The President and other Board members in their various communications have promised members that a YES vote will result in a revitalised and modern Vincentia Golf clubhouse with an improved layout equipped with state of the art facilities. Something that ensures the viability of our "beloved club".
Sounds great. Sign me up. No need to read further. Wow... a new modern clubhouse!!
It is your right to vote YES for the change to non-core for whatever reason you like. You don't even need a reason, but you may be disappointed if you are doing so in the expectation of being delivered the clubhouse that is promised in the headlines.
If you have read a little further in the Information Memorandum and have the benefit of discussions with SGBCC and the developer you would know:
The Information Memorandum for the EGM specifies the maximum size of the “clubhouse” is 250sqm.
This space will still need to accommodate a significant number of poker machines and presumably a reception area and other club infrastructure. There will be no restaurant.
These premises will be owned by the developer and leased to SGBCC essentially free for the first 10 years and then will presumably revert to a commercial rent thereafter.
The clubhouse being provided by the developer is a shell with no current commitment to fit-out and costings.
Having an existing licensed club is a mandatory requirement to enable the seniors living development proceed under the SEPP without rezoning.
There is the possibility of other restrictions on use applying to the clubhouse as determined by the developer or the Seniors Living residents (such as limited operating hours, limited to "Golf club" members only etc).
At one stage the clubhouse was to have 2 levels of seniors living above it (and not sure this idea has yet been abandoned).
Others can add more detail but I think that is enough to allow some observations to be made.
It may be new and modern, it may be state of the art and it may be efficient but a "clubhouse" it most definitely is not (and I've been in a few!!). The size is a tiny 250sqm (say 16m x 16m) and is approximately 1/5 of the existing clubhouse size (by my rough calculations from the floor plan). A massive reduction in size and by necessity, function. After you fit the pokies and other required infrastructure, space will be extremely limited. Go pace out the area of the Sanctuary Point foyer and you will get the idea. To be promoting a "new clubhouse" is quite disingenuous and given its size (and therefore the limited service offering that it can provide in that space), this is not attractive and you can only assume many affected members don't understand this as they failed to read the details of the Information Memorandum.
Speculation is whether the new clubhouse being offered is merely the minimum financial commitment that needs to be made to enable the requirements of the SEPP to be met by having an existing licensed club. Importantly, as there is no requirement under the SEPP to keep it open on an ongoing basis, that creates the risk that it will eventually be closed when the free lease period runs out (or even earlier) and it will then revert back to the seniors living facility, with the poker machines simply transferred elsewhere.
Maybe the existing Vincentia clubhouse could be retained by SGBCC, rather than sold off (and leased back). Give it a good old "revitalisation" and create some additional space by having the seniors living community facilities provide a shared function room. That would at least have some attraction.
Contributors to FoVGC Facebook group have raised concerns about the quality and depth of information that has been provided by the Board to support the YES vote.
You be the “judge” on this one.
Contributed by a concerned CC member