A new concept for the construction of new club rooms and surrounds has been posted on the notice board at Sunshine RSL Clubrooms in 99 Dickson St for members viewing.

A Special Information meeting has been called for Tuesday 7 October at 6 p.m. to discuss the concept of the new club and surrounds.

Mr Mark Sherlock from Anzac House and Mr Matt Hudson from Balderstone Hornibrook will be in attendance.

If accepted the proposal would go to the relevant authorities and building work on the first lot of townhouses could start on the first half of the new year.

The September Newsletter:

David Twidle President
Lesley Twidle Secretary


Contact Details: Phone at Club 03 9311 6372 or Fax 03 9311 6361



1. Remembrance Day - Volunteers needed

Poppy sellers are needed on Remembrance Day 27 October at various places in Brimbank. Assistance is needed for a couple of hours. Contact Liz Steer or Lesley or Dave.



2. Knee rugs - Donations 8 ply wool needed

The Ladies Auxiliary is knitting knee rugs for Veterans and War Widows and would appreciate donations of 8 ply wool.



3. Thank You for Big Voluntary Effort

- for the 12 months July 2007 to June 2008 13287 volunteer hours were recorded with many more unrecorded. Thak you to everyone.



4. Harvester Club

This successful new Club has been running at the RSL since September last year and has 70 members. It meets every Thursday from 1030 a.m. to 2 p.m. and has exercises, quizzes, games, speakers, outings (for a subsidised cost for members).

The fee for the club is $2 which covers tea and coffee. A two course lunch is provided for $7 from the bistro.

Speakers this year have included Guide dogs for the Blind, Genetic Medicines, City West Water, RACV, Police, Fire Brigade, Nuttalex, the Law Institute and many more.

Trips have been to The Cuckoo, Tyabb, Geelong, Castlemaine, Ardmona, and Puffing Billy.

On Thursday 18 December Shirlene Clancy and Laurie levey will return for another visit beginning at 12 noon.

Contact Lesley at the Club if you want more information.



5. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all members

This is the last newsletter before Xmas so a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year

Special Meeting wrote:
A new concept for the construction of new club rooms and surrounds has been posted on the notice board at Sunshine RSL Clubrooms in 99 Dickson St for members viewing.

A Special Information meeting has been called for Tuesday 7 October at 6 p.m. to discuss the concept of the new club and surrounds.

Mr Mark Sherlock from Anzac House and Mr Matt Hudson from Balderstone Hornibrook will be in attendance.

If accepted the proposal would go to the relevant authorities and building work on the first lot of townhouses could start on the first half of the new year.

Latest from the RSL is that the developer is proposing 28 townhouses along the Dickson st boundary and the Kevin Wheelahan park boundary.

The entry would be from Devonshire Rd presumably through the parkland. And we have so much open space for free developer use in Harvester Ward.

28 Townhouses wrote:
The entry would be from Devonshire Rd presumably through the parkland.

Entry to what? the Townhouses or the building site?

Neither makes sense

Is the RSL site for sale??? Or has it been sold??????
I have been under the impression that it was going to be extended and renovated??? Iknow it has taken years BUT what has happened.
I had hoped it would do something with the dining room and residents would have a great place to meet eat and be sociable. It could be a jewel in the crown . BUT no one cares. With the right management and commitee it would be a little gold mine. We miss out again. I wouldn't go back after my last visit. I thought I was back in the seventies.

they are redevelping the RSL

pokies?

The pokies are already there. They have been there for years. No money has gone back into that facility.

Maybe I have the wrong end of the stick (happens enough) but weren't most RSL clubs built on Crown leases... that is not freehold? Or is Sunshine different and holds a freehold? If it doesn't hold the freehold, what kind of title is being sold with the townhouses?

Located where it is on prime (and ever disappearing parkland) my guess is that the old MMBW planners would have included the current RSL site as part of lineal parkland reservations along the Stony creek (now running in pipes underground through Wheelahan Reserve - which is the only reason we have this reserve!!). They would have allowed an RSL club because they offer community-building recreational facilities and the bowls club.

So, will the townhouses be built abutting the Wheelahan reserve, encroaching onto the Stony Creek flood plain? I'd imagine so, because a vista to parkland is sooooooo much more valuable than the rocky high ground next to the other houses on Dickson St. As all of us in Sunshine, deprived of parkland, know!!!

Still, it's good that someone is posting this information here and we are not taken by surprise!!

