Maitland City Council will continue to investigate the feasibility of a new district sportsground in the city's west including a site at Weblands Street.
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Council officers had been investigating the possibility of the former Anambah landfill site, however it has been determined as unsuitable due to the environmental challenges.
In a report provided to council on Tuesday, a new site at Weblands Street in Rutherford has been identified. The site is also already owned by council.
"The Weblands Street site presents as a unique and largely unrepeatable opportunity to develop the District Sportsground formerly slated for development on Council's former Anambah landfill site," the report read.
"The Weblands Street District Sportsground proposal represents a unique and probably unrepeatable opportunity to both strategically address current deficiencies in our open space provision and to position Council to appropriately and defensibly respond to the rapid growth of the western precinct of our City.
"The proposal is not without its challenges - not the least of which are contamination, design, funding and delivery pressures. These issues will be addressed in a number of future reports to Council."
Maitland City councillors unanimously supported the adoption of the report which will see a Remediation Action Plan commissioned for the Weblands Street site.
Labor councillor Henry Meskauskas welcomed the report, highlighting the demand for sport and recreation infrastructure to match the population boom in the city's west.
"We've been waiting for some time for new sporting facilities in the west," he said. "This is very positive. With the development going on in our area in the west of Maitland ... the facilities we have now are over utilised. This could be a great facility and venue for all those sporting clubs in that area. I hope we can move pretty quickly on this one."
According to the report, costings sourced in May 2020 indicated that the cost of a remediation action plan would be in the vicinity of $150,000.
"This could be funded from the $624,496 already allocated to development of recreation facilities at the site," the report concluded.
As part of the motion, Council staff will now prepare a report in regard to the future of the Weblands Street site and options for its use including its potential as a source of funding for the infrastructure.
It will also continue investigations with a view of detailed design work and the inclusion of a Weblands Street District Sportsground staged development proposal within the 2021/2022 financial year budget and capital works program process.
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