Greater Dandenong councillors have deferred a motion to save the home of Dandenong Little Athletics Club as well as $200,000 of council funds earmarked for possible destruction.
On 10 June, Cleeland Ward councillor Rhonda Garad tabled the alternative motion to secure little athletics at Robert Booth Reserve, which is walking distance for neighbouring Casey suburbs Doveton and Eumemmerring as well as Dandenong.
The motion was designed to counter a council report proposing the 53-year-old club stays for one more summer while a $100,000 masterplan weighs up the closure of the grass track-and-field facilities.
The masterplan funding would come from $240,900 originally allocated by Greater Dandenong to decommission the Robert Booth facility this year.
Under a 2019 athletics development plan, the council had planned to relocate DLAC to the upgraded $6.6 million Ross Reserve athletics centre in Noble Park after 2024-’25.
In front of a gallery of DLAC children, parents and volunteers, Cr Garad instead proposed to keep the club at Robert Booth, spend $40,000 to repair the track’s sprinkler system and to reinstate the club’s public signage.
The reamining $200,000 would be returned to council general revenue.
Cr Garad paid tribute to the “extraordinary impact” made by club president David Daff and the club for the community.
She pointed out that during last summer, children were regularly doing “bucket runs” to water the track last summer due to broken sprinklers that should be repaired “without delay”.
Backed by a majority, Cr Sean O’Reilly moved to defer the item so it can be “fully considered” at a future council meeting.
“It’s more diligent that the council takes time to consider all the issues and come up with a motion that’s not drafted in a rush, but properly.
“(It) will absolutely touch on all of the points … for the good of the club and all involved.”
Addressing the club’s members, mayor Jim Memeti said the deferral meant that the DLAC was “at the table” to make decisions with the mayor, chief executive and council directors.
The council would ensure the proposal was “what (the club was) happy with”.
“We really appreciate what you do for the kids of Dandenong.”
DLAC president David Daff had addressed the meeting, asking them why the council was trying to shut down a “local, accessible, budget-friendly activity”.
He argued that relocation would destroy the club, estimating that half of the families and members would drop out due to not having the time or means to travel to Ross Reserve.
Many of the kids live close to Booth Reserve, walking and riding their bikes down to the track after school.
Ross Reserve is about a 90-minute round-trip by public transport.
The reserve’s lush grass running track, long jump pits, discus, shot put and javelin fields have been home to DLAC for the past 40 years.
Since the 2019 council plan to close Robert Booth, the club’s membership had more than doubled in the past two years to 69 at present.
Community strengthening director Peta Gillies told the meeting that the 2019 plan was to invest in Ross Reserve to bring it “up to standard” and amalgamate DLAC with Springvale Little Athletics Club.
Keeping a second facility at Robert Booth was “difficult to justify” at the time due to its lower usage rates, ageing assets and not having a female and junior-friendly pavilion, Gillies said.
Booth Reserve presents “significant financial, safety and reputational risks” in its current state, according to a council report.
Gillies said the council officers recommended allowing the club to operate but with lower-risk “modified activities” next summer.
The council estimates about $416,000 is required to fix the “high-risk” areas and $250,000-plus to fix the track’s drainage.
A full track reconstruction was estimated to cost $2 million-plus in 2019, according to the council.
Daff says the costs are over-stated, arguing the council’s assessment was based on international adult standards. Requirements such as a 33-metre javelin run-up were not applicable for little aths, he says.
In order to stay at Booth Reserve, the DLAC has offered to help maintain, upgrade and repair the facility, or to share the venue with other sports.
The club will seek sponsors to help fund the repair effort, Daff says.
About $100,000 would fix the most urgent need – the track’s broken sprinklers, which the council had declined to fix, he said.
Gillies told the meeting that the standards were based on national risk standards, and were not adult standards “in their entirety”. There was no plan to bring the facility up to “world standards”, she said.
According to the council, it will cost $23,000 to keep the centre open for another season.
