Baypark speedway has been fined $300 and issued with abatement notices after breaching noise limits set by the Tauranga City Council.
A letter written by the council's senior monitoring officer Andrew McMath earlier this year highlighted how "an alarming trend of excessive noise has emerged".
He said the breaches were so numerous
the council had no option but to issue Tauranga City Venues (TCVL) and Baypark Speedway Promotions with abatement and infringement notices.
Mr McMath's letter of February 2 said 48 measurements taken over five meetings from October 31 last year exceeded the noise limits.
Fourteen exceeded the 61 decibel limit by more than five decibels and 34 exceeded 70 decibels. In addition, an entire speedway meeting breached the permitted average noise level.
The abatement notice and infringement notice was issued to TCVL, the council-owned company which runs Baypark, on the basis that it had a contractual relationship with Baypark Speedway Promotions.
The abatement notice and infringement carrying a $300 fine was also issued to the promotions company. A later letter written by the Tauranga City Council chief executive Stephen Town also disclosed that the abatement notices had not been complied with.
Further breaches of noise limits occurred on February 13 and March 20.
Mr Town's letter to Mount Maunganui resident Perry Harlen went on to say: "At the start of the 2010-11 season, race events will be required to be monitored by an acoustic consultant until three consecutive meetings are determined to be compliant with the conditions of consent."
Mr Harlen told the Bay of Plenty Times that it was a sad tale of breaches of speedway noise conditions, with the $300 fines equating to petty cash. The date of Mr McMath's letter was coincidentally the same date that Ervin McSweeney took over as the general manager of TCVL, he said.
Speedway has run into problems keeping within the noise limits set out in its resource consent ever since it started racing at Baypark. The council and TCVL are in negotiations to bring at least one round of the world speedway motorcycle championship to Baypark.
