THE City of Ballarat is set to endorse the Ballarat Major Events Precinct Master Plan at this week’s council meeting.
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The precinct already attracted huge support from the Victorian Government in the lead up to last year’s state election.
The council have added to that $31.5 million in funding by also committing $5 million to the project.
The plan, which looks set to be approved, also includes a long term vision for the site broken down into a number of stages.
Stage two of the plan, which does not currently have government funding, includes an additional 4000 seat grandstand at Eureka Stadium.
While stage three looks at the vision for the site by 2040.
The plan also takes into account the possibility the Ballarat Showgrounds may relocate to Victoria Park opening the door for potential commercial development.
As part of the master plan six key recommendations are made which include attempting to gain further government support to develop future parts of the master plan, complete a traffic management plan to deal with the huge crowds and also to engage in a consultation process with the community.
A stakeholder advisory committee has already been put in place for the project and met three times.
As it stands the Victorian government have committed to building a 5000 to 6000 seat grandstand at Eureka Stadium, bringing AFL games to the city as well as providing $9 million for upgrades for basketball and netball courts at the Wendouree Sports and Events Centre and $5 million to upgrade the Ballarat Showgrounds.
Another commitment of $2.5 million has been set aside for a stage one upgrade of the adjacent CE Brown Reserve, which houses the Lake Wendouree Football Netball Club.
Ballarat Basketball has been actively campaigning for an extra $7 million to complete their first stage plans, however, have so far been unsuccessful.
During a visit to the city in June, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced he expected construction to start on the Eureka Stadium part of the development in October this year with AFL games set to be played in 2017.
“I want to make it clear that at the end of this season, work on the two grounds will start, the tender documents will be in the local paper and we will start construction in October,” he said at the time. “The quicker we make a start on building the AFL standard facilities then games can be fixtured by the AFL”
The Western Bulldogs Football Club has been been supporters of the plan and have agreed to played two AFl games in the city each year. Councillors will meet on Wednesday night to vote on the plan.
