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Pending Closure of Sandown |
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 11:20pm |
Despite assurances at the AGM of Melb Racing Club that no decision had been made concerning the future of Sandown the Chairman and CEO said members would be consulted and no decision was made. Plans have been lodged with the local council ( Greater Dandenong) and the plans include extensive housing with a Sandown Village concept including medical centre , shops and ancillary services with some high rise development. These plans were lodged about 8 weeks ago. Club members have been lied to and Councillors sworn to keep the matter secret. More to come.
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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The Chairman should resign for blatant dishonesty at the AGM
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linghi11
Champion Joined: 18 Apr 2013 Status: Offline Points: 7496 |
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The MRC are a disgrace, what would these clowns do with the $500M?
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to the victor
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VOYAGER
Champion Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 18737 |
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If the statement was made at a AGM, that is a legal statement, and a board or committee can not advance any work or decision, without consultation of the members, that is illegal, and it would result in a class action law suit from the members, who would bankrupt the club through the litigation.
Filing development plans for a location, is a precursor to anything actually happening, so it looks like the club are just putting all their ducks in a row, by placing the plans in the councils hands. While the club have filed the plans, there would be no final decision on any construction or development, yet. I would say members will be consulted within the next five years, so the threads name Pending closure of Sandown, might eventually happen, but it will be about ten years down the track at least. Like the inner tracks of yesteryear, who were gobbled up for units and shopping centres, the tracks closure is inevitable, unless a board is created who are made up of pure racing participants. However with MRC having a relationship with Mornington, maybe that is where Sandown's meetings will be, conducted. |
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Remember, it might take intelligence to be smart , but it takes experience to be wise
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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Thanks for your advice. They are concept plans for a plan if subdivision which would theoretically satisfy a site specific planning scheme amendment. Concern has been expressed at an early stage about the proposed residential density. Early days yet but they are the first steps to be taken for a future closure and subdivision of the course. If the CEO and chairman said yes we have engaged town planners to explore future possible uses of the site would have been appropriate but to say no decision has been made in response to two different members at the AGM was disingenuous at worst or naive at best.
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Tontonan
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Status: Offline Points: 3898 |
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I don't think they will Mornington. They seem to have thought that far ahead....
Giles Thompson said : RV and the MRC agreed to accept the Government’s position on the following terms which have been granted:
That is the bit that made me think Sandown was doomed. What would they want with a second racetrack at Caulfield if they are intending on the keeping the one down the road ? |
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Second Chance
Champion Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Status: Offline Points: 45760 |
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My thoughts exactly.
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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Caulfield current track is very tight. Where would they put another one that did not resemble a circular velodrome?
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Einstein
Champion Joined: 21 Dec 2015 Status: Offline Points: 1290 |
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Shrunk in the Wash
Champion Joined: 25 Mar 2016 Status: Offline Points: 9890 |
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That’s a shame it’s an infinitely better track than Caulfield or the valley
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JudgeHolden
Champion Joined: 16 Apr 2011 Status: Offline Points: 11728 |
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The circumference of Caulfield track is actually almost identical to Tokyo, and about 200m greater than Sha Tin. |
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JudgeHolden
Champion Joined: 16 Apr 2011 Status: Offline Points: 11728 |
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Sandown is one of those American style cigar shaped tracks that manages to have long straights by having very tight turns. Again, smaller circumference than Caulfield. Place also seems devoid of atmosphere, even when it gets a big day. I love the distinctive Aussie suburban tracks like Caulfield and the Valley, Rosehill and Doomben. They’ve provided great racing over the years and I can’t see how the sport has moved beyond them. |
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JudgeHolden
Champion Joined: 16 Apr 2011 Status: Offline Points: 11728 |
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*Lakeside smaller, Hillside about the same as Caulfield.
