A Greater Dandenong councillor is proposing to save the home of Dandenong Little Athletics Club as well as $200,000 of council funds earmarked for possible destruction.
Cleeland Ward councillor Rhonda Garad says she will table an alternative motion at tonight’s council meeting (10 June) on the fate of little athletics at Robert Booth Reserve in Dandenong.
It would counter a council report proposing the club stays for one more summer while a $100,000 masterplan weighs up the closure of the grass track-and-field facilities.
Options include returning the venue to open space or doing remedial repair works to continue the facility.
The masterplan funding would come from $240,900 allocated by Greater Dandenong to decommission the facility.
Cr Garad will instead propose 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.
“Nobody in the community is pushing for this facility to be made into open space.
“It’s not like it isn’t already public open space there. As women, we walk around the track and like the (athletics club’s) caging there as extra security against the creek.”
Previously, the club had been advised by the council to relocate to the recently-upgraded Ross Reserve in Noble Park after the 2024-25 season.
DLAC president David Daff, who has been fighting to retain the facility, had described the proposed masterplan as “a pause, not a lifeline” for the “family club”.
He says that moving would destroy the club, estimating that half of the families and members would drop out due to not having the time or means to relocate 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.
Its membership had more than doubled in the past two years to 69 at present.
Greater Dandenong Council has argued that it’s not feasible to keep the facility, which it notes borders with City of Casey.
Booth Reserve presents “significant financial, safety and reputational risks” in its current state, the council reports.
This year, two schools had opted out of holding carnivals at Booth in favour of Ross Reserve.
Future school carnivals would be banned at Booth until a decision was made on the facility’s future, the report stated.
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.
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.
Last summer, kids and parents made ‘bucket runs’ to water the 100-metre track after training and meets.
According to the council, if the masterplan is approved, it will cost $23,000 to keep the centre open for another season.
The council’s $240,900 allocated to “decommission” the facility and return it to open space would be diverted towards the masterplan and future maintenance or works.
Last year, Greater Dandenong Council’s community strengthening executive director Peta Gillies said its 2019 athletics development plan found that “it was not feasible to service two athletics facilities in Greater Dandenong”.
It also concluded that “the completion of the $6.6 million Ross Reserve Athletics Facility would result in the decommissioning of Robert Booth Reserve Athletics Facility”.
