The Valmanera motocross track returns to the center of the city debate after the announcement made by the owners that they want to ask for the redefinition of the Sic to exclude the portion of the circuit that had been inserted there and therefore be able to reopen the track to competitive racing.
On the matter we receive and publish the intervention of Gianfranco Miroglio, an environmentalist from Asti and long-time president of the Asti Paleontological Park Authority, manager of the Sic.
«I frankly consider the fantasies and euphoria of Motocross promoters out of place. I would like to remind them and everyone of some data.
The area – as is known – falls within a site of the Natura 2000 network. Identified pursuant to the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) first as a SCI, a site of community interest, which has now evolved to the so-called SAC status (special storage). Approval of site-specific measures with DGR n°24-4043 of 10/10/2016. Site designated ZSC by decree of the Minister of the Environment of 3 February 2017).
The management of the ZSC has been delegated to the Asti Paleontological Park, an instrumental body of the Region that deals with parks and reserves.
The ZSC is equipped with a Management Plan, approved and adopted, and which I believe is useful if it is carefully consulted, especially by the institutions (Municipalities and Provinces) that may be entitled to the matter. But also by anyone who is interested in reflecting on the history and the object of the dispute.
In the document, in several points – introduction, ad hoc action sheet for the cross-track, site-specific measures – priorities for intervention, obligations and prohibitions are highlighted. Just read to understand the absolute impossibility of even imagining a system with such a heavy impact on a unique common good such as the Valmanera Woods, with potential negative repercussions on a surrounding area that goes well beyond the cross-track.
On the contrary, the management plan envisages a light type of “recreational use” of the area, without the use of motorized vehicles, compatible with the conservation of the naturalistic values of the site.
Furthermore, the area appears to be in the context subject to the Galasso law (… commonly known as a “galassino”) and with regulated landscape constraints, also as a recognition of notable public interest pursuant to the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code, supported by the landscape plan regional, two requirements that inhibit motorsport events and activities, without prejudice, of course, to the needs related to agriculture and the mobility of residents. There are also hydrogeological protection restrictions on the area and urban planning compatibility remains to be verified
Another question: the fantasy of re-demarcation of the SIc. Everyone has the right to imagine what they believe. However, I would like to remind you that, given the current legislation, changes to the boundaries of the SCI – SAC are conceivable only in the unfortunate situation of profound or total compromise of the habitats that suggested and produced the proposal and approval of the SCI. It is all too obvious that this is not the case of the Valmanera Woods which, with their extraordinary biodiversity heritage, remain the most important green lung surrounding our city. In any case, even the risk of making a change remains subject to a process that is anything but obvious, much less rapid. Even a possible resolution by the Regional Council would be the expression of a political ambition that goes against the trend with respect to the environmental protection regulations, and as such would be subject to judgment first by the Ministry of the Environment, then by the European Commission. Subsequently, for the cross-track, a new project would be needed, with a new path with bureaucratic stages, mandatory and subject to moments of evaluation (of impact and incidence, VIA and VincA) at the end of which, considering the conditions, it is easy to assume a negative outcome (… as has already happened in the past). Any political option that does not comply with the aforementioned rules would certainly be the subject of appeals and requests for rulings from the courts and the TAR. I think I can say that the short times announced by the promoters are objectively their hope. Nothing else.
It remains to be seen whether and who authorized the works in the area, whether the abuses found in the past have been completely remedied, and the continuous reports of demolitions and earthmoving in recent weeks, activities for which there is no trace, remain to be verified. to request permits at the offices of the Paleontological Park Authority. It remains to be explored, beyond the proclamations, what the owners think they can do to restart a business that is now so anachronistic and impossible to implement on the Valmanera site. But all this pertains to another kind of in-depth analysis.”