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PhillipC
Champion Joined: 03 Jan 2014 Location: Warragul Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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Whilst there may have been preliminary discussions with the Council, there is nothing lodged as yet http://www.greaterdandenong.com/planning Once lodged, they can't keep it quiet as it becomes a publicly accessible document and would be listed on City of Greater Dandenong's website as a lodged application. There has been nothing lodged for that property in the last 2 years. If you happen to click on their website to search the planning applications, be patient, it's painfully slow :-)
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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Concept plans do not have to be logged on this website . Two senior members of Council have confirmed concept plans are being reviewed with a longer term view to a planning scheme amendment being sought. The site you refer to records formal planning applications not concept plans. This has also been confirmed to me by a senior personnel member of the MRC. My sources in both the MRC and Council are impeccable.
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VOYAGER
Champion Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 18737 |
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You are right Adolphus, and the concept plans may have been submitted, but unless they have done the studies like environment, infrastructure, financial and community impact, then the project is still well down the line.
I would be stunned, if the council moved quickly on this, because as a high profile development application, this decision would be under immense media coverage, and the council will want all their i's dotted and t's crossed, so no legal issues would come back to haunt them. The only issue is if there are any council members on the board of the MRC. If there are any connections there, then your information, of behind door deals, might be correct, but anyone foolish enough to do that deserves to be caught! |
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Remember, it might take intelligence to be smart , but it takes experience to be wise
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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No councillors are on the MRC board, Voyager. The Club quite legitimately can explore options for any use of the site. Potential uses post closure are one thing. To deny that these exploratory steps being taken is quite another. All Club members should be offered a plebiscite to determine the threshold question: do we retain Sandown as a racing venue? The concept plans were discussed at a confidential "briefing session" of Council. An informal meeting to canvass ideas.
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Einstein
Champion Joined: 21 Dec 2015 Status: Offline Points: 1290 |
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Clearly not so confidential because we heard about it from someone who works in that area, who wouldn't have been privy in that meeting.
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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Discovered in the Council Meeting Minutes of 10 September at page 13149 referencing an Assembly of Councillors( an informal meeting without the power to make a decision ) if 3 September that the Melbourne Racing Club proposal to redevelop Sandown was considered. Seems the Committee has made a decision without informing members and have attempted to deny that at the AGM.
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early4lunch
Champion Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Status: Offline Points: 3854 |
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I heard some time ago that the biggest problem was the lease for the car racing.Said to be about over now.
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Einstein
Champion Joined: 21 Dec 2015 Status: Offline Points: 1290 |
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Gay3
Moderator Group Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Miners Rest Status: Offline Points: 52004 |
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“SANDOWN MEWS?” – say it ain’t so say passionate trainersNovember 15, 2018 11:08 am THERE
is no five-year warning, nothing on the record or officially on the
table but not one racing administrator in Victoria believes Sandown will
be around for much longer.
It’s worth too much to continue as a racecourse, they say. Maybe
$400 million, irresistible for redevelopment as a housing estate. In 10
year’s time it might “Sandown Mews” or “Sandown Gardens”.
But there is passionate resistance.
Australian Trainers Association president Robbie Griffiths says
trainers would chain themselves to the gate if Sandown is sold and the
industry, rather than its owner, the Melbourne Racing Club, does not
hugely benefit from it.
“I get that it’s worth so much money and all that but who really
would benefit and in way if it was sold?” Griffiths posed. “And would
any benefit outweigh such a loss?”
Griffiths, Mick Kent, Michelle Payne and hordes of other
“participants” say the inevitable sell-off of Melbourne’s newest
racecourse would be a scandalous waste.
They all believe that Sandown is not just our best and fairest
racetrack but a “no-brainer” site for development of a training centre
that could accommodate up to 1000 horses.
The end of the Supercars lease in 2019 would assist a transition to training but would also make a sale easier.
Payne says Sandown’s Hillside track is the best in Victoria. “I’d
love to see training and racing at Sandown. The Lakeside track could be
for trialling and training. It would be perfect,” she said.
Kent says administrators dreaming of an out of town site to
accommodate evicted Caulfield and (eventually) Flemington trainers are
blind to the obvious attraction of Sandown.
“The infrastructure is basically already there,” he said. “You’ve
got the hill, you’ve got the highway, you’ve got the train, you’ve got
the only facility in Australia that could go anywhere near to being
world class.
