Wait on wakeboard park nearing end as founders hope for decision by Christmas
Mooted more than four years ago, a wakeboarding park and accompanying accommodation on the western edge of Barwon Heads may finally become a reality.
The group pushing for a state-of-the-art wakeboarding park on the Bellarine Peninsula is holding out hope the project will be approved by the end of the year.
A cultural heritage management plan, as required under the Aboriginal Heritage Act, has been completed and awaiting sign off by the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative.
Once submitted, a final meeting between the project’s proponents and Geelong council’s planning department will be held.
Plans for Barwon Park, as it would be known, stem back to 2019 when 51ha of farmland at 1392-1450 Barwon Heads Rd, Connewarre, was purchased for $1.465m.
Entry to the park would be off Blackrock Rd, aided by government plans for a roundabout on the intersection with Barwon Heads Rd.
Barwon Park’s Travis Tait said a lot of effort had gone into allaying the concerns of opponents after council received 16 objections during public consultation.
“We’ve tried to be as transparent as possible because often people oppose something because they don’t know all the facts,” he said.
Mr Tait said additional groundwater tests had strengthened the group’s existing position that the project posed no risk to wetlands on the north east boundary of the site.
“We have a great opportunity to stop farming that poses risk to the sensitive landscape and revert the land closer to its original condition by reintroducing thousands of native plants and create an open outdoor space that everyone can enjoy,” he said.
Located opposite Barwon Heads Airport, key features of the project include two lakes with steel-tower cable pulley systems, 24 accommodation 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” would be used on the second, 150m-long, lake, where a cable system would pull beginners in a straight line.
Mr Tait said more than 2000 similar parks existed worldwide and he had personally visited 50 of them, further convincing him of the merits of the proposal.
“We’re extremely excited for the possibility to create a sports and recreational facility in Connewarre that will provide additional amenity to the community while boosting tourism and creating over a 100 local jobs,” he said.
“I’d love to have an answer by the end of this year … I think the opportunity is definitely there.
“It’s a pretty thing, it’s not an eyesore.”
Colin Bridges of the Barwon Heads Association said the objections of his group remained following a meeting with Barwon Park representatives earlier this year.
They include risks posed by the nearby airport, the potential impact on the wetlands, the likelihood of further development at the site, and the negative visual impact on the landscape.
“It’s the flight path of the airport and I know a plane failed on takeoff and landed in the paddock behind it, so what happens if it lands a bit shorter than that?,” Mr Bridges said.
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Originally published as Wait on wakeboard park nearing end as founders hope for decision by Christmas
