The site of the former Batemans Bay Bowling Club. Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
Proposals in the draft Batemans Bay Master Plan for potential high-rise development on the site of the old Batemans Bay Bowling Club have led to the formation of a group of residents.
Group convener Neil Gow said the land had been a community recreational area since 1918. A Eurobodalla Welcome Park Group has been formed to lobby Eurobodalla Shire Council to reconsider the site’s development.
“The history of this site should guide its future use, and that should be its retention by the community as an open space,” Mr Gow said. “It is surrounded by other key recreational areas, including the Mackay Park football facility and the Pavilion Aquatic and Arts Centre. Let’s keep the precinct for the enjoyment of the community.”
The group believes that the site of the old bowling club, which runs along Princes Highway and Vesper Street, would serve the public’s best interest if it became a beautiful community park, a true gateway feature to welcome visitors to the Natural Coast and provide recreational activities for all.
The site is bounded by the wetlands of McLeod’s Creek in the Clyde River estuary.
Mr Gow said the mangroves, salt marshes and swamp oak floodplain forest were of high conservation value and classed under NSW legislation as threatened and protected ecological communities. As community land, the site would blend into and help protect those wetlands, and allow Smoke Point and the Pavilion to be linked by a walking track with interpretive signage to explain both Aboriginal and European heritage.
“Council should not sell this land, a community asset, to a private developer,” Mr Gow said. “This can be assured by council voting to change its function from operational to community use.
“Its retention as community land would overcome the central issue of the conflict of roles involved in commercial negotiations to date, which have dogged the council since the purchase of the site in 2016, its declaration as operational land, and more recently the discussions with potential buyers and developers.
“If council agrees to reclassify the land as community use, we will be asking them to undertake a community consultative process to develop a plan of management for this site.”
An artist’s impression of five key Gateway and Landmark sites included in the draft Batemans Bay Master Plan. Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council website.
In May, several residents spoke at a council public forum about the shortcomings of the draft Batemans Bay Master Plan.
In response to an eight-part question on notice by Councillor Anthony Mayne, council staff said that “as part of a general governance overview and due to recommendations included in the draft masterplan relating to the old bowling club site”, the council would commission a probity report.
Cr Mayne talked about the background of the attempted sale of council-owned land that had led the council to “put an indicator into the market of 70 metres [building height], that then went to 80 metres, and then by doing affordable housing it gets to 100 metres [building height]”.
“I am so pleased we have a probity report looking at this,” he said, noting “so many significant points that I think fall under governance and probity have been raised today.
“We need to give our community greater confidence in the process.”
When Cr Mayne asked about the probity report and why it was needed in this instance, the council’s interim general manager Mark Ferguson said such reports were best practice and the probity report would look at many aspects, including the evidence underlying the plan, the community consultation process, and any gaps.
“In my experience, masterplans are always controversial,” Mr Ferguson said. “We do probity reviews to get better outcomes.”
In a statement, a council spokesperson said the Welcome Park group had met with the council’s general manager and put its ideas forward.
“No decisions have been made, and all views will be considered with the finalisation of the masterplan,” the spokesperson said.
