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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCD-22-97,~ - ~ TAE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON E REPORT Meeting: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE File# 1,~~~li~~'- Res #( -rrf ~J~ %~'- ~' Date: MAy 5, 1997 By-Law # Report#: CD-22-97File#: Subject: MOSPORT PARK 1997 PROGRAM Recommendations: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. THAT Report CD-22-97 be received; 2. THAT staff be authorized to issue a licence to Mosport Park to conduct events only at the oval track during the months of May and June; 3. THAT Mosport Park be advised that beginning in July: • they will be required to meet all requirements of the amended Noise and Special Events By-laws; and • rather than licences being issued 30 days ahead of an event, a licence will be issued only after the previous event has been staged to the satisfaction of the municipality; and 4. THAT a copy of Report CD-22-97 be forwarded to Mosport Park. BACKGROUND AND COMMENT: At the Council meeting of June 24, 1996, Council received Report CD-36-96 which advised that Mosport Park would commit to reducing the noise level from the oval track by an average of 50 percent starting in 1997. This was to be accomplished by demanding mufflers being installed on all racing vehicles and the erection of noise barriers. Since this time, numerous discussions regarding this issue have taken place with the officers of Mosport Park. In correspondence dated April 22, 1997, addressed to Mr. Stockwell, Robert Salna, the new Chairman and CEO of Mosport has indicated that the promises made by Bernard Kamin in this respect are unrealistic (see Attachment No. 1). ._. , ~~®~~ _ 7 01 1_ Report CD-22-97 - 2 - May 5, 1997 In response to this correspondence, Mr. Stockwell advised that amendments to the municipality's Noise and Special Events By-laws will be presented to Council in the near future. The amendments which are being proposed would not pose any burden to Mosport should they carry out their noise abatement program, however, without it, the by-laws may be difficult for them to comply with. (See Attachment No. 2). We are anticipating that the amendments to the by-laws will be presented to the General Purpose and Administration Committee on May 20, 1997. During a meeting with the proponents of Mosport Park and again in his correspondence dated April 24, 1997, Mr. Stockwell advised that for the 1997 racing season, permits will only be issued on an "as applied for" basis rather than at the beginning of the racing season as was done previously. Presently, the Special Events By-law requires that an application must be submitted to the Clerk 45 days and a licence must be issued 30 days of a scheduled event. As the amendments to the by-laws are anticipated for late May, it is our recommendation that Mosport be granted a licence to conduct events only at the oval track during the months of May and June. Beginning in July, they would be required to meet all requirements of the amended by-laws. Also, rather that the licences being issued 30 days ahead of an event, it is our recommendation that a licence be issued only after the previous event has been staged to the satisfaction of the municipality. In the case of the oval track where racing is conducted every Saturday, this will mean a licence will be issued a maximum of six days prior to the next event. In this way, staff will have an opportunity to review each event and its effect on the municipality. llvlsubmitted Reviewed by atti ar ie, A.M.C.T. W.H. Stockwell Cle / Chief Administrative Officer PLB Enc h 7 7J~. ATTACIIAfENT N0. 1 CANADA'S HOME OF MOTOR RACENG April 22, 1997. Municipality of Clarington 40 Temperance Street, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3A6 Attention: Mr. William H. Stockwell Chief Administrative Officer RE: BERNARD 11{AM1N'S PROivII5ES ON BEHALF OF MOSPORT PARK ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION (MPEC) & THE ANNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON IN REGARDS TO METHODS OF REDtL1CBVG SOTIND LEVELS AT MOSPORT'S OVAL RACE TRACK As the new Chairman and CEO of MPEC C would like to advise the Municipality of Clarington that MPEC now faces some very difficult times of which I have summarized in a letter to our shareholders attached hereto. Please read it to get a feel for how and why MPEC now requests your leniency and understanding. Although this fetter exudes some confidence in the future, it is somewhat optimistic and 1viPEC may yet face the harsh realties of life. It is my opinion that promises made by Mr. Bernard Kamin were in my opinion