Since the May 25-26 weekend, the Comox Valley Regional District has been receiving questions and complaints about drag racing activities at 4753 Forbidden Plateau Rd. near Nymph Falls Nature Park.
The complaints stem from a private function involving race cars, along a paved strip at the site of the Smit airfield on the property.
While paddleboarding on the Puntledge with a friend last weekend, area resident Dylan DeGagne said he could hear the cars roaring, even as far away as the Comox Dam, as the noise funneled its way down the river.
“Every 30 seconds there’s a new trial because there’s so many cars. It’s deafening,” he said. “Every single person that uses that park area, it completely changes it.
“Now it’s like a drag strip. You can’t be at Nymph, you can’t be at Barber’s, and not hear it.”
Besides disturbing park users, DeGagne said the noise will have an adverse effect on property values — if it continues.
“The reason I live there is because of the park area,” said DeGagne, who has initiated a change.org petition: Put the brakes on drag racing alongside Nymph Falls Nature Park.
The event was not drag racing, but rather a “test and tune” day for some local racers, said Dan Annand, who co-owns the land in question.
“We set up lights on the runway the same as they would at a formal drag strip to test the computer with the transmission brakes to make sure the cars are ready before they go [to a formal race],” he said. “If they go all the way to Mission [for a competition] and they get to the start line and their motor doesn’t run, they have to come all the way home again. This way they get to test and tune it up, before they go.”
“This is strictly a private function, for family and friends. This is no different than you having a bunch of friends over for a barbecue.”
Annand insists there was no “racing” happening.
“For the most part, the cars are only running one at a time - a couple of times we ran two at a time, because it is faster, but we weren’t racing. The bylaws say you can’t have a race track, but we aren’t a race track; we are a registered runway. And we can use that runway for recreational purposes.”
According to Annand, the CVRD was aware of the event.
“They have been [aware of the event] for years,” he said. “We had the meeting with them [CVRD] and we are well within their bylaws to make ‘unlicenced noise’ between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. We told the guys they had to shut down by 4 o’clock. And they didn’t start until 10 a.m. And on Sundays it goes from 11 to 3. That’s it, for respect of the neighbours.”
Jennifer Steel, manager of corporate communications for the CVRD said the district was aware of the event, and it was in compliance with the noise bylaw.
“The owner did advise us prior to this event and it was within the noise bylaw requirement,” she said. “We are further reviewing all the regulatory bylaws that may apply.”
Annand said he has spoken to virtually every home/landowner in the area and there’s only one neighbour who takes issue with it.
“All the neighbours, like 80 neighbours, are all in favour of this,” said Annand. “There’s like one guy, who moved in two years ago, who’s [complaining].
“Actually… quite a few of the neighbours are even testing and tuning their cars [at the event]. It’s just for fun. This never will be a commercial drag strip.”
The test and tunes have been happening for two years at the site, along with the May long weekend’s Jeepapalooza, and other events in the past.
The events even have a fundraising aspect to them. Participants donate money to a charity, which changes from year to year.
The events at the airfield have raised in excess of $75,000 over the past few years, for such causes as stem-cell trials in Victoria, the Comox Valley Hospice Society, and the Fill-A-Dream Foundation.
Annand said there are two more test and tune events scheduled for this year.
–With files from Terry Farrell