The next big step for Delacombe Town Centre will feature further retail and fast food development but is also expected to include community facilities otherwise lacking in the rapidly growing area including a possible new library.
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Developers said social housing was "anticipated" to be in the plans for a second stage of DTC and the City of Ballarat has confirmed feasibility studies and concept plans will be drawn up throughout 2022/23 for a DTC library and community hub.
Steve Troon, managing director of construction company H. Troon which developed DTC, said following meetings with council town planners, the group would likely lodge a town planning application for "a number of new activities" on land next to the existing centre within about eight weeks.
"It will, as zoning allows, be mixed use development. We think it will have some additional supermarket activity, we think it will have some fast food activity, there will be a mixture of large format retail and small, and we anticipate a significant amount of social housing to be placed on the site as well," Mr Troon said.
(Growth) is a good story for the town. We invest all over Australia and we are very focused on Ballarat at the moment. We see it as a really good opportunity and will work with council to make sure we give all the stakeholders what they need
- Steve Troon
The Troon Group has been in "due diligence" on four hectares of land on the Glenelg Highway to the west of DTC for several months, meeting with council and stakeholders about their plans.
It comes just months after the existing DTC development was sold to Shopping Centres Australia, which owns almost 100 centres across Australia, for $112 million.
Mr Troon said DTC currently was "trading well above its original expectation" and with continued rapid population growth surrounding the shopping centre it was unlikely to slow.
According to the council, the city's population has grown almost 20 per cent in the past 10 years and is forecast to grow a further 27 per cent to more than 144,000 by 2036.
Much of this population growth is in Ballarat's west.
Last week the council voted to seek approval to expand the western growth area to Bells Road in the south and Cuthberts Road in the north and have the land rezoned by the state government as an urban growth zone, as well as areas in the city's north and north west.
They forecast growth of over 20,000 people in the Ballarat West Growth Area in the next 14 years including an extra 7200 in Delacombe and 4000 in Bonshaw/Smythes Creek close to DTC, as well as 6700 in Cardigan/Lucas/Bunkers Hill, and 3900 in Alfredton.
The "anticipated significant social housing" comes on top of a state government promise to build 150 new social houses across Ballarat, including replacing 66 social houses dating to the 1970s in Delacombe not far from DTC.
At a council meeting last week Ballarat Council voted to adopt the City of Ballarat Libraries and Learning Strategy 2022- 2027 and the City of Ballarat Libraries and Learning Strategy 2022-2027 Action and Implementation Plan which includes new libraries at DTC and Wendouree.
The plan includes concept designs and feasibility studies for a new Delacombe Town Centre Library and Community Hub, which is scheduled to take place this year and next, and the same at Wendouree.
Sebastopol Library, less than 4km away, underwent a $2.95 million rebuild and renovation, reopening in 2019.
Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said libraries were highly valued, welcoming and inclusive spaces used by a large portion of the community.
"Our libraries encourage connection, participation and celebrate the diverse community that is uniquely Ballarat," he said.
"Our future libraries will be places that inspire, surprise, and delight the people using them, with a strong focus on fostering lifelong learning and the recognition that our community needs to constantly adapt, evolve, and learn new skills to navigate the enormous amounts of information we have access to in our everyday lives."
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He said library spaces would grow and become multi-functional, as well as being co-located with other council services.
Mr Troon said a number of retailers had signed "heads of agreement" that they were interested in moving to DTC if he planned development went ahead.
"Retail industry is knocking on the door and the want opportunity to get in to that Delacombe area," he said.
"I would expect in the next two years all that retail activity there will be filled. Ballarat has really stamped itself as a big growth area in Victoria and retailers identify that they want to be part of it."
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