You can view the Council's Public Exhibition and have your say here and in particular the Players Hall which will be our new home when the Centre is complete.
Northern Beaches Council on 25 August unanimously approved taking this concept design to Public Exhibition during September with the results of that engagement to be reported back to Council at its October meeting. Provided the Public Exhibition results are generally favourable it is expected that Council will approve proceeding with the Development Application.
Our new clubhouse meets the important needs of the club:
- A permanent dedicated space - so no frequent set up and set down task
- Ground floor level access
- Separation from other activities/noises yet sharing community centre foyer and facilities
- Accommodating up to 40 playing tables (pre-COVID layout) - compared with 37 in current clubhouse
- Ability to divide the room to have a separated area for lessons or small sessions
- Kitchen, office and dealing area
- Shared parking and bathroom facilities
In addition it preserves or improves on our current lovely outlook. It also will have a covered outdoor area for our exclusive spill-out and social use - this and some other positive changes have been agreed since the above concept design brochure was printed. Overall the architects have taken care to address our needs, given a constraint on the hall's size, in a creative thoughtful way.
The club thinks it is in the our interest for our members to provide Council with positive feedback about the concept design - overall positive feedback may be necessary for Council approval to proceed. You can also look at the concept design for the proposed Warriewood Valley Community Centre (large 18Mb file)
In addition to this article we will hold a members' Q&A via Zoom on the new clubhouse design and related aspects on Tuesday 8 Sep (5-6pm) where we can show you some of the details more clearly - see our event calendar or click on the link for the Zoom invitation link.
If the Development Application proceeds this year, Council anticipates demolition and building work starting around April 2021 with completion targeted for the second half of 2022. This would probably involve us moving out of the Nelson Heather Centre in February. Of course delay is quite possible.
We have researched several premises options to cover this period of the build of the Community Centre, focusing on a dedicated space large enough for our operations. We concluded that an option offered by the Northern Beaches Council, an industrial unit in Vuko Place, is the best available. We have reached an agreement in principle and are now investigating and finalising details. We would expect to be able to give further details in the near future. It will involve some work on our part to make it a great place to play for this 18 month or so period away from a permanent clubhouse, but we are confident our volunteer based club will make it a great temporary home.
