Residents rattle tin for $120k legal fund in Fyansford motocross facility battle

Residents fighting a bid to build a motocross training facility in Fyansford have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $120,000 for legal costs in an upcoming VCAT battle.

Residents fighting a bid to build a motocross training facility in Fyansford have launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise $120,000 for legal costs in an upcoming planning tribunal battle.

The legal fund – which raised about $15,000 in its first week – is the latest chapter in the controversial planning application to use a plot of Fyansford land on the western side of the Geelong Ring Road as a motocross facility, largely formalising an existing use of the site.

The planning application will be considered at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), following the applicant’s appeal of a secretive City of Greater Geelong decision rejecting the plans in June – made behind closed doors rather than at a public meeting as the city announced it would.

A VCAT fight is looming over a motocross facility in Geelong. Photo: iStock - Getty Images.

The crowd-funding page was launched by the Highton Fyansford Community Group to raise a target of $120,000 – and a minimum of about $31,000 – to pay for a lawyer to fight the bid at VCAT.

“A modest financial contribution by all affected households will ensure quality, experienced legal representation,” the group wrote to prospective donors.

“The applicant has engaged legal representation for all elements of this VCAT process and residents must have their voice heard. More concerningly [sic], the applicant has engaged five expert witnesses to bolster this case, with the hearing expected to run for six to nine days.

“A group of residents have joined together to organise legal representation on behalf of the residents. You too can contribute to this to ensure we have the best chance to stop this development.”

“We empathise with the motocross community who have been without a local track, however this site is not ideally suited. There are hundreds of houses within 300m, and residents up to 1km away who are already impacted by the regular noise from one to three motorbikes using the land to ride.”

Lucas and Codi Vanderlei are desparate for somewhere to ride their motocross bikes.

Fyansford landowner Dick Lewis last year lodged his application for the training facility, sparking an outpouring of support and opposition, including an almost 4000 signature petition supporting the bid, as well as 200 formal objections and a 400-signature petition opposing it.

Most objections are understood to have come from residents in new houses built in Fyansford across the ring road, who raised concerns about noise pollution – with supporters of the plans largely dismissing the objectors as those of the NIMBY (not in my backyard) crowd.

Mr lewis in August lodged his appeal against the city’s rejection of the plans, revealing his frustration with the decisions.

“It was very disappointing,” Mr Lewis said. “There were just under four thousand signatures [on a petition supporting the facility]. It should have been influential, but I don’t know.”

“The whole facility, all the testing and different things I’ve done, it does qualify. Noise is not a problem,” he said.

Mr Lewis had lodged the application in a bid to formalise the use of his land as a motocross track, having spent years using it privately for club events, fundraisers and as an unofficial site for the professional Yamaha Factory Team.

The facility was mooted to operate under a series of strict conditions, including its use for no more than 26 weekends a year, with no activity on more than two consecutive weekends, and weekday use limited to just 22 days a year.

Preliminary VCAT hearings for the project are currently underway, with the process expected to likely run into mid-2022.

Originally published as Residents rattle tin for $120k legal fund in Fyansford motocross facility battle