Council Secures Almost 4.5 Hectares Colac West Land for Community Use
Published on 28 August 2020
Colac Otway Shire Council will secure almost 4.5 hectares of the former Colac High School site for community use, and will continue to seek opportunities to purchase additional adjacent land if it becomes available.
Shire Mayor Cr Jason Schram said following five years of investigation and negotiation, Council had agreed to purchase two hectares of the former Colac High School site from the State Government, in addition to the 2.483 hectares which it will acquire at no charge.
“Council has allocated money for the purchase in this year’s budget, with an agreement that if the valuation is not within the reasonable expected range based on previous estimates of approximately $70,000 a hectare, the matter will be brought back to Council for further consideration,” Cr Schram said.
“The 4.483-hectare parcel is a great start and, while it will not provide the preferred amount of space for sporting facilities for both baseball and soccer, it does provide potential opportunities for purpose-built facilities in the future.
“The community had called for the site to be cleaned up and made available for community use for more than 10 years and this is an important step forward.
“Council had advocated strongly to have the land gifted to the community and the State Government had been willing to handover around 2.5 hectares and offered to sell another portion to Council, which we have accepted.
“We had been clear that we did not want the land with the former quadrangle because of the cost to Council to restore the heritage building that had been left in disrepair for all these years.
“Council understands both baseball and soccer communities had hoped a larger parcel of land would become available and Council would be able to acquire enough land for two soccer pitches and a baseball ground.
“However, we have been advised that the Victorian School Building Authority is considering whether part of the site is required for future education use and we understand that space for educational facilities is important for our community.
“Council has committed to pursuing the acquisition of additional space, excluding the existing heritage building, if any of the remaining land is not required for educational purposes,” he said.
“Next steps for Council following the purchase and handover of the land will be looking at funding opportunities to develop a masterplan to guide what facilities can be developed at the site.”