“There’s all this talk about how we can be competitive against the
internationals; well, we haven’t got a facility that is anywhere near
world class like the places these horses can train. Sandown could become
the closest thing we could have to a Chantilly or Newmarket.”
Kent and Griffiths said the relatively low cost of building stables
and creating an extra training track at Sandown – either all-weather or
wood-fibre – would not exceed the cost of compensating trainers being
moved from Caulfield to Cranbourne or Pakenham.
Kent suggested Racing Victoria should work with the Melbourne
Racing Club and the Victoria Racing Club to establish Sandown as the
transition training track.
“If they’re eventually going to build these Newmarket equivalents
somewhere out of town, why not a 20-year lease. Upgrade Sandown and use
it in the meantime,” he said.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? LET US KNOW
BY: Matt Stewart RSN Racing Editor
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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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Tontonan
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Status: Offline Points: 3898 |
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I thought it was just me. I have always thought Sandown the best track in Melbourne but never realized anyone agreed with me.
Basically all freehold racetracks are doomed though, especially in metropolitan areas. I don't expect it to survive.
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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If members like me could get rid of the Committee and senior executives wedded to the idea of making a name for themselves with land developers the Club and the industry would be better off. Town planners have been engaged to facilitate a rezoning to residential and commercial. The Exec clearly wants it to be a fait accompli. Time to sack the current Committee.
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Brudder_A
Champion Joined: 01 Apr 2013 Location: Uzhhorod Status: Offline Points: 4251 |
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Really a beautiful track. Looked splendid from the video clips.
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Mr Grieves
Champion Joined: 28 Jan 2014 Location: Canberra Status: Offline Points: 934 |
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Raced superbly today
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pnclick
Champion Joined: 13 Mar 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1020 |
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Caulfield's $300m redevelopmentAndrew Eddy@fastisheddy 9:45am Caulfield is to gain a second inside turf track to be used primarily for night racing as part of a $300 million redevelopment. The Melbourne Racing Club plans also include a new grandstand as well new horse stalls and parade rings with work potentially beginning on the major revamp by late this year. But as for the MRC’s Sandown racecourse, it’s future is still unclear as it goes through a re-zoning process that could take up to two years. MRC chief executive Josh Blanksby explained on Wednesday the second turf track could mean Caulfield’s meetings per season could rise from around 25 to as many as 45 with Wednesday night and the night before public holidays identified as potential dates to hold night racing meetings. Training is to cease at Caulfield in 2023 so it is expected the $300 million redevelopment could be completed by 2025. Blanksby told RSN's Racing Pulse on Wednesday that the securing of a 65-year lease last year for racing at Caulfield meant the club could move forward with long-held redevelopment plans for the 18-hectare space that will be freed-up when training ends at the site in four years. "That secures our home at Caulfield and that means today we can announce what we see as our vision of a complete redevelopment at Caulfield of all our facilities – our grandstand, day stalls, mounting yard and also the exciting prospect of a second track – an inner track at Caulfield and also lights as well so to really allow Caulfield to become that precinct, that world-class entertainment facility." Blanksby denied the sale of Sandown was integral to the Caulfield redevelopment. He said the club enjoyed "a number of assets and holdings and business interests" including the adjacent Caulfield Village development. But he said it would be remiss of the club not to evaluate the Sandown site and have it rezoned to prepare for a potential new future. As part of the redevelopment, the MRC-owned land on Caulfield’s western end is likely to be used for residential redevelopment while both the the Hiskens and the Norman Robinson stands in for facelifts. The project has been well received by Racing Victoria with chief executive Giles Thompson claiming the upgrade would mean Caulfield a truly world-class racing and entertainment centre. |
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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The only way to fund the $300 million without debt is to sell Sandown. If I was 20 years of age and leased a property the expiry of which was 65 years later do you really think I would spend $300 million on it? The MRC Committee has to go.
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Straight arrow
Champion Joined: 01 Dec 2018 Status: Offline Points: 1026 |
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Sandown is GONE!! It was in Aquanitas master plan for racing
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VOYAGER
Champion Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 18737 |
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Remember, it might take intelligence to be smart , but it takes experience to be wise
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