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Council cold calls on pool
Basketballers play for net gain NBL and NBA player Chris Anstey, Lindsay Gaze, champion netballer Bianca Chatfield, Olympic medallists Tim Forsyth and Debbie Flintoff-King and former boxing champion John Famechon. The Frankston senior Blues men’s and women’s teams, Frankston MP Geoff Shaw and Franlston mayor Kris Bolam also will be playing.
March 2011
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Top shot: Champion basketballer Chris Anstey, at 2.13 metres, will be one of the high flyers at Frankston’s celebrity match. Photo: SKP iMages
BASKETBALLERS are pitching in to raise money for their sport as well as charity. A celebrity basketball match in Frankston on Saturday 19 March is being held to help the Frankston District Basketball Association, the Frankston Community Fund and mental health lobby group beyondblue. Celebrity basketballers and playing guests include former
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The association has about 6000 playing members. As well as the action on court there will be auctions, raffles and a slam-dunk competition. The event starts at 7pm at Frankston Basketball Centre. Tickets: Adults $20, children up to 12 years $15. Food and refreshments will be available. Bookings 9776 8999 or visit the centre in Bardia Av, Seaford.
By Mike Hast FRANKSTON Council is spending more than $24,000 this month to ask 500 residents about extra features for the proposed aquatic centre in Samuel Sherlock Reserve. Residents also will be asked if they even want the centre, an odd question given the council has committed $18.5 million and the state government $12.5 million to build stage 1 of the pool. Frankston has a population of about 128,000. The survey is instead of a postal vote plebiscite of all residents proposed last year, which would have cost $145,000. Five hundred randomly selected residents will be asked if they want a basic $31 million aquatic centre or a $42 million version. The lower cost would provide a 50-metre main pool, learn to swim and toddlers’ pool, changing rooms, cafe and lounge, gymnasium and training room. The $42 million version would have a warm water pool ($4.2 million), leisure pool and play area ($3.2 million), water slides ($2.8 million), creche ($700,000) and health and “wellness” centre ($500,000). The “do you want a pool” question is an attempt to build consensus with councillors who are baulking at the cost, says mayor Kris Bolam. “Some councillors have expressed concern about the cost and even though the survey is not binding, it will help us ascertain the level of support,” he told The Times. He said the phone survey results would be presented to councillors at a closed briefing “before May” and he hoped the centre would be finished by 2013. Cr Bolam said the pool with the lot would see the council borrowing an extra $10 million, equal to a 1.3 per cent rate rise, or $19 for an average property for a combined total of $52 a year. The Times believes some pro-pool councillors are annoyed at another delay to the start of construction. Councillors have been told that every month of delay would add $100,000 to the final cost.
Doubts about the state government’s contribution, the highest ever made for a municipal pool, were scotched by a spokesman for Frankston’s Liberal MP Geoff Shaw who said the money was not an election promise by the Brumby Labor government, but had been set in stone before the election. Aquatic centre specialists say municipal pools need to have all the bells and whistles to draw patrons. Therapy, health and entertainment areas are vital so that all sectors of the community are attracted to the centre and it is economically viable. Two successful models are the “mega” aquatic centres in the neighbouring City of Casey, one at Narre Warren, which opened in 2001, cost about $18 million and was profitable in its first year, and one at Cranbourne, which opened in June 2009 and cost $37 million after an initial budget estimate of $28 million. Casey councillors went for the more expensive option in Cranbourne and it has a 50-metre lap pool; water play zone; warm-water exercise pool; spa, sauna and steam room; café; child care area; changing rooms; spectator seating; meeting room; lounge and first aid room. Upstairs is a health club and fitness studios. The centre uses collected rainwater and recycled pool water, saving more than 26 million litres of drinking water each year, and its northfacing orientation, double-glazing and solar heating maximise its energy saving potential. Frankston Council is hoping the aquatic centre would bring 500,000 visitors to the city each year. The pool project looked to be a goer in September 2006 when the state government promised one of the portable pools installed at Rod Laver Arena for the March 2007 FINA World Championships. When it arrived, many pieces were missing and requests by the council to the government fell on deaf ears. The pool lies in a corner of the council’s Seaford depot.
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