A committee assessing a controversial proposal to redevelop Melbourne’s Sandown Racecourse site for housing and open space has recommended that rezoning of the valuable parcel of land be approved.
But John Kanga, the recently installed chair of the Melbourne Racing Club whose previous committee had strongly explored the potential selling of Sandown racecourse, reaffirmed the new regime’s plan to retain the south-east suburban Melbourne facility for horse racing.
Responding to the publication of the Planning Panels Victoria’s Sandown Racecourse Advisory Committee’s (SRAC) final report, which has recommended that the 112-hectare site be rezoned to allow full redevelopment, Kanga wrote on social media platform X: “For the avoidance of doubt, racing continues at Sandown indefinitely.
“NO CHANGE RACING CONTINUES - SANDOWN SAVED.”
If the redevelopment of Sandown racecourse precinct proceeded, which could take up to 30 years to complete, it would have 7500 dwellings capable of housing 16,000 people as well as having more than 20 hectares set aside for community facilities and open space.
There were also plans for 20,000 square metres of land to be used for commercial and retail development.
The six-person planning committee report into Sandown, which is reportedly worth more than $600 million to the MRC if it was to be sold, was released on December 24.
Among a raft of amendments made in the report, the committee recommended that, prior to any precinct plans being finalised, the Sandown grandstand be reviewed to investigate whether it could be repurposed to accommodate community facilities required under the proposal, including a school.
“Sandown Racecourse will become a major new urban renewal precinct with a master planned design that focuses on liveability,” a vision statement in the report said.
“A true 20-minute neighbourhood, it will provide diversity of housing, recreation opportunities, services and transport modes that support the future community, and integrate with surrounding neighbourhoods.”
The final say on whether the state government ticks off on rezoning the Sandown site rests with Victoria’s Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny who first signed off on the planning committee process in March.
SRAC received more than 250 submissions with the MRC, City of Greater Dandenong, Melbourne Water, Heritage Victoria and the Department of Transport and Planning among the key stakeholders to participate in the process.
Submissions advocating for the retention of horse racing and/or car racing at Sandown were unable to be considered by the SRAC, it said, as it was a matter for the MRC.
But the MRC’s position on Sandown, as well as other developments, changed dramatically in the past four months.
Under its previous leadership, the MRC has already undertaken a $60 million redevelopment of Caulfield with the installation of an inner “Heath” track and a failed relocation of the mounting yard.
The mounting yard is set to be moved back to its original position in the New Year.
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Plans were afoot for the glass-front Rupert Clarke grandstand at Caulfield to be replaced with a $250 million pavilion-type building, a proposal which Kanga and his backers also revolted against.
The bitter board spill led to Kanga’s ascension to the top of the MRC in early October, with the new chair swiftly ruling out a suite of proposed changes at Caulfield as well as Sandown.
The MRC, under former chair Matt Cain, had previously suggested that a partial sell-off of land surrounding Sandown’s Hillside and Lakeside racecourses “doesn’t stack up at this point in time”.’
Warwick Barr
However, this appears to now be a key part of Kanga’s plan.
Asked if a re-zoning would trigger any sort of tax liability/land tax) that doesn’t exist at the moment, Kanga replied.
“Minimal circa $800 million uplift in value & club may may have to pay $400k. Negligible when we have $250 million revenue. The responsible adults are driving the club now.”
MRC CEO Josh Blanksby resigned in June and finished with the club in late August. His replacement was announced last Friday, with Thoroughbred Breeders Australia CEO Tom Reilly taking on the role from late January.
Bren O’Brien
