WAGGA City Council is poised to dump plans to build an $8 million major community facility alongside the Murrumbidgee River in favour of developing sports stadiums at Bolton Park and at Equex.
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Councillors at their March ordinary meeting on Monday night will be asked to go ahead with a redevelopment of the existing Bolton Park stadium with five indoor courts (two more than now) and the construction of a new three-court indoor stadium at Equex.
A business case developed by council staff puts the total cost of the project at $10.6 million and proposes the stadiums be ready for use in September, 2015.
The project could be funded by a mix of loans, grants and contributions from Wagga Netball and the Police and Community Youth Club (PCYC).
Council's contribution would be $8.5 million, coming from either a loan for that amount or a $4 million grant through the federal government's Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF) and a $4.5 million loan.
Council had already budgeted for an $8 million plus loan for a Riverside building.
The funding model provides for a $250,000 contribution from Wagga Netball.
The PCYC would provide $1 million through a state government grant and another $830,000 from the sale of its ageing Gurwood Street premises.
While primarily sporting venues, the stadiums would be able to cater for a wide variety of events, such as travel fairs, wedding expos, medium-sized conferences, balls, trade shows and dance balls.
The major community building has been a central plank of council's Riverside masterplan for several years and was used by the previous council to help justify a special rates variation that hiked up rates by up to 9.5 per cent a year.
But the council report throws cold water on the project, saying the new proposal would meet the demand for exhibition and business event space.
An earlier plan to upgrade Bolton Park stadium using PCYC money fizzled on councillor concern about the organisation's insistence on managing the complex.
The report to councillors attempts to solve that issue by proposing a "priority of use policy" for both facilities.
The PCYC would manage Bolton Park in accordance with a memorandum of understanding to be developed with council and Wagga Netball could manage the Equex stadium, although this would be subject to further talks with council.
The report says the Bolton Park stadium would be used predominantly for community, recreational, special events and exhibitions as well as sport, while the Equex stadium would be used mainly for sport, with netball and basketball the major users.
The Equex stadium would be built alongside the existing 17 outdoor netball courts.
Council will lodge its RDAF application by next month and should know the result in July.
