THE Warrnambool and District Drag Racing Association’s five-year effort to find a home at Koroit came to a screeching halt at Moyne Shire Council’s meeting on Tuesday night.
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The council decided to reject the association’s bid to develop 37 hectares of land at 330 Officers Lane, Koroit for a drag racing strip after six people spoke against the application at the meeting,
The issue helped pack the public gallery at the meeting at Mortlake, with many drag racing supporters in attendance for the vote.
Cr Mick Wolfe’s motion to refuse the club’s application was carried on a 5-1 vote with Cr Jim Doukas voting against it.
The council had received a total of 10 objections to the application, which council officers had recommended be approved with 52 conditions.
Cr Wolfe said hearing from residents living near the proposed drag strip, or “victims” as he called them, had been pivotal to his decision to oppose the application.
He said the residents were only trying to “defend what they have now”.
Cr Wolfe also said there were 14 dairy farms within two kilometres of the proposed strip and the racing could interfere with calving as well as devalue nearby properties.
Cr Ralph Leutton also opposed the application, saying the proposed strip could limit the growth of Koroit.
“We will rue the day if we approve this in this particular site,” Cr Leutton said.
Cr Doukas supported the application saying those “who do not want it in our backyard” was not appropriate and councillors should keep an open mind.
He said the club’s bid was supported by many Koroit businesses.
Dairy farmers Leah and Daryl Brown had earlier told the council the drag races would stress their cows and could contaminate groundwater.
The drag racing association’s president Tony Frost told the meeting the club had been without a permanent home for 21 years.
Mr Frost said the club held three meetings a year at Warrnambool airport but an upgrade of aviation facilities would leave the club without sufficient room to run its races.
He said there were farms near the airport and a residence only 800 metres away but the club had never received a complaint during the 15 years it had run races there.