By Colin MacGillivray

A project to redevelop the ageing Ararat Fitness Centre is on ice after Ararat Rural City Council voted to suspend works last week.

Upgrade works to enhance the centre’s accessibility and functionality were key parts of a council asset plan, but ballooning costs during stage one of the planned four-part redevelopment forced councillors to reconsider the project.

Council chief executive Tim Harrison said it would be financially imprudent to continue the redevelopment.

“It’s a very old site – it has a historic building as part of it – and it’s been built on for a number of years in a number of different iterations,” he said.

“It’s a very problematic space to work in.

“The initial costing we had from the report to redevelop the site suggested stage one would be about $680,000. 

“We budgeted $950,000 to be sure, and the initial costing from the builders came in at $1.8 million.”

Dr Harrison said he had ‘very grave concerns’ about pursuing a redevelopment, suggesting instead the council investigate opportunities to develop new facilities on greenfield and-or brownfield sites.

Councillors voted unanimously to suspend stage one of the redevelopment and agreed to explore future development opportunities for the services and facilities currently housed at Ararat Fitness Centre.

Unspent funds that had been allocated to stage one of the project will now be put towards the development of alternative sites, and officers will prepare a report for the council’s July meeting detailing possible options.

Officers will also scrutinise the need for a council-subsidised gym, after Mr Harrison pointed out the existence of three commercial gyms in the city.

Responsible option

Councillors agreed abandoning the centre’s redevelopment was the responsible option.

“It doesn’t make sense to be pouring money into a bottomless pit,” Cr Bill Waterson said.

Cr Gwenda Allgood said parking had become an intractable problem at the existing centre and no amount of redevelopment was likely to fix it.

“Children running across the road to play sport is just not acceptable anymore,” she said.

“We want to get as many people involved in sport as we possibly can, and we want to start with the young ones … but we’ve really got a problem with the parking.

“There is no way around it. You can’t do anything else but look at another site.”

Cr Jo Armstrong said council had ‘no appetite’ for policy decisions that would have long-term negative effects on its financial sustainability.

“If we were to pursue what has become a habit of keeping this facility limping along, we would be acting negligently and in direct opposition to our risk management policy in terms of finance,” she said.

“In the interim as we’re investigating the eventual solution, the occupational health and safety of all stakeholders is paramount, so we will be doing our very best to support the organisation to maintain a safe environment for users of the facility as it currently stands.”

Dr Harrison said the cost of a similar redevelopment undertaken by Glenelg Shire Council ballooned to about $40 million.

“We’re a small rural council. That’s significantly more than our annual budget,” he said.

“To begin with, in the current funding environment from state and federal governments, we’re unlikely to see that sort of money come our way. 

“Even if we did, providing a third or a quarter of that as a contribution is still a significant impost on council’s resources.

“I think there’s a need for us to look at other means of delivering those services for our community.”

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