belmont shooting complex

Update

Todats meeting went very well :thumb: Kris and Myself met up with Rex and discussed more about the club, safety, permanant structures and facilities, ect.

The main oval being up for the taking is currently being considered being used for an opening ceremony for the world championship shooting in late 2011. During this time, Rex wishes to keep the ground in good condition and slowly work on it untill the ceremony. The thing is, this has not been confirmed yet and Rex is more than happy for us to call the oval home.

The oval itself already has a water irrigation pipe running accross the oval and we would be allowed to tap into that pipe for our own water needs. There is plenty of space for a car park (and thats not on the oval), The toilets are always open and the bar/club is open on Thurs, Fri and Sat nights.

Rex also said he can arrange dump trucks to offload dirt where ever we need it at no charge.

Although I forgot to mention power, myself and Kris were talking about the accessability of power, which could be done but will have to discuss it more.

Rex showed us another site that is alot further away from the facilities near the oval, which we can possibly have at any time. At site 2, there is already shelter directly next to where a track would be marked. This would have to be temporary though as I personally thought it was a bit out of the way and didn't like it much.

If Rex calls me up and confirms that the Opening ceremony will not be on the oval, that site WILL BE OURS and then will have to discuss a price for the land. I did ask him about the price of the lease but he needs to speak to his president.

The oval has never been used in a few years and the open ceremony is the ONLY time they have considered using the oval. Considering the ceremony is in 2011, I really think we should use the Durak site for a short-term piriod and look at belmont for the long-term goal.

I'll post more info later, I gotta go out

After todays very successful race meet, Rex was more than impressed with the way we presented ourselves and with our hobby. Infact the feedback was very positive to which he brought his family along, plus his wife will be bringing more family to the next race meet to spectate.

As far as Noise is concerned, mufflers will still be run as a requirement. There is no issues for noise as far as Rex is concerned as he walked around the track and feild during the racing and believed this was not a problem.

Dust unfortunatly was the biggest problem and a sprinkler system is a very simple solution that QORLS and Rex are happy to use. As mentioned before in this thread, there is a small dam that the complex uses to pump water around and Rex is more than happy for us to possibly tap into the pipe-line and use the water. QORLS will be looking into this.

As QORLS is not currenty covered for liability insurence, rex explained that it will be a requirement on our behalf to be insured before any sort of aproval can be applied/accepted. This is currenty being looked after.

Rex mentioned that there are pot holes all over the cricket field. These holes were previously used for a fence and the complex has taken out the poles (still with cement on the ends). Rex will look into giving us those poles to use as a fence line.

Ground Keeping - QORLS has taken the responsibility of mowing the grass around the track, which will be upto the pipe-line trench and the cricket pitch. Everywhere else will be looked after by the Shooting Complex.

Now for the Better news.

Rex has given QORLS permission to use the oval for racing and practice starting from today. Based on the positive feedback from rex, he will be pushing behind QORLS to help give our club a home on the oval. He explained he has another committee meeting and will mention and show video/photo's from todays event to his committee.

Unfortunatly, the main tick of approval does not fall within the powers of Rex as we still need other council and other higher athorities approval before QORLS has officially claimed home to Belmont. This may take some time and again, this is not something that QORLS nor Rex can influence. We all just need to be patient.

Permanant buildings (such as the use of a container for a drivers stand), will still not permitted on the oval untill we have aproval from higher athorities. QORLS will be looking for a non-permanant alternative for a drivers stand for the time being.

I think I covered everything.

Update.

Recieved an E-Mail from Rex Wigney and he stated that not all of the representatives are happy with Rex's proposal. He said we need to write up a very good, informative submission to win them over and progress on.

We need to outline:
1. What you want
2. How often you would use the facility
3. There was an indication of making Belmont the Australian Centre. What
would this mean?
4. Mention international participation
5. How many participants in Club, State National and International events
6. Legal status of the Club ie Incorporation
7. Public Liability insurance
8. Plans for maintenance of the track/fences/drivers platform
9. Safety
10. Number of spectators, therefore cars for a major event
And anything else we can think of.

I'll be speaking with the committee to get things underway with this as soon as possible. Seems like alot of "red tape" !

Update time.

Since I last updated this thread, QORLS has typed up the proposal letter and I delivered it myself to the Shooting Complex. It's been a few weeks since handing in the form so on Wednesday, 7th April, I went to visit Rex Wigney and seek an update from him.

I got to speak with him on the phone (he was out'n about the complex) and he mentioned that we'll need to provide an approximation of cars, spectators and members that would turn up to a major event. This was to give the higher authorities a little judgement if "crowd management" would be needed. In turn, This will be looked at over the next two race events (Gympie Qualifiers and Origin events), and the figures will be based on that for Rex.

Rex reassured me that if the decision was only up to himself for QORLS to claim home at Belmont, we would already be there. QORLS still has the complete support from him and I can only ask everyone to please still be patiant. This is a slow process.

In the meantime, QORLS is still looking for possible short-term (or possibly permanant) locations to race at. I've been informed by Rick-Baja about a place over on the northside, approx the same distance across the gateway bridge as it is to belmont. Our Speedway members used to race at this location. Will update when I find out more info.

Tom