McAdam Park Barrabool – dead and buried or born again?
One of Australia’s best loved off-road motorcycling venues, McAdam Park Barrabool, is now for sale. If you are one of the many thousands who hold fond memories of this iconic facility, or simply would like to see more riding areas made available to the public, this will be of interest to you.
Motorcycling Australia property agents are currently seeking expressions of interest for the three magnificent approx. 100 acre lots which make up the McAdam Park property, with offers closing September 8th. See the real estate advertisement here.Â
MCNews.com.au believes that the expected price for the three lots if purchased together will be between 2.5 and 3-million dollars.
The Sporting Motorcycle Club, for whom McAdam Park has been home for over 50 years, now believes it could negotiate the return of its activities at McAdam Park – but this will only be possible if the land is sold to pro-motorcycling new owners. The period from now until Sept. 8th is a crucial time for motorcycling history; it is a unique opportunity for others to step in and secure McAdam Park.
Importantly, the precious legal ‘existing use rights’ for motorcycling that come with the land will remain in place only until December 2017, after which they will self-extinguish. However if supportive new owners are found, the SMCC would then be in a strong position to guarantee these precious rights remain – and so ensure that motorcycling events continue on this unique property for the long term future.
The fate of McAdam Park now lies with its new owners. If you are interested in helping keep McAdam Park alive, please keep reading below.Â
Sporting Motor Cycle Club calls on Motorcycling supporters one last time!
It has finally happened. McAdam Park is now up for sale.
Having recently been bulldozed, our beloved McAdam Park of Barrabool, an icon of Australian motorcycling and home to the Sporting Motor Cycle Club (SMCC) since 1962, is now just another paddock in the rolling Barrabool Hills. After Motorcycling Australia (MA) acquired the property in 2009, strong opposition from neighbours resulted in MA withdrawing a planning permit application to upscale the venue into a regional level facility. Expressions of interest are now being sought for each of the three 100 acre lots of the McAdam Park land.
Not having sufficient funds to purchase the land outright, the SMCC must now rely on well-meaning new owners and/or supportive enthusiasts in its efforts to retrieve the iconic venue from the clutch of extinction. This is the final card to play in the clubs long running Saving Barrabool fundraising campaign, which was thought to be over after the McAdam family property was finally secured in 2009. The campaign was successful in raising approximately $1.6M (mostly government funding) which was then pooled with additional funding from MA. In an ironic twist of fate, motorcycling enthusiasts now face losing McAdam Park forever, and the club left homeless, solely because of a lack of funds to secure control over the land.
The good news is there is now an opportunity for others to step in and help the SMCC complete the unfinished legal business that could ensure the venue continues to be used for motorcycling; the one difficulty is the outstanding legal sticking points cannot be resolved without first gaining control and /or ownership of the land. The more clear and encouraging facets of this Catch 22 situation are the SMCC is now confident that the unresolved legal issues (over noise emissions from the past proposal for a regional level facility) can be circumvented; most importantly, McAdam Park also still retains rare legal usage rights for motorcycling. The missing link required is ownership.
Crucially, the priceless legal existing usage rights (won jointly by the SMCC and MA in 2011) will remain in place even after the land is sold, but inconceivably these will self-extinguish by December 2017 if the land is sold to buyers who do not support motorcycling. To preserve these rights and the chance to keep McAdam Park alive, it must either be purchased by motorcycle friendly buyers, or the SMCC must secure additional funding.
The SMCC existed at McAdam Park for 47 years through leasing the land from an extraordinarily generous owner, Clive McAdam; it is entirely possible such a situation could continue.
The million dollar question is – could there be another Clive McAdam out there? Sale is by expression of interest, though prices are not expected to be greatly more than in 2009, when the average price for each block was just over $1M. Each has magnificent panoramic views over Geelong and Corio bay and an entitlement to build a dwelling. Each is also perfect motorcycling land!
These are some of the possible solutions:
1/ New owner(s) leasing the land to the SMCC;
2/ Benevolent individuals/body offering the club a low cost loan;
3/ Crowdfunding – if time permits;
4/ Purchase through partnership with the SMCC.
As a potential benefit for new owners, the SMCC is prepared to help value add to the property by utilising its broad member base to access labour and product suppliers to help construct infrastructure (sheds / dwelling etc.) – a free workforce! Historically, past lease arrangements did not withhold the owner concurrently running stock on the same land, with the SMCC mostly using just one of the three parcels of land. Anything is possible; the SMCC is certainly open to negotiating whatever usage any new owner would be comfortable with!
Potential supporters should be aware that following them (or the club) gaining title, all responsibility would be on the SMCC to then negotiate rights for future motorcycling use with local government and the neighbour group (who in 2013 successfully halted the MA planning permit application in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal).
Further supporting the SMCC case for continuing usage of McAdam Park is the fact there was no judicial decision to close McAdam Park. Critically, the VCAT decision denied only the very high levels of usage and noise as proposed in the MA permit application (greatly more than historic SMCC usage). There was no ruling against low key usage; in fact the VCAT findings suggested a potential resolution; that being to submit a new proposal geared toward McAdam Park returning to being a low key usage facility. This was not unlike the position held by the neighbour group, who had contended that any usage should not be greater than historic levels, and that noise emissions should fall within lawful levels – these were unachievable for MA and so prompted its decision to sell. The SMCC believes those VCAT findings should now be pursued so that they become a reality.
The SMCC has plans afoot that would see future noise emissions being even quieter than previous historic usage, thus complying with both the neighbours’ original wants and falling with lawful noise limits (the club has the necessary data evidence to prove this possible). If the SMCC were to gain ownership or lease, it would then be able to put forward a new proposal as per the VCAT findings.
The confidence potential new owners can hold from entering such a venture is that there is no risk.
Regardless of the outcome from the club’s endeavours, the owner would retain a magnificent asset that will only grow in value. Something good could still ensue for the club even if it were unsuccessful in securing riding rights; considering the club is now homeless and seeking a home base to store its belongings – as a fall-back what could be a more fitting outcome than for the SMCC to live on having its home at Barrabool?
With expressions of interest closing on the 8th September time is paramount; we are well into the eleventh hour for McAdam Park. The gates to the track may currently be shut, but the door to Saving Barrabool is still open.
McAdam Park, Barrabool belongs to motorcycling – help ensure the legacy of Clive McAdam lives on.
So what’s to lose? Can you help? Let’s get Barrabool back!
Enquiries or any offers of support can be made to;
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0439 389497
Sporting Motor Cycle Club Inc. P.O. Box 447 Geelong. 3220
Peter Ovens is the SMCC secretary, life member and co-ordinator for the ‘Saving Barrabool’ fundraising campaign 2005-2009.
