I think it is really unfortunate that we have to vote for or against, because I don’t think anybody here is against the development of the city, and I think it is pretty unfortunate that this whole situation has made us choose either promote the city or promote ourselves,” stated Aaron Steinkey of the Medicine Hat Drag Race Association.

The clubs are all on leased city-owned property and the city estimates that it could take up to 25 years before phase four gets developed. If the area structure plan is approved, a policy review overlay would be in place to ensure the protection of the clubs before then. But the clubs say that still doesn’t provide them much security.

“It says 20 years but if a big industry came in there with money, they could buy the land that they want there and you guys all know that would happen. They aren’t going to move to stage 1 2 3 or 4 if they want to, because money talks,” stated Medicine Hat Drag Race Association president Dave Toth.

A proposed rail line going through phase four in the concept design also added to their concerns about the future of their facilities

“How are we supposed to move forward, keep doing improvements, when we don’t know if we are going to be there next year, or the year after? How do you get people to invest in your racetrack or their facilities if they don’t even know if they are going to get a payback on their investment?” Toth said.

Coun. Alison Van Dyke asked for clarification on where the rail line would go. Consultants for Stantec, a company hired by the city said the rail line is aspirational, and not set in stone.

“Putting something conceptually on a map does not mean it is going to happen tomorrow. It means that we are making planning decisions that view towards the future to consider what that could look like,” said Marcus Paterson, a planner from Stantec.

At the council meeting, councilor Shila Sharps asked about the feasibility of leaving stage 4 out of the area structure plan altogether.

“What does that do if we take that line right above the Medicine Hat Speedway, and say, ‘no that’s the clubs they are there? What does that do to our industrial plan if we just zoned down and said nothing above here is touchable, we are going to let our clubs stay? ” asked Sharps.

The Stantec consultants said doing that would require further assessment due to infrastructure.

“The critical reason why I would suggest you may not want to take pieces of the lands out is you want to ensure that you are planning your infrastructure and your layers of infrastructure appropriately so you are planning for all those lands,” said Paterson.

In the end, council voted unanimously to table the decision so they can explore other options.

One of the options under consideration, brought forward by Coun. Sharps is a 20-year lease extension for all the clubs. Sharps believes that would provide them the additional security that they want.

“I really think so, and I think they are very happy with that, but it gives us time to actually look at the numbers do some number crunching. I’d like some more information from Stantec. I would like some different scenarios because I think that is what citizens expect out of councilors is to ask the questions,” she said.

The next council meeting is slated for March 21.

by Tiffany Goodwein

Public Hearing on proposed Northwest Industrial Structure Plan sees clubs pushing to stay put

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