Is Ardmore still open on Wednesdays??

[telliman]

race lines up!

[Atomic]

Yep, track will be open if John gets back from court by 12:00ish
Need to check raceline after lunch

[Reckless]

Raceline says its not on guys and I can confirm its raining out here now!
CYA on Sunday at Thunder then! If its not pissing down.

[Iva]

Yep, track will be open if John gets back from court by 12:00ish
Need to check raceline after lunch

"Court" hope that's not serious!!

[Atomic]

"Court" hope that's not serious!!

Serious enough that it could personally cost John $111K and see the end to us being able to ride at Ardmore.

[Ktmboy]

Serious enough that it could personally cost John $111K and see the end to us being able to ride at Ardmore.

Has anybody heard from John on how the Environment Court proceedings went yesterday?

[raglanash]

Anyone know if there's riding tomorrow?

[cheese]

Hey a does John own that land at ardmore or deos he lease it?

[Boosted]

anyone know if the track is closed or not?

[Reckless]

I've not heard either!
To be honest I'm getting a bit worried I haven't had any answers to my emails about what we can do to help either. I thought I had his number but I don't, I usually contact him by email. Got his permission to use his email in our thread almost immediately but nothing since.

I'll make a call tomorrow and try and find out! Hopefully he'll update the race line at 10am and we will no what he's up to. Hope everything's OK with him.

[Boosted]

yeh same, really wanna hit the track 2mola haha but im guessing from his last email out it was the last ride on sunday... so yeh doesn't look 2 good right now

[Boosted]

Alright people!!!!!
ARDMORE IS STILL OPEN
AN UPDATE FROM ARDMORE

Hi everyone ­ thanks for all your encouragement and support over the last
few weeks, its been great to see everyone pulling together on this. Mike
Cameron drew up our appeal to the Environment Court and then we also wrote
our own memorandum to the court replying to the Concerned Resident Groups
attempt to get the court to close us down until the hearings. The Councils
lawyers have come out and supported our position, agreeing that we should
continue to operate under the Stay until the hearings. The CRGs lawyers have
had another go at forcing a hearing on the closure, but now we have received
help from a leading environmental lawyer thanks to one of our members and I
am really confident that we can keep the track open while we fight this.

I can't stress how important It was for us to contest the resource consent
decision. We could still have operated Ardmore as a mini trail bike park
under the conditions of the consent, but although running the track
exclusively for the minis would have been great for my kids and anyone else
with a PW50, it would have sucked for everyone else. You also have to
remember that the Concerned Residents Group and the neighbor with the
landfill are appealing us to the Environment Court with the aim of closing
us down completely.

Ardmore is the one track in NZ that not only got full council approval but
also got a court ruling in its favor before it opened. I know that clubs all
around the country are waiting to see what happens, just like we all waited
to see how Western Springs got on. Most tracks don't have much in the way of
up to date planning permission and are relying on existing use rights.
Existing use rights apply to clubs like Puke who got council permission to
run their activity prior to the Resource Management Act being passed in
1991. Ardmore also got Council permission but went through public hearings
and got appealed to the high court (called the Town Planning Tribunal back
then) so Ardmore had about as much in the way of permission as you could get
at the time. So the track at Harrisville has council permission and existing
use rights. Ardmore has a council consent and a Town planning Tribunal (now
called the Environment Court ) ruling, plus existing use rights.

Existing use rights do not apply however, where there are environmental
effects. If for example the councils had said it was ok to build a timber
mill at Ardmore and another at Harrisville, the timber mills would still be
able to operate under their existing use rights. However if there are new
air emission standards which now require smoke coming out of timber mill
chimneys to be cleaner, then both mills are going to have to put big filters
on their smoke stacks. If sound from both mills is reaching 65 decibels at
the nearest houses and the rural limit is 55 db, then both mills are going
to have to cut their noise output. Existing use rights are in place, but it
does not get you off the hook on environmental effects.

Ardmore is under 55 db at the nearest houses but the resource consent ruling
by the hearings panel states that individual bikes must be tested using the
FIM procedures and that 4 strokes must be under 94 db while 2 stokes must be
under 96 db. The appeal is going to the Environment Court and if we don¹t
get this part of the ruling chucked out, then the ruling will become case
law and can then be applied elsewhere around NZ. Usually these decisions
don¹t get overturned later, they just get reinforced with more conditions,
that's why its really important for us to fight this now.

If we lose, the neighbors at Puke for example, will be able to successfully
argue that the latest Environment Court ruling involving Ardmore vs the
Papakura District Council, determined that all 4 strokes at Motocross tracks
should be less than 94 db using the FIM test when individually tested and 96
db for 2 strokes. A compliance officer can then come out with an acoustic
engineer and start testing the bikes. Most will fail, so an abatement notice
would be issued and Puke will end up in the same process as Ardmore. The
same thing can happen to Ken Fell, Grant Leighton, anyone who has got a
hostile neighbor. The Council may support you, but the neighbors can insist
the ruling of the Environment Court is applied.

The good news is that we are fighting this and we will continue to fight
this. I know we can win, its a matter of getting backing and the right
people to put up the right arguments. What I have come to realise over the
last two years of fighting for the survival of the track is that we are all
in this together and we are going to have to start sticking up for each
other rather than hiding in a corner hoping we don¹t get noticed. The CRG is
an experienced group who have had years in court at the ratepayers and
taxpayers expense, fighting the Warbirds, Ardmore Airfield, the Kennel Club
and now Ardmore Raceway. These people have probably already got funding from
the Government and are now looking at fighting us in court until their play
money runs out. Then they will fold up the Concerned Residents Group
Incorporated (so we can¹t go them for costs) and form a new society so
they can start fighting their next victims which will probably be the
shooting club which is trying to relocate next door to the track.

I want to thank all the people who have put money into our legal battle so
far. If you want to help out with a donation, we have decided to treat all
donations as advance payments on membership fees. Darren for example, gave
us a cheque for $100 last weekend to help with the legal battle so we will
put that in a separate account and record it as 2 years of membership. We
have our new membership cards printed and we will start posting these out
shortly. Thanks again for all your support.

JC

[raglanash]

Awesome, Me and a mate are going out there for the first time tonight, who else from here will be there?? I'm the black hilux with a Honda #272.

[Boosted]

yeh ill be out there in ma white hiace, blue yammy #162 seeya out there

[Pierce]

I will stop by on the way up to Auckland and make a donation, won't be riding due to my knee but want to help out where i can as I love to ride this track.