not realistic. By asking OVAL 17rivers to spend $600-$1,000 to put mufflers on their vehicles does not work realistically because it is not a universal policy yet in Canada and the liSA .That means when our drivers leave to race elsewhere, they remove their muffler to remain competitive as a substantial amount of horsepower is lost and each every time a muffler is removed, an expensive tune up is required to retune tha engine. In addition any drivers wanting to race at our track from out of town would not he too interested to make all of these expensive modifications, just to race at our track for one or two weekends, preventing us from havin; a full complement of races thereby reducing revenue and entertainment qualit}' for the spectators. Which again could end up showing up as reduceu revenue. In essence, what I would like to say is that although I would like to see mufflers on all the vehicles, it is an impractical situation and at this time. Please al!o«~ us the time to analyze the situation surrounding the use of mufflers in the industry before a final decision is made. As the racing season is quickly upon us, we hope it is possible not to enforce thi; reyuirement, at least for this year for the following reasons: 1) Doing this would effect Mosport's determined bid to raise revenue to pay its creditors money owed. Some of these creditors are focal businesses. Without operating the Oval this will become a much harder job. Coat.../ r ~~~ 3 825 DENISON STREET, UNIT 16 • MARKHAM, ONTARIO • L3R 5E4 PHONE: (905) 513-0550 1.800-561-0124 FAX: (905) 513.0566 WEESITE: WNIV`J,MOS?ORT.COM 2 2) Many local people use the oval as a form of entertainment. The fact that drivers come from all areas of the province, this also brings many outsiders into our community. By closing the oval we would be upsetting many drivers who have spent their life savings to build race cars to race at Mosport. 3) We employ 50-70 local people on a Saturda}'night of racing. Many of these people art local kids living in rural areas where part time jobs are hard to find. Operating this track we are required to buy man}' things locall}'. Some of the things which come to mind are Permit Fees for the Town of Claringtoo, ambulance service, tow truck service, lumberyards, trades people, food supplies for the oval are all purchased locally 4) We aze in the position to ten[ the oval for 8 Friday nights and 5 Sunday afternoons, as welt as our norma120 Saturday nights for a total of 33 daylnight of operations. For 1997 we would be willing to restrict ourselves to 20 nights of racing. Keeping in mind that Peterborough Speedway operates a schedule as follows - 25 Wednesday night practices, 25 Friday race nights, 25 Saturday night races, plus ~ Sunday race days. 5) Mosport would be willing to operate in 1997 for only 100 hours of actual track usage. 1Vhen you consider that there is 8,760 hours in a year, this does not seem like much to ask. 6) Mosport has been in discussion with a new speedway located at Kawartha Race Track to have the same rules for both tracks and try to start implementing mufflers for environmental safety. By working together we would have a much greater influence in this regard. But, V1._Q promises are coming from me. 7) As in the past, we have worked with local charities at the oval, lVe would like to increase this involvement to include discounted tickets which they can sell and an idea fora 50/50 draw which some charities could become involved with, would be very welcomed. You have to realize that Mr. Kamia is the type of person who promises, some times more than he can give, Mosport believes that mufflers on stock cars at this time is not practical and we ask to be lot off the hook on this promise for the time being. Another promise made by Bernie was the construction of a berm and a sound barrier on top of this been at the north end of the track. This in itself is not an impossibility at this point in time, but for Mosport it is extremely difficult. Mosport currently faces 55,600,000 in liabilities and puts the Company in a very precarious position. Mosport has served the community well for 30 years, always being a good corporate citizen by hiring locally and buying local goods whenever possible. In addition, enclosed is a study indicating the large sums of money that are spent locally as well by the visiting guests of the site. Yes Mosport is in fact a very real and large contributor to the local economy and has been so for over 30 years. We would like to continue for another 30 years, but we require your help, please at this time. W'e cannot make the 5150,000 capital expenditure to achieve the been and the sound