As a lot of our members would be aware last Wednesday (25/9/2019), Southern City BMX Club received correspondence from the Glenorchy City Council into the potential disposal of council land located at 671 Main Rd, Glenorchy; where our track currently is located and that this would be forming part of the council's agenda at their meeting on the 30th of September 2019.
Over the past week there has been a lot of talk that MONA was behind this and that they had expressed interest in purchasing the land our club is currently located on, committee members have since spoken to MONA, council aldermen, Andrew Wilkie and have submitted the club's concerns to the council within a formal letter.
We would now like to take the opportunity to inform our members and the greater BMX community as to the current situation of the Berriedale BMX Track.
Southern City BMX Vice President, Patrick Berry, has spoken to alderman Jan Dunsby on Sunday afternoon (29/09/2019) in relation to to the club and what this track means to members and she has assured the club that should we be required to move in the future she would ensure a suitable replacement would be in place prior to leaving our current location.
Southern City BMX committee member, Nathan Maynard, has spoken to MP Andrew Wilkie via email correspondence and Andrew in return has spoken directly with the Mayor Kristie Johnston in regards to the club and the BMX Community.
Southern City BMX President, Michael Beames, has been in contact with a spokesman from MONA on Monday afternoon (30/09/2019) in regards to their position and they informed the club they have no interest in our track at this point in time and they have not directly contacted council regarding the purchase of the land our track sits on.
Moving onto Monday night's council meeting and agenda item 17 in regards to the disposal of the land located at 671 Main Rd, Berriedale. The item brought to the council was in relation to opening up consultation with regards to the potential sale of the land and was voted unanimously as a yes with all aldermen. It is our understanding that the club and it's committee members will form a heavy part of the consultation in regards to our track, where it is currently located along with potential options for the future of the club.
The committee also spent Sunday afternoon putting together a collection of questions/concerns and Vice President, Patrick Berry, took the opportunity to table the below questions to council at last night's meeting for an answer and we will update members once we receive a response from the council in due course.
Does the council support providing public space for healthy activities?
In regards to 671 Main Road, Berriedale and the potential disposal of the land, will our club be apart of the consultation process? We ask as to this point, we feel like we have been left out of the conversation to date.
Our club has been located at 671 Main Road, Berriedale for over 20 years and have spent a lot of time building a community of passionate BMX Riders, Should the council decide to sell off the land our club currently leases, what is your vision for the future of our sport within the Glenorchy community?
There has been a lot of talk/rumors over the past 10 years that the council has the opinion that Southern City BMX Club would be moving to the top of Tolosa St, Is this still part of the council's plan to include us within the MTB Park?
Over the past 12 months our club has spent approximately $105,000 at our current location, these funds have been obtained through hard work and government grants, If we were to move we would struggle to raise the required funds to relocate, is the council prepared to help source funding to move our club?
In moving locations Southern CIty BMX CLub would be required to build a BMX Australia standard Race Track which could potentially cost between $550,000 to $600,000 to meet the new current standards. Is council aware of the costs involved in building a BMX track?
If this has been on the councils radar in recent months, why have you been happy to take our money in regards to planning permits for the installation of our lights at the track? Are you prepared to refund these funds or allow us to transfer the approvals over to a new location at no cost?
If Southern City BMX Club were asked to relocate are the council prepared to ensure the new track was complete prior to requiring the club to leave it's current location? If the club was forced to leave prior, we would lose too many members in the downtime which would be detrimental to our club.
FInally what are your expectations regarding time frames? We ask as we are currently in negotiations with BMX Australia regarding hosting another national event in 2021 and we need to ensure we have a track to host the event on.
To finish, for the foreseeable future the club will remain at its current location and as new information comes through over the coming months we will update members accordingly.
We are pleased to inform members that we have strong support from MONA, Berriedale Bowls and Tennis club along with members of the greater community to stay at our current location and that this is just the beginning of the conversation which is likely to be a lengthy process, so please be patient as we obtain additional information.