Sad! Sad! Sad!

Over the past few months, the local council has stated that they will drain our dam & only refill it to a volume that voids all future maintenance & liability for any accidents or breeches of the dam wall.
It will not be large enough to support our racing, or the racing of our sister club of Marblehead Yachts, that use the lake on alternate weekends to us FE guys.
They promised to facilitate an alternate venue with shade, power, drivers stand, & storage for our clubs.
Well the lake has been drained & demolished, & we still haven't got an alternative place to race. Although they have found us a place on the other side of the complex but the facilities have not yet been established.

But we have missed out on many rounds of our championships for the year.

Our Club President and the committee have been fighting tirelessly with the council to keep our club on the water. I have nothing but the utmost of admiration for all their efforts on behalf of the club over the last few months. The Council, the Water Board & even the Lord Mayor of Brisbane have been involved in this fight.

Some of you may remember the improvements that our club have made at our lake. Here's a reminder. And some insight for the newer members on this forum.

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com...ant&highlight=
https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com...ity&highlight=

Well here are some pics, courtesy of Trev from our club, to show what has happened to our beautiful lake.:crying:

Beginning to drain the lake.
Attachment 161810

Partialy drained.
Attachment 161811

The dam wall smashed.
Attachment 161812

Fully drained. I had a boat & a few props down there somewhere.:sad:
Attachment 161813


As the title says. Sad! Sad! Sad!

Yes that is sad for sure..looked like a beautiful lake to run on...Hope you can find a new one. Good luck.

Yes that is just a bloody shame Paul, just getting used to this great race lake and there it goes many thanks to the wonderfull council of Moreton Bay Shire.
lets hope these guys pull there fingers out and get the new lake area going asap.

That sucks to see those pictures.

The pond I usually go to has grass all in it this year. :noidea:

A new place is being developed, but it was all supposed to be in place before they started draining the lake.

Here's a bit of a back story to it all.
Some years ago, after heavy rains, the lake overflowed and eroded some of the dam wall away.
It was repaired. But now they decide that it might be a danger to the public.
The reason they state, is that by making the lake smaller, they (the local council) won't be responsible for any upkeep or future problems or risks of public liability.
The lake is on a farmers property who uses it for watering his cattle. It is also in the Lakeside Raceway complex . They use the water for irrigation & ammenities etc.
Both the farmer & the proprietors of the race track facility lease the land from the council.
They too have been involved in the fight to save the lake.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by jim82

The pond I usually go to has grass all in it this year. :noidea:

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Jim.
Is that because of evaporation or has it been drained too?

That just sucks! I really feel for you guys, not to mention that you can't even run a boat!
It is a never ending amazement at the ineptness of councils, both elected members and the entrenched beauracracy, where ever you are! We have a fantastic facility for our club, but being a stormwater pond, we are still at the mercy of the council. However the guy who manages the pond is 110% in support of us being there, to the point they are taking care of resource consents for our drivers stand etc (well they did build it originally!). Having just had to go through another round of noise complaint issues (one person as usual) recently we do understand and appreciate the venue we have.
Here's a couple of pics.

Attachment 161827Attachment 161828

Yes its disappointing and sad but not the end of the world,we have lived this situation maybe ten times in the last thirty five years and we still running boats ,boaters are true warriors, not to forget the huge effort that we need to organize a club,so I'm sure you are your friends will find an even better place shortly.Gill

Yes Gill we will continue on for sure.

Peter.
You are blessed indeed to have a guy who is totally on your side & wants you to continue on there.
I'm curious though. From the pics the lake seems to be in some sort of industrial park. Who would bother complaining about noise there?
Or are there some private residences on the other side of the lake?

Sorry to hear your loss. It happens everywhere. It’s almost worse to have a body of water and just not allowed to use it.

One pond that we fun run at end of September was just drained a month or so ago. That is possibly done for good too. The spectators at the Apple Butter festival loved watching us display some play racing.

All that work you did, so sad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 785boats

Yes Gill we will continue on for sure.

Peter.
You are blessed indeed to have a guy who is totally on your side & wants you to continue on there.
I'm curious though. From the pics the lake seems to be in some sort of industrial park. Who would bother complaining about noise there?
Or are there some private residences on the other side of the lake?

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Yes the pond is part of an industrial subdivision, there is a highway about 200M away then houses. The noise moaner apparently lives 750M away. The noise level at their boundary was 44db, the council limit is 55db. Our self imposed limit for boats is 85db at 20M, which was established 4 years back after previous complaints. We now have a compliance letter from the council.
We are fortunate to have such a great venue. There is further work being done hopefully the summer with a new outlet going in and the bund at the top end being taken out as well as retaining and backfill on the right hand side of the stand for a new hotpit area and carpark. Truely it is possible that this could be one of the best venues in the world for model boat racing. Big thoughts I know but our venue continues to get better and better. There is more roof yet to go over the drivers stand and if possible covered hotpits. We have a surveyed oval and electronic timing gear for two laps and 100M speed runs. A second container is in the plan to go in the existing hotpit area for dingy etc storage also.
BTW Tauranga, New Zealand is a great place to live as well!

I don't know who got this done but these are the rules to the very nice park we sport run at.




No motorboats are allowed other than for rescue and maintenance activities. Aside from remote controlled boats, boats of any sort will not be allowed except during City sanctioned classes and events.

Thats a Damn Shame 785. I had you guys pegged for a visit one day. Would certainly keep pushing them on their commitment to re-home you guys. We keep dreaming of a day when a multi millionaire landowner joins our club and builds us something free of council red tape. Feel for you guys.