The owners of the Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit have agreed to share information and data from noise monitoring equipment that has been set up at the racetrack with the Municipality of North Cowichan.
North Cowichan mayor Jon Lefebure informed council at its meeting on March 1 that the data from GAIN Dealer Group's equipment at the track will help with the municipality's plans to establish two noise monitoring stations in the surrounding community.
The racetrack is a permitted use at the site, situated on 50 acres on a hillside facing Highway 18 to Lake Cowichan, but members of the Sahtlam Neighbourhood Association have maintained that the amount of noise from the race track, which opened last June, is far above what they were told it would be.
A professional noise study by the GAIN Dealer Group concluded that noise from the nearby highway and other sources is louder than the noises from the race track, but the owners decided to implement a noise policy at the track that would govern all operations at the site.
However, the conclusions from the owners's study were questioned, and North Cowichan and the SNA requested that the GAIN Dealer Group participate in another noise study that would involve the Group as part of a process to develop a noise agreement between all parties.
"We need the data from the monitoring equipment at the race track before a final agreement can be put in place," Lefebure said.
"It's a confusing issue and without that data, it's hard to tell where all the noises are actually coming from. If we can't figure out the actual source of the noise, we'll never be able to get an agreement on what the noise levels from the track should be."
Lefebure said once the municipality receives the noise data from the Gain Dealer Group and analyses it, another meeting will be held with all parties.
"We currently have a significant difference in views from both sides as to what those noise levels should be," he said.