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Local news for local people
Your fortnightly community newspaper incorporating Mornington, Mount Martha and Mount Eliza For all your advertising and editorial needs, call us on 1300
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22 March – 4 April 2012
MPNEWS (1300 676 397) or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au
YouTube clip inspires skater pilgrimage MT ELIZA Skate Park opened last Friday evening and is attracting skaters from around Melbourne, thanks to a YouTube video posted by Mornington Peninsula Shire. Skater Ricky Davidson, left, made the hike to Mt Eliza from his home in Beaconsfield after seeing the clip. So enticing is the new bowl and ramps that Mt Eliza Ward councillor Leigh Eustace (pictured) hopped on a board for the first time in 35 years. “It is absolutely stunning,� he said of the long-awaited facility. He joined hundreds of skaters who converged on the park on the weekend. The first major event will be a meeting of the Skate and BMX South Eastern League on Saturday 26 May. The $400,000 park was completed ahead of schedule by contractor Convic and the shire has now begun landscaping the area. “The next step is to get a footpath from the village down Wooralla Dve,� Cr Eustace said. He also aims to create a friends group to help maintain the skate park. Picture: Keith Platt
Shire to borrow $12m for pool By Mike Hast MONEY to pay for the multimillion dollar Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA) will come from five sources including the shire borrowing $12 million. More than 100 residents and ratepayers attended an often rowdy meeting at Peninsula Community Theatre in Mornington on Monday night at which mayor Cr Frank Martin warned people in the public gallery several times for interjecting. It was the first meeting of councillors to discuss the aquatic centre since Environment Minister Ryan Smith in late February gave the shire consent to build the 25-metre pool on the foreshore at Rosebud.
The shire has been trying to get foreshore permission for seven years and it took a change of government for this to occur. The proposed foreshore location has been criticised by five of the 11 councillors, ratepayer groups, Upper House Labor MP Johan Scheffer, conservationists and some bureaucrats within the Department of Sustainability and Environment. At the marathon meeting that was 10 minutes short of four hours, councillors and ratepayers were told money for the pool complex would come from five sources – rates, contributions, government grants, asset sales and loans. A report from the shire’s manager of strategic planning, Allan Cowley, stat-
ed “the best available estimate at this time is $28.4 million� for the aquatic centre. This is $10 million more than the estimate made in 2006. The report states money for the pool would be “a small component� from rate revenue. “Local businesses and residents with the capacity to support the project both financially and ‘in kind’ will be approached. “Council would be eligible for the state government Better Pools funding of up to $3 million. There is also the ability to source funding from the federal government Regional Development program. “Council has the ability to generate funding through the acceleration of the
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strategic property review and various larger property holdings currently being prepared for sale.â€? The report stated the shire had reduced its debt from $45.8 million in 2005-06 to $37.3 million and this would be cut to $26.5 million by the end of 2013-14 “if we don’t borrow in that yearâ€?. This would give the council the ability to borrow $12 million, $6 million in each of 2014-15 and 2015-16. “The precise costs and funding sources for SPA will [be] clarified as the project is progressed, however on the basis of known projects/commitments ‌ council should have the capacity to fund and operate SPA.â€? On Monday, councillors voted 6-5 to
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approve six points to advance SPA: location at the carnival and memorial hall sites (the hall will be part of the ground floor of the complex). ď Ž A proposed planning scheme amendment. ď Ž Finding design consultants and architects. ď Ž Including environmentally sustainable design elements in the plan for efficient use of water and energy, resisting impacts of climate change and potential sea level rise, and indigenous landscape design. ď Ž Referring all funding to the budget process. The shire wants three aquatic centres – at Hastings (opened in December 2003), Rosebud and Mornington. ď Ž The
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