by Cam Lucadou-Wells
Time is ticking on the massive South East Sports Hub project on Pillars Road Bangholme, with the deal between developer Intrapac and Keysborough Golf Club due to lapse in 12 months.
The project controversially hinges on whether the State Government rezones the club’s Green Wedge golf course at Hutton Road for a housing estate of up to 1100 dwellings.
As part of the agreement, the golf club would move near the SESH site.
Intrapac has pledged to fund the new course as well as the $30 million stage one of the 71-hectare SESH, including nine sport fields, netball courts and two pavilions. The timing of SESH’s stages two and three is “subject to funding commitments”.
KGC president Darrell Swindells says the deal is vital for the club’s survival and push for a broader membership and healthier bank balance.
Without the SESH deal, the club – with 500-plus full-time members and another 550 ‘life-style’ members – won’t be able to “move in the direction that golf is moving in”.
Which is to attract juniors and time-poor members to a fresh-designed layout with shorter courses and matchplay.
Swindells noted that the club founders made a bold move from Albert Park Lake to Hutton Road in 1950. The course had little changed in the past 70 years.
“If we keep doing the same old thing, we will not future-proof our club. We see the importance of evolving.”
The club can’t afford the funds – or the disruption – of redesigning their current home, Swindells says. With plenty of other courses nearby, members would eventually vote with their feet.
The State Government has so far rejected calls to approve the rezoning.
The proposal is also fiercely opposed by Defenders of the Green Wedge, Greater Dandenong Environment Group and residents neighbouring the golf course. They argue against the loss of the private open space as well as the whittling away of the Green Wedge.
Mr Swindells says the SESH won’t be made a major issue during the October council elections.
“The decision to do it is not going to be a council decision. The reason that we work with the council is to make sure we’re delivering something the council is happy with.”
Its lobbying work is “99 per cent” toward the State Government, he says.
“The State Government keep their cards close to their chest. Obviously we’ve been working with Intrapac and can only hope (the Government’s) rhetoric for more housing matches their actions.”
He says the current course is an “anomaly” on the edge of the Green Wedge.
Rezoning it will make little difference to the Green Wedge. The site was “low hanging fruit” that would help with the State Government’s target for 57,000 more dwellings in Greater Dandenong by 2051, he argues.
Swindells also notes Greater Dandenong Council’s potential “financial windfall” in extra rates revenue from “800-900” homes as well as the SESH.
“If we could sit around the table with the dissenters and talk about what we are all prepared to give up, this project would be getting ticked off very easily.
“There are too many winners to ignore in this.”
