Ocean Grove Voice - Your Local Newspaper

THIS is the first public look at the draft masterplan for Ocean Grove’s Shell Road Reserve.
After more than 30 years of setbacks the council and the stakeholders, the sports clubs and consultants behind it are confident that they are closer than ever to finding an agreed way forward.
The plans, which also encompass the future of the existing Football Netball Club and Cricket Club at the Memorial Ground and Collendina Reserve, aims to address future needs as well as current shortfalls.
Ocean Grove’s population is expected to increase by nearly 10,000 in the next ten years. In 20 years it could be as high as 30,000.
Across the board current facilities fall woefully short in terms of quality and quantity.
Infrastructure requests from the clubs included: pavilion facilities, a minimum of four netball courts (preferably six) with lighting and support facilities like benches, spectator seating, adequate facilities for females (soccer, netball, officials), playing surface improvements, commercial standard kitchen facilities, match standard oval lights and soccer pitch training lights, cricket nets, provision for sponsorship advertising and maximise car parking (possibly tiered like Torquay).
The pavilion – estimated at nearly $4m to build - would be the centrepiece of the Shell Road Reserve project and evisages a multisport building that can be used simultaneously by winter sports clubs.
Grove sports clubs have rejected the idea of forming an overarching Sports Club, such as happens in Lara, so the idea of establishing a facility management sub-committee is being proposed. That group would be made up of individual tenant club representatives and would oversee and control usage, management, internal maintenance, booking, promotion and non-club based community use.
The plan also suggests the marking out but not developing of Kingston Park as an overflow for junior soccer (8-11 year olds).
Future sports needs derived from population expansion would also be met with open space and infrastructure in the Ocean Grove growth area.
About 8 hectares is expected to be developed as an integrated active recreation reserve catering primarily for cricket, football and netball. That would include two multipurpose ovals, one with training lights, two netball courts, a basic sports pavilion, car parking and an informal park.
In the draft’s implementation conclusions its authors, Insight Leisure Planning, state that the overall cost would be ‘in excess of $8m”, plus an estimated $3.8m for the development of the open space in the growth, although a significant proportion is expected to be negotiated as a developer contribution.
“Despite the significant costs involved,” they state,” almost half of the total estimate is accounted for by the proposed construction of a new multi-purpose community pavilion at Shell Road Reserve.”
As the Voice went to press earlier this week the clubs were due to meet to give their views on the draft plans.
Council is hopeful that cross club agreement would allow them to take the plans to the final stage and put Ocean Grove in a strong position for forthcoming state and federal election funding commitments.