attenuation wall. If we survive this season, then yes let us talk next year about Borne expenditures towards sound reduction, but at this time we would have no alternative, but to shut down the oval at this time rather titan make such large capital improvements to the site. 7;` 1 U `t ~;in _~ _, lc~l_~ -3- Please work with us this year and if we survive, lets re-negotiate next year. if we were not allowed to operate under curre~it conditions, we would have no alternative, but to close tl~e Ovat. Sincerely, TIIE MOSPORT PARK ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION "'%~~ ROBERT P. SAI.NA CHAIRMAN & CEO RPS/lmcm-m unit lar.doc Encls. /,. r a+ °a Lease agreement could put Mosport back on right tracl~ By Rrcx MATSUMOTO SPORTS REPORTER It looks es if there might be automobile and motor-~ cycle racing at Mosport !'ark this summer after all. But it could come at the expense of creditors, who are owed more than $3 million, and the jobs of track employees. According to sources, the operators of the finan- cially troubled tracknorth of Bowmanville have reached .agreement on a long-term lease with..the International Motorsports Speedway Group:- Mosport CEO Robert ' Solna insisted the deal has not been completed but admitted "it's looks like it's 'going [o_happen." The sources; however, told The Star that the deal was completed Thursday night. It would result in Ib7SG, which holds a $1.58 million mortgage, leasing Mosport for as long as 40 years rather than purchas- ing it, as was the original intention. 'Ib.~o Mosport directors, Barrie Morton and John Eversley, resigned on Thursday and were re~ placed immediately by Ted Murphy, the new presi- dent, and Philip Flug, who becomes the secretary- treasurer. Neither Morton nor Ev- ersley would confirm that he quit because of the deal shuck with IMSG. Both said they resigned for "personal reasons." [MSG made a bid to pur- chase the facility as eazly as January, but the deal stalled over legal prob- lems. The new lease deal, however, could pose a problem for creditors, who supplied services to Mos- port such as printing pro- grams; providing radio and television advertising, etc., but have not been paid. Also, the future of em- ployees, some of whom have not been paid in full since last summer, could be in jeopardy. Solna would say only that his intention is "[o do what has to be dose to save the company." 7 ~a r ^ . ATTACHMENT NO. 2 MU NICIPnLITV OF Iar'ington CN7AR10 dP~ zs ~z z9 ~~ ~s~ April 24 1997 Mr. Robert P. Salna Chairman & CEO Mosport Park Entertainment Corporation 825 Denison Street, Unit 16 Markham, Ontario L3R SE4 Re: Mosport Park 1997 Program Gentlemen: Thank you for your letter of April 22, 1997. Needless to say, we are disappointed that the promises made by Mr. Kamin on behalf of Mosport, will not be carried out. You will recall that during our meeting of February 25, 1997, we explained that we were presently holding amendments to the Noise By-Law and amendments to our Special Events By-Law that would further control the sound emission from Mosport Park, awaiting u timetable from you regarding the noise abatement program that was promised leading up to the Edenfest Concerts. The by-laws in question set out the decibel levels for different times of the day and night. In drafting same, we did not feel that the changes would be a burden to you given the promises made. However, without the necessary noise abatement program being carried out by yourself, the by-laws may prove difficult for you to comply with. It is our intention to present the amendments to Council for their consideration in the next few weeks so that it will be in place for the 1997 season. It should be noted that we still have an open door to work with you in order that the new noise levels can be adhered to during the course of your racing and concert season. To this end, we will supply you with a copy of the amendments prior to presenting them to Council and would encourage you to work with " us in ensuring that all future activities at Mosport will be in accordance with the Municipality's by-laws including the amendments. ~~-z=. ~ty`-~ -.. J~ _.~: 1, f!i7 ^. `iF ~F!~!V .;_tT-~~ CF _aaRih-0Gl"::N ,.. ._ ._ ,~'J / As previously stated, Council has made it clear that it will not be issuing any future permits if all the necessary documentation is not received as outlined within the Special Events By-Law 91-56. You have also been advised that in the 1997 racing season, permits will only be issued on an "as applied for" basis. Yours truly, i~~-~_%~ W. H. Stockwell, Chief Administrative Officer cc: Mayor Diane Hamre Patti Barrie, Clerk ~ Dennis Hefferon, Solicitor '':~ ~3