Geelong council waiting on State Government advice before ruling on popular plans to build a wake boarding park in Connewarre
Hugely popular plans to build a multimillion-dollar wake boarding cable park and accommodation facility in Geelong have been held up, as the city waits on key advice.
HUGELY popular plans to build a multimillion-dollar wake boarding cable park and accommodation facility in Geelong have been held up, as the city waits on government advice before making a ruling on the project.
A planning application lodged with the City of Greater Geelong late last year revealed developers’ plans to build a $6.5m action sports park adjacent to the Barwon Heads Airport on Barwon Heads Rd – just 13km from the city’s CBD.
The tourism-boosting facility was slated to include two lakes with 12-13m-high steel-tower cable pulley systems, 24 accommodation lakeside pods and a restaurant.
The circular main cable lake would be 700m in distance, with six cable towers pulling riders around the circuit, while a “two tier wakeboard system” will be used on the second, 150m-long, lake, where a cable system will pull beginners in a straight line.
The plans received a public outpouring of support when they were revealed by the Geelong Advertiser in November.
But, the city is yet to make a decision on the application six months later, with Geelong’s Planning and Economy Director Gareth Smith this week providing an update.
“The application was advertised and 16 objections were received along with 25 letters of support,” Mr Smith said.
“Officers are waiting for advice from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning before making a recommendation for this application.”
Planning documents shared in November showed the site, formerly used for canola and wheat harvesting, would be transformed to help boost the region’s visitor economy in the wake of a major Covid-19 downturn, while also creating up to 60 jobs during peak seasons.
“The Wake Boarding Cable Park is maximising tourism for the domestic, interstate and international markets,” the documents noted. “Other supply chain industries and local hospitality and retail will benefit hugely from this facility.”
“This facility is building on the G21’s tourism strength. Wake boarding is a popular and emerging recreational activity and will also provide jobs locally for youth, hospitality and technical staff.
“There is a cluster of non-rural activities in the surrounding area including the Thirteenth Beach Golf Club, Barwon Heads Airport, Two horse racing training tracks, sewer reclamation and solar farm. The addition of the Wake Boarding Cable Park will not be ‘out of place’ in this area but will also not change it into an urban area.”
The new facility aims to be open daily, with opening times depending on the season, with planning documents revealing details of how the business would operate.
“At the Connewarre Wake Boarding Facility there are session times where patrons will arrive, get their equipment and head to either the main cable lake or the two-tier wakeboard system,” planning documents noted. “Patrons will have the choice of one or two hour, or all-day sessions. The majority of people will do one-hour sessions.”
“The wake boarding facility will be capped at 60 patrons per session/per hour.”
Originally published as Geelong council waiting on State Government advice before ruling on popular plans to build a wake boarding park in Connewarre
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