Adelaide Crows Thebarton training base: New win-win solution being considered

The Adelaide Crows encountered a 10-tree sized problem with the construction of their new training base. But now there might be a win-win solution.

Vision of the Adelaide Football Club’s proposed new training, administration and community precinct at Thebarton Oval. Picture: City Collective

Encroaching into land being acquired for the Torrens to Darlington road project may provide a win-win solution for the Crows and residents who want 10 trees saved on the club’s proposed second oval at Thebarton.

It is understood an alternative being considered is to move Adelaide’s training oval on Kings Reserve further north towards Ashwin Parade and east into a Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) temporary works zone near South Rd.

That option would protect the 10 trees in the middle of the reserve, near a rotunda, but would be expected to require the razing of up to nine others along the northern boundary.

Netting would also likely need to be erected to stop footballs being kicked onto Ashwin Parade.

Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis has remained steadfast that the group of 10 trees will not all be ​r​emoved as part of the club’s $100m redevelopment, leading the department and ​Adelaide to seek ​alternatives.

Overhead vision of the Adelaide Football Club’s proposed new training, administration and community precinct at Thebarton Oval. Picture: City Collective

​T​he Advertiser last month revealed that any reduction of the Crows’ secondary oval to save the trees could jeopardise ​t​he club’s AFL funding because the dimensions would become smaller than the league’s minimum standard.

West Torrens Council a fortnight ago approved Adelaide’s​ Thebarton precinct masterplan, which included a temporary, minimum-sized AFL oval on Kings Reserve, the removal of the 10 trees and an indicative line as the lease’s western boundary, awaiting an agreement between the club and state government.

The Crows would then expand that oval into the temporary DIT land once it became available around 2031.

Allowing Adelaide to move the oval into​ the department’s land immediately loomed as the only way the 10 trees could be saved and the club could meet AFL requirements.

DIT officials were understood to have previously not supported that idea because it might affect the delivery of the Torrens to Darlington project.

It has been widely suggested that part of the land DIT is acquiring will be for the temporary diversion of lanes while tunnel work is being done.

Surveyors were expected to visit Kings Reserve this week to mark lines for two ovals: the new alternative and the one in the Crows’ masterplan.

It was predicted that the fresh option would edge about 10m into the DIT land.

​Asked last month by this masthead about whether ​a ​solution to save the 10 trees might include ​entering into the DIT land, Mr Koutsantonis said: “Where has that come from?”

Inside the Adelaide Football Club’s proposed new training, administration and community precinct at Thebarton Oval. Picture: City Collective

This masthead then asked if the oval could be created in the existing space without all 10 trees being cut down, to which he responded: “​I​’m not going to be drawing maps live in an interview, I’m going to leave that to the experts,” said Mr Koutsantonis, whose ​West Torrens electorate included Thebarton Oval.

“But I think we can make this work.

“That’s the advice I’ve received from my agency.”

Adelaide’s masterplan for the precinct includes the removal of 83 trees (10 on Kings Reserve, 73 on Thebarton Oval) and planting of 220 new ones.

Koutsantonis’s pledge to keep the trees near the middle of Kings Reserve was made to a group of local residents, who wanted to protect more community land and maintain canopy.

Last month he said “one or two” trees might have to go, but losing all 10 would be too much for the community to bear.

Nicki Dantalis, a member of the 5031 Community Facilities and Greenspaces Action Group, said the nine trees near Ashwin Parade did not provide the same level of canopy so losing them instead might be a compromise.

Thebarton Oval Precinct Master Plan - Landscape and Vegetation. Picture: City of West Torrens

“We would need to see the details and what they would do to compensate for those trees,” Dantalis said.

“We’re keen just like everyone else to achieve an outcome that will accommodate our needs as well as the Crows’.”

AFL funding to the Crows, believed to be between $5 and $6m, required the club’s two ovals to meet minimum dimensions of 110m in length and 80m in width.

West Torrens Council’s community consultation period on the Crows’ masterplan starts on Thursday (November 9) and ends on December 7.

The boundary needs to be agreed between the club and state government before the council enters into a formal lease agreement.

A spokesman for Mr Koutsantonis referred to a previous statement, citing the state government’s $25m funding pledge to the Crows for their redevelopment.

“There are a range of stakeholders involved and we continue to speak to all of them to ensure that these benefits are fully realised,” he said.

Originally published as Adelaide Crows Thebarton training base: New win-win solution being considered