by Shane Sody

Memo to City Councillors: Propping up a bar, or taking private function bookings, are NOT sports.

Unlike public Open Green Public spaces, they are not going to make anybody healthier. Although they might be enjoyable, they are not exercises, and they do not need to come at the expense of public access to your Open Green Public Adelaide Park Lands.

*Playing cricket on Golden Wattle Park /Mirnu Wirra (Park 21 West). Pic: Shane Sody*

On Tuesday 10 December 2024 City Councillors will be asked to effectively send a signal to every school or sports group that uses your Adelaide Park Lands - that each of them can, in future, take more Open Green Public space away from you.

We reported last month that two new Council documents:

a new Park Lands Management Strategy (“Towards 2036”); and
a new Community Buildings (Sport & Recreation) policy

effectively gave the green light for multiple sporting clubs and groups to effectively privatise large parts of your Park Lands.

Sports buildings: upward and outward: 14 November 2024

Slight changes have been made since last month, but the Council’s new Community Buildings (Sport & Recreation) policy still envisages giving away more of your Park Lands than is necessary to achieve the goal of encouraging sport.

This new policy has opened the floodgates. Accordingly, from now on, it will be necessary for Park Lands supporters to be vigilant, identifying every unnecessary giveaway, and fighting ad hoc battles, one at a time, for every square metre of your Park Lands proposed for transfer into private hands.

The first giveaway is scheduled for approval on Tuesday 10 December 2024.

The Council will be asked to approve this multi-million dollar layout and design for a new sports building in Golden Wattle Park / Mirnu Wirra (Park 21 West).

Two joined buildings. Proposed sports building in Golden Wattle Park / Mirnu Wirra (Park 21 West) off Goodwood Road. Artwork by Alan Sumner. Source: the City Council's "Community Services and Culture Committee” agenda, 3 December 2024.

This is the current old building off Goodwood Road, used for decades by the Adelaide Community Sports and Recreation Association, which includes the Adelaide Lutheran Sports Club, Concordia College, and Concordia Old Scholars.

No-one disputes that this building is in need of upgrade or replacement.

Its replacement should of course, be "fit-for-purpose". But what purpose or purposes?

Sport purposes?

When did it become essential for sports people to have private rooms next to playing fields, to accommodate a crowd of 130 or more?

Note the provision in the left-hand building of a “community room” of 130 square metres, (to accommodate up to 130 people, standing, to be used “when sport is not being played in Park 21W”. Source: the City Council's "Community Services and Culture Committee” agenda, 3 December 2024.

This proposed building is also set to include facilities for: "storage, heating and refrigeration of food and beverage supplies to service the estimated 88,000 annual participants with light snacks and alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages."

The existing old building is 375 square metres. Council is being asked to choose between:

Option A (an increase to 495 square metres) or
Option B (a larger 583 square metres that looks like two buildings joined together.

Deputy Lord Mayor Keiran Snape has argued that Option A should be regarded as sufficient for sport purposes. Option A still incorporates a meeting room, albeit not as large as the meeting room in Option B.

Councillor Snape told us:

"Option B, which has received the support of my [Council] colleagues has a footprint 208 square metres larger than the current building and is almost 100 square metres more than necessary. In my opinion, this goes against Council policy, to reduce and minimise building footprint. It's a free giveaway of Park Lands. A firesale."

Councillor Martin told us:

"The ratepayers of Adelaide will be asked to give $2 million for the project. I would rather have seen the same [375 square metre] footprint with undercrofting or a second level. I don't like the idea of facilities being separate to the main building."

Yet the City Council's "Community Services and Culture Committee has recommended the larger option, that would take more of your Park Lands.

The story has been covered by InDaily’s CityMag but unfortunately the story did not include discussion of any alternative option, or the inclusion in the proposed design, of large facilities unrelated to playing sport: https://www.indailysa.com.au/citymag/design/2024/12/04/dilapidated-park-lands-sports-facility-finally-set-for-upgrade

Fit for what purpose? What you can do?

You can help, by contacting each one of the other City Councillors, and urging them to prioritise the purpose of protecting Open, Green, Public space:

Suggested email (please amend as you see fit):

Dear Councillor

On Tuesday 10 December, when considering the proposed new building on Golden Wattle Park / Mirnu Wirra (Park 21 West), please reflect on the precedent that this may set for other large-scale users of sports fields in the Park Lands.

A “community room” of 130 square metres, (to accommodate up to 130 people, standing) would of course be valuable to some groups, but there is no need for such a large facility to come at the expense of an extended footprint on open, green, public Park Lands.

If this is approved, then many other groups can be expected to pursue similar large building footprints, each one expanding concrete over Open Green Public Park Lands.

While the existing facilities in Park 21 West are obviously in need of refurbishment or replacement, there is no need to approve something so large when the more modest Option A has been designated fit-for-purpose, and would be consistent with Council's policy to minimise building footprint on Park Lands.

Regards

On 4 December 2024, the story was covered by Helen Karakulak at CityMag but unfortunately her story did not include discussion of the alternative option, nor the inclusion, in the proposed design, of large facilities unrelated to playing sport.