The Clarence City Council will run an expensive $200,000 elector poll on the proposed location of Tasmania’s new AFL/AFLW High Performance Centre.
Two sites on Hobart’s eastern shore, Rosny Parklands and Charles Hand Park, are being considered for the $70 million facility.
The decision to hold the poll comes after a petition by ‘Save Rosny’s Parks’ with over 1,000 signatures from Clarence residents was presented to the council at a meeting on Monday night.
“Council officers will begin checking the signatories of petitioners against the Clarence electoral roll to ensure there is at least 1000 enrolled Clarence voters,” a council spokesperson said.
“Simultaneously, council will also work with Tasmanian Electoral Commission to begin the process and work with the petitioner, Save Rosny’s Parks, to determine the wording of the question, or questions, to be included on the ballot paper.”
The non-binding poll must be completed within the next 60 days.
Tasmania Devils Football Club Chair Grant O’Brien said the club is hoping to have a “more definitive view on the suitability of the Rosny site” in the coming weeks.
“The club’s preferred location is the one where the entire training and administration facility would be housed on the site of the former Rosny Golf Club,” he said in an update to members.
He added that relocating the project to the runner-up site in Kingston has not been ruled out.
“It’s also important to note that the Kingborough Twin Ovals option remains under consideration whilst we are completing our investigative work,” O’Brien said.
The facility is being jointly funded by the AFL and the state government and will provide a training and administration base for the new Tasmania Devils club.
Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley has previously stated that the council “has not and will not” contribute financially to the project and criticised the ‘Save Rosny’s Parks’ group for being willing to “unnecessarily” spend ratepayers’ money in an attempt to stop it.
