A group of landowners in Black Creek, British Columbia, is suing the owners and operators of the Saratoga Speedway, claiming excessive noise from the racetrack is a “nuisance” that is wreaking havoc on the surrounding community and making neighbouring properties “unfit for ordinary use.”
In a notice of civil claim filed in BC Supreme Court on June 24, plaintiff landowners Kent Moeller, Niels Holbek, Mavis Hamilton, Jonathan Brenner, Barrie Wheatley, Mary Wheatley, Hans Zihlmann, Kim Stubblefield, Amanda Vaughan and Terry Waters claim M&C Leighton Holdings Ltd. and Saratoga Speedway Ltd. have “significantly increased” operations at the racetrack since taking over in the summer of 2020, about a year after the previous owners had halted operations.
According to the lawsuit, the speedway at 2380 Macaulay Road and 8723 Island Highway in Black Creek was first developed back in 1968 and wasn’t restricted by any zoning bylaws at the time. It wasn’t until 1986 that the Comox Valley Regional District adopted a zoning bylaw about the property’s use as an auto racing facility, a few years after the speedway expanded its operations. The bylaw allowed the property to be used as a racetrack as an “accessory” use rather than a “principal” use, according to the lawsuit.
“For the next several decades, there was generally only one practice held during the week and one race held on the weekend,” the claim states.
But over the past two years, the plaintiffs claim the defendants “significantly increased” the number of racing events and practices, causing “significant noise levels, above reasonably tolerable decibels.”
Furthermore, noise from screeching brakes and loud engines without mufflers emanates from the property for several hours a day, and speedway workers and crowds allegedly come and go “continuously” from the property “several days a week,” the claim states.
The landowner plaintiffs claim the speedway’s operation is “unlawful” because it had halted operations for more than six months prior to reopening, while the racetrack is not an “accessory” to any campground or tourist accommodations.
“The excessive noise from the race cars and the public address system is unreasonably loud, distressing, and upsetting to the residential neighbours of the [speedway], including the plaintiffs, and is intolerable to an ordinary person,” the claim states.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs claim the noise is an “ongoing nuisance” that is interfering with their “reasonable use and enjoyment” or their properties, with hours of squealing tires and crowds yelling and screaming in addition to fireworks that follow racing events.
“Due to the operations and speedway nuisances, the plaintiffs … have suffered unreasonable and substantial annoyance, discomfort, and loss of enjoyment of property,” the claim states. The plaintiffs added that their properties have lost market value because they are “undesirable, or less desirable” as homes due to the racetrack noise.
The plaintiffs seek damages for nuisance and an injunction halting the defendants from using the property as a speedway in a manner that interferes with the plaintiffs’ enjoyment of their properties. The allegations have not been tested or proven in court, and the defendants had not responded to the lawsuit by press time.
