There has been some interest shown in other threads as to the status of McAdam Park, Barrabool.
Here I'll try put it all in a nutshell (for more complete factual information refer to club website)
www.smcc.com.au :
The McAdam Park Story
Clive McAdam allowed the Sporting MCC use his land for 50 years, he died in 2002. Clive always wanted for the club to continue on his land, and afterwards so did his family. The family then decided to sell and so gave us first option to buy. To raise the money the club needed lots of time, though the family were very patient. It was all about the club just needing the money to buy the land so we could continue on business as usual, nothing else. In all this time the club never had a problem with the neighbours.
The problem was the amount of money needed - approx. $3M. We fought hard to continue Clives legacy. By 2009 the SMCC had raised about $1.6M through our Big Picture Wall tiles and local and state gov. grants; this was done with absolutely no help financially or otherwise from MA (in fact they had already twice refused us). In all it cost our club $300K to raise this funding. At the same time another MX club in Geelong City was also in trouble as their council had shut their track and were looking to provide a new one (all this was totally separate from Barrabool as we are in Surf Coast Shire).
Then it all got political. People started stepping on toes. With only weeks remaining before the Sept 2009 deadline when our option to purchase was to run out (many deadlines had come and gone already), MA were again approached (in hindsight biggest mistake of all time!) - this was the point in time when things began to unravel. MA was made an offer that would see them take ownership of Barrabool (not made by our club or the McAdam family mind you) for only about
one quarter of the buying price. The rest - the government funding and supporters tile money etc. raised by the SMCC - was "handed" to MA so they could have title to the land. There was a glitch during the handover process and MA ended up paying around half price. Although we asked for a fair settlement, apart from an invoice, MA never gave our club recognition for the money we raised to help them buy the land, or our assets already on the land. Several years later, worried that we may be faced with losing Barrabool, we asked about our money at a meeting with the Board, they told us "the money was gone".
After they took over in 2009, MA proposed big usage for McAdam Park - multiple national, state, regional, local events every year - about 45 event in total! The neighbours cracked it, and so they should. It was totally unfair to expect them to accept drastic increases in noise. We had a good thing going for 50 years; the club told MA that things should revert to past usage (about 8-10 events), which the neighbours had said they would accept. MA stubbornly pushed on hoping they would defeat the neighbours, but MA were blind to what was in front of them, but we weren't.
MA refused to listen to us. After 4 years of head butting in mediation and legal battles and a further $1.5M of MA members money wastefully being spent on lawyers, MA had hardly budged on the usage they demanded. MA still wanted over 25 events per year at Barrabool; the neighbours were still willing to accept 8 - 10 events. In August 2013, VCAT deemed MA’s wants as being unreasonable, the neighbours then had MA over a barrel and MA conceded defeat (most likely from financial pressures as they were facing further legal battles). MA then signed an out of court agreement to not only get out (which is all they really had to do), but unbelievably they also agreed to closing the gates at the end of 2015
and willingly sacrifice the legal rights for motorcycling that still remain attached to the land! That means that our club now has no chance to prove Barrabool could survive if it went back to being run by the Sporting club at a level that is fair to neighbours (we
think know it is possible).
Why MA went this one extra step is anyones guess, but our’s is MA places more importance on saving a few dollars than they do in saving an iconic motorcycling facility, or clubs.
This is the problem we now face. MA has not told the full story and now it seems everyone believes it is legally impossible for motorcycling to continue at McAdam Park, Barrabool, which is not the case at all. The question is – are riders going to allow MA to get away with what we see as wrongdoings to motorcycling.
It should be said that in all MA’s time at Barrabool, there was no real “they”, as MA never assigned anyone to managing McAdam Park or its issues. It was all handled by one person from start to finish, the CEO, who then reported to the Board and they made decisions based on the information provided. That CEO is now gone but the devastation remains.
The new CEO is in a real bind because his predecessor (and Board) signed a binding agreement. Whats worse is that the search for finding any replacement land is now looking hopeless as that process has already been explored. So much for riding off road / MX bikes in future in Geelong and regions!
That’s it in a (did I say a cocoa nut?) nut shell. The whole Barrabool sage since 2009 has been one big bungled screw up – no that’s not an oxymoron – it can be done!
The town of Geelong and manufacturing in particular is looking pretty sick lately, but if anyone is in the market for platitudes, smoke or mirrors, we’ve got ‘em in abundance!
Regards,
Peter Ovens
Secretary
Sporting Motor Cycle Club
Barrabool
