Moree Plains Shire Council are hoping to finally move forward with development on the olympic pool at the Moree Artesian Aquatic Centre (MAAC) after receiving a presentation from the MAAC Board at an extraordinary council meeting on Thursday.
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Council have been in the process of decommissioning the pool and commencing the procurement process for the reconstruction while the MAAC Board has been seeking community feedback on what changes they would like to see made.
A group forum was held on July 16 to allow people to share ideas on what upgrades can be made.
MAAC CEO Emma Brazel while expressions of interest from the community were minimal, feedback from community groups that use the facility, including the Moree Swimming Club, Moree Diggers Swimming Club and the Moree Services Cycle and Triathlon Club was valuable.
"It was really well received from the actual community groups and they're excited to actually see some action happening within the olympic pool," she said.
There was a large list of recommendations the MAAC Board presented to council, but the main thing they wanted to see was for the minimum replacement of the olympic pool to be a FINA standard olympic pool, including starting blocks at both ends, backstroke starting ledge, false start rope, backstroke flags and most importantly 10 lanes.
"The reasoning behind the 10 lanes is that we need to look to the future," Ms Brazel said.
"With a 10 lane we can go 25 metres across the actual pool, so what that allows is us to do short courses."
Ms Brazel said they would also like to see a grandstand added on the southern side of the pool, as well as more shade in the surrounding areas.
In addition to the new FINA standard olympic pool, they're hoping to see improvements made to the hot pools, including improved hygiene, drainage and water flow, and ideally to avoid the necessity of tiles.
Council unanimously moved the following recommendation:
- That council endorse the preliminary 'development proposal' that can be utilised for engagement with Aquatics Development Sepcialists to investigate re-development options for Council's further consideration.
- That Council endorse the prepartion of a funding stategy, for further consideration with any redevelopment works prior to any letting of tenders.
- That Council endorse the creation of a 'working group' comprising of the MAAC Board and Elected Council Members.
- That Council endorse the Macpherson Design to commence the private industry engagement
Moree mayor Katrina Humphries said it's time to finally start moving forward with these works.
"I think we've just got to bite the bullet and get on with it," she said.
"It's the jewel of the town and the community's on board by the sounds of it."
"Finally we've got a proposal there, a recommendation that we can move forward with, something that we haven't had before," councillor Stephen Ritchie added.
"It's a starting point, we need to get that design drawn up [of the olympic pool] and something to work on."