HORSHAM Rural City Council officers hope $3 million worth of construction of new facilities can start on the Wimmera River through the city as early as February next year.
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The municipality is forming a community reference group to work with the council to determine what infrastructure should be included in a detailed "schematic design" for the northern bank of the river west of the Stawell Road bridge. The project is known as the City to River Riverfront Activation Plan.
Community relations and advocacy co-ordinator Susan Surridge said the reference group would be provided on feedback on the river included in the 740 submissions residents made to the overarching City to River masterplan - a 20-year vision for Horsham's future - in 2019.
Ms Surridge said the council was undertaking a tender process for the consulting firm that will create the draft designs. She said the firm ultimately hire would would also have access to residents' submissions.
"We're looking at doing some engagement with the community reference group and some of the key groups - the rowing club, the angling club, the Wimmera River Improvement Committee, Barengi Gadjin Land Council - and then there will be some initial draft concepts and cost estimates by we hope June," she said.
"From June and July there will be some broader engagement with the community, (and we are) hoping the council can endorse a final concept design and schematics by August. From there we would go to detailed construction drawings and tender specifications.
The timeline for the riverfront activation plan coincides with Victorian council elections in October. Community wellbeing director Kevin O'Brien said given the timing, the newly-elected council would approve the tenders awarded for any construction on the riverfront.
"With the dollar value, I think our estimate for construction remains just under $2 million, so that's obviously something they would have to resolve," he said.
"February next year is when we plan for construction to begin. We're saying 12 months but it may take up to 18. The firm that gets the tender will say how long they can deliver it in."
The council's engagement report on the City to River masterplan noted one quarter of all feedback on the plan related to the development of the riverfront. Residents made suggestions for the area including boardwalks, landscaping and infrastructure to improve access to the water. Others did not want the riverfront to change or were concerned over-development could detract from the area's natural assets.
The final City to River masterplan, which the council adopted in November, suggests new riverfront infrastructure including boardwalks, a cafe, an indigenous-cultural facility and a meeting place.
Mr O'Brien said the council hoped to attract state government funding on top of the $1.65 million from the federal government and $850,000 of ratepayer's money committed to rejuvenating the riverfront.
"If we can get the state government funding we'll have $3 million to spend on that sub-precinct. We've got until June to confirm that (federal government funding), and that basically means they want more detail around what we are constructing. We haven't signed a funding agreement.
"That's why we are doing the schematic planning over the next few months, to provide that to the commonwealth.
Ms Surridge said: "(The government) has to have confidence we have a process in place that will deliver a certain amount of works on the riverfront, but there will be room in that to change the plans."
Mr O'Brien said the council would undertake a similar engagement process with another precinct within the masterplan - this one incorporating City Oval and Sawyer Park.
The masterplan shows the preferred orientation for the City Oval to be north-south, where it is currently an east-west-facing ground.
"In a perfect world, the orientation of the oval in that direction would be ideal and would meet cricket needs and so forth, but in saying that it does have significant impact on costs and Sawyer Park," he said.
"We want to look at that precinct and say how do we fit modern regional level facilities for AFL Netball and cricket in that precinct and what does that look like?
"We've got seven sub-precincts altogether, and we may not have a reference group for each sub-precinct - it depends what we're dealing with.
"But certainly with the showgrounds, when we talk about the indoor-outdoor regional sporting facility, we would certainly have a reference group established as part of that because athletics, soccer, basketball are all key stakeholders that need to be involved in that conversation.
"We've got that feasibility study looking at the showgrounds and the west comparison. We've got to put a funding application to the state government, and if they match that we will get that feasibility study done next financial year"
One of the stakeholders that will be part of the riverfront community reference group - Horsham Rural Ratepayers and Residents - staged a meeting at City Oval on Sunday aimed at forming further groups to help fine-tune the feedback it gave the council regarding the development of the two precincts.
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