Users of the Williamstown Senior Citizens Centre have won a campaign to save their crumbling building from demolition as Hobsons Bay council redraws a master plan for Dennis Reserve.
At their meeting last week, councillors also decided to go back to the drawing board on whether to convert the decommissioned women’s bowls area into two tennis courts or open space.
As reported by Star Weekly, weavers from the ‘loom room’ at the seniors’ centre had pinned pieces of fabric to their clothing bearing the slogan Patch it up, urging the council to fix the seniors’ building instead of tearing it down.
The council had planned to decommission the building by December and demolish it early next year to create public open space.
The 1958 building is cracking and ‘rotating’. Underpinning to stabilise the walls would cost $900,000, while the cost to replace it is estimated at $1.2 million.
After a community meeting, councillors last week voted to go back to the community to develop a master plan for Dennis Reserve and allow users of the seniors’ building to occupy it for at least 18 months until the plan is complete.
The council also voted to investigate the state of the former Williamstown ladies bowls club pavilion to determine its structural viability.
Jenni Mitchell, of the loom room, said seniors were very pleased with the council’s decision.
“I think that council, councillors in particular … were obviously affected by what was said and surprised by the numbers,” she said. “There must have been 140 people in the room, so that’s pretty spectacular.”
The council will also undertake a study to determine the demand for open space and tennis courts in the Williamstown area and then use the findings for the master plan.
A dispute between two rival groups about whether to convert the disused women’s bowling area on Dennis Reserve into open space or tennis courts has been running since 2013.
