A fresh application to demolish the grandstand at Wodonga racecourse has been put to the city's council nearly 18 months after a similar bid was rejected.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Racing Wodonga submitted the application to the council on April 30.
However, in addition to seeking the razing of the stand to build a new function centre the club also proposes, as an alternative, the construction of the venue with the retention of the 1926 grandstand.
Racing Wodonga general manager Steve Wright said the club wanted to move on with its function centre plans after having been left in limbo since the November 2022 demolition knockback.
"Our preference is to put it where the grandstand is, but if we can't do that, so be it," Mr Wright said.
"We just want to develop the site and create something that will be able to be used by lots of people in Wodonga.
"Unfortunately for us (the grandstand) has been sitting there for three years with a fence around it and we're still in the same boat with nothing having happened.
"Hopefully this might prompt some action, one way or the other, so it's not just sitting there in limbo."
Council staff made the decision to reject the application to destroy the grandstand, on November 30, 2022, for various reasons including that "the proposed demolition of the grandstand would have an immediate and irreversible impact on the heritage significance of the place".
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action told the council in August 2022 that no Victorian heritage rules applied to the stand and the council had the authority to grant a demolition permit.
Wodonga mayor Ron Mildren said the application would come before councillors if it was dealt with prior to the council election in October.
That means it would have to be ready for assessment by August, when the last council meeting is held before the caretaker period.
Municipal planners are undertaking a preliminary assessment of the grandstand plans which are likely to be circulated for public feedback.
Cr Mildren does not expect any money to be allocated for grandstand repairs in the council's 2024-25 budget.
A motion was passed last year to defer $750,000 of capital expenditure for the grandstand from 2023-24 to 2024-25.
In September 2023, a staff recommendation to allocate $200,000 to investigating repair measures was voted down 4-1 by councillors with Libby Hall the sole supporter.
"I'm not keen on spending a lot of ratepayers' money on the structure, but I do understand some of the community's views to keep it," Cr Hall said.
Mr Wright would like a decision on the grandstand to be made before the council election, adding the community was missing out on the economic stimulus a sizeable venue could bring.
"We really hope we can seat 200 people, that's probably the goal, because we think there's a real need for it in Wodonga," he said.
"I think there's a lot of function centre business being lost across the border to Albury."
