Grant Jones says the club has a builder for the facility, with works to start shortly. Photo: Googong Residents’ Association Inc Facebook.
For almost a decade, work has been afoot to bring a community facility boasting licensed premises to Googong.
But a major change has been made, with Googong Sports and Recreation Club backing down from its plans to include licensed premises at the club.
Club board member Grant Jones told Region they started to reconsider its inclusion “in the last 12-18 months”.
He said a restaurant and gaming machines were on the cards for their Wellsvale Drive site, but these wouldn’t be going ahead.
“The long and short of it is the licensed club isn’t viable at the time … [With another pub being built nearby,] that gathering place for the community is being serviced by the pub.”
Mr Jones said that based on their current assessments, moving ahead with the extra element of the project “didn’t add up”.
“We’ve just changed tack … We want to get the important community infrastructure built.”
The club was briefly discussed at a recent Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) meeting.
At the time, councillors received a report updating them about the decision and changes to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) around the project.
“The changes to the MOU are straightforward; whilst in keeping with the original intent, it now reflects the change to the use of the site while the Googong Sports Club continue to explore options for a licensed club on the site,” council documents state.
“The change to the grant has been approved, and the MOU executed to facilitate the transfer of title.”
The documents note the DA has been amended to reflect the change, after Googong Sports Club flagged the change in late 2025.
But it’s set to keep other elements of the project, such as the changerooms, function centre, storage rooms, canteens and amenities.
The documents also state QPRC will be handling the cleaning of the public toilets at the site.
“This facility will be used by the community and sporting clubs who use the ovals on either side with car parking and pedestrian access,” they state.
Mr Jones said the building works were expected to start in the coming months, with the facility to be finished by late 2026.
“It’s been going a long time,” he said of the development process.
It’s hoped it can serve as a key base for Googong’s sporting clubs, as well as visiting clubs from around the area.
“We said at the start that we wanted kids at Googong to be able to go and play sports without it being cost prohibitive to them,” he said.
“A licensed club, if it were able to generate money, would help them do that. That was the intent from the start. … We still will build that community asset that can be enjoyed by everybody in the meantime.”
The other MOU member (with the sports club and QPRC) is Googong Township.