I heard the Wheelahan family when they donated the land to council for use as parks put a caveat on the land forbidding any development.

It was set aside for community benefit not developers benefit.

Perhaps someone should get in contact with the family.

If that's the case, then how can they slice off a section of the land and sell it (presumably to finance the club's redevelopment)?

This is how Sunshine lost its parklands, little by encroaching little. First, the Council allows a group to use it, they build something, somehow acquire title to sell and next thing you know, your public park's a neighbourhood.

The revelation about the caveat really, really upsets me. Can anyone else shed some light?

23 x 2 story 3 bedroom units

75 carparks

main entry off Dickson St

new 14000m2 Clubrooms in NE corner of site

new synthetic bowling greens adjacent to new Clubrooms


Problem: RSL unable to afford to build modern new Clubrooms.

RSL Solution: See if a developer can help

Outcome: IFocus produce "Concept plans" for members to discuss

Impact: More open space lost to development in underdone Harvester Ward
Significant traffic increases in Dickson, Tyler and Servante Sts.

Alternative Option: RSL to approach Brimbank Council to buy land proposed for development use and add parcel onto Wheelahan Gardens increasing open space in Harvester Ward. Incorporate new RSL Clubrooms and bowling green into parklands for better overall use by community.

Would the Greens candidate for Harvester Ward be interested in the alternative as an election promise?

Plans On Wall wrote:
Impact: More open space lost to development

What space is being lost? They aren't going to build on the park.

Depends on your definition of open space.

Yes you are right they are not building on the parklands.

But they are infilling the great majority of open space on the RSL site - a loss in amenity to the surrounding community.

It would be great if Council could buy a significant portion of the open space on the RSL site and add it to existing open space in the adjacent parkland.

Harvester Ward would be the winner with open space levels growing towards the levels experienced in other wards and cities beyond.

Didn't Council agree to an infill strategy for areas underdone in open space when they released their parks and playgrounds report?

My remarks about open space are a bit of a historical rant.

My guess is that the land currently occupied by the RSL and bowls club was initially open space in a flood plain. That is, where Stony creek could pond. That remains true today, even with the diversion of most northern Stony Creek water to the Kororoit.

The issue is, if the land has not been sold or gifted to the RSL at some stage in the past, then it is still Crown land and the issue of housing development on a flood plain emerges.

If my guess is right, then the intent was that the land be used for community purposes and should by rights be considered open space and not private housing.

My other issue is the plan seems to call for housing on the floodplain - that is the low side, next to the park/creek on the east side of the block. Note the bowling green has been built up higher than the Wheelahan reserve in recognition of past flood events....

The proposed housing, like that on the Maribyrnong floodplain is likely to be inundated once every 5 years. Possibly more with the expected decrease in frequency but increase in intensity of rain storms under climate change modelling.

To my mind, if the proposal were to go ahead building on the rocky escarment to the west of the site and contiguous with exisitng housing would be better - for the houses and the neighbourhood.

The plans do not have housing on the low side, the car park stays in that position. The proposed housing is equal in distance from stony creek as current houses on the east side of the park.

Has anybody been following the story of Sunshine RSL? Will it be one of the ones to close?

They need the money to buy pokies.

It would be silly to close the Sunshine RSL because that's where all the punters are.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/pokies-in-diggers-out-in-rsl-plan

THE RSL plans to close up to 22 clubs to enable it to buy as many p oker machines as possible after the State Government deregulates the industry.

RSL director Mark Johnson "At some stage there will be RSLs that have served their purpose in the community and will no longer be able to exist," he said.

Clubs Victoria executive director Margaret Kearney warned that the Government's decision to sell po ker machine entitlements to the highest bidder threatened hundreds of community clubs.

Another greed is good outcome from the ALP - the working families party.

Only interested in maximising pokies revenue through the pokie barons.

Creating pea and thimble pokies policy trying to con the public that small clubs can be in the pokies industry as well.

What a load of crap all designed to feather their own personal and political nests.

Could someone update us on the revised plans for the RSL? I heard recently that rather than selling off a few blocks for residential on the preriphery of the club grounds to fund upgrades to the existing club, a new plan sees most of the RSL site converted to a retirement village and the Wheelahan gardens and Salvation Army buildings becoming the new RSL club?

Have to wonder, though, I rather thought the whole area was Crown land.

Anyone know anything for sure?