Mt Pleasant Bowling Club asks City of Melville to waive outstanding $200,000 loan before moving

MT Pleasant Bowling Club’s (MPBC) willingness to relocate to Tompkins Park hinges on Melville council agreeing to waive the remaining payments on an outstanding $200,000 loan to the club.

A key component of the City of Melville’s Lawn Bowls Strategy, to be voted on next week by council, is the amalgamation of Mt Pleasant and Melville Bowling Club at a new Tompkins Park multi-sport facility.

MPBC members voted last month to agree to a move but the agenda for the October ordinary meeting of council reveals their compliance carries a cost.

The club has demanded that its loan repayments to the City are suspended immediately and that the balance of its outstanding loan is cancelled as part of the relocation package.

City officers are recommending council agree to the condition, with the loan debt met by the City and treated as a cost of the project.

The officers’ recommendation stipulates the loan will only be waived if the relocation and amalgamation proceeds.

In the interim period, it requires MPBC to set aside its current repayment amounts to establish a fund to assist with the relocation, or to repay loan obligations should the club rescind its motion to move.

MPBC has also requested that amalgamation plans, and the benefits on offer, are finalised within three months and that a relocation steering committee including Melville Bowling Club representatives is established.

After holding a meeting between members and City officials last month, Melville Bowling Club has conducted a postal poll assessing its membership’s willingness to move with the result expected on Monday.

WHILE the concept plan for the proposed Tompkins Park multi-sport facility is not yet finalised, the draft document has brought the likely bowling facility into sharper focus.

Currently on offer are a pair of covered synthetic greens and one or two uncovered synthetic greens for a total of 27-30 rinks with a predicted capacity of 400 pennant bowlers.

The covers will be made of waterproof fabric supported by a steel structure and will allow at least two greens to be used year round.

The facility will include an approximately 300sq m clubroom and bar that can be divided into two, with both rooms retaining access to the bar.

Sufficient wall space will be made available to accommodate club memorabilia and a memorial garden will also be established – including the transplanting of existing plants of significance.

More than 200 parking bays will be provided adjacent to the bowling greens and clubroom.

The City of Melville is investigating allowing the new bowling club to operate its own bar and the club will be expected to fund future replacements of the synthetic greens.