Osborne precinct plan

Council to vote on bayside revitalisation

NORTH Geelong’s Osborne Park precinct will become one of the city’s major bayside drawcards if a revitalisation plan going to the city council this week is carried out.

The masterplan must be endorsed before councillors can advance any business plan to restore the historic Osborne House and its stables, a project that is expected to cost between $12 million and $15 million dollars.

But the heritage-protected site is just one of four precincts within the larger area covered by the masterplan.

The City of Greater Geelong has spent about $118,000 on the masterplan since councillors ordered it last year, using consultants for the bulk of the work.

Councillors will be asked tomorrow night to put it on public exhibition for six weeks.

The 25ha precinct outlined in the masterplan separates homes on Swinburne St in Rippleside from the port and innovation precinct on Mackey St, and is described as Geelong’s “northern gateway”.

“Osborne Park Precinct is a gateway to Geelong, where heritage, culture, innovation, commerce and recreation are celebrated. It will be linked to the city along the beautiful, crescent foreshore of Corio Bay, and will be a key destination in Geelong, showcased as ‘one place’ with many users, activities and attractions,” its vision statement reads.

The marina precinct outlined in the masterplan stretches along the waterfront from St Helen’s Park and across the Osborne House outlook.

Osborne Park covers sporting fields west of the historic building, and the employment and innovation precinct bounds Mackey St to the bay, taking in the former power station site.

However, how that site will fit into the master plan is not yet clear, with the masterplan saying it is in a “state of flux”.

Encouraged by the success of its nearby Federal Mills business park, the Hamilton Group — which owns the power station — wants to develop it into a similar facility.

Although council initially approved its plan, the future of the site is now in the hands of state Planning Minister Richard Wynne, who exercised his power to call-in the project last month following objections from GrainCorp and the Victorian Regional Channels Authority.

The masterplan declares CoGG still supports the Hamilton plan, but notes the conflict now surrounding it. According to feedback on the masterplan given by stakeholders, the power station plan has potential to become an “employment hub” and “generate economic activity and employment in North Geelong and the city”, but “there is tension over the potential loss of ‘port-purpose’ land”.

According to a report to councillors for Tuesday night’s meeting in Whittington, current estimates suggest it will cost $12-$15 million to fully restore Osborne House and the stables, but a decision about this work is sometime away.