Last year Council voted to approve the formation of a Community Reference Group to provide advice and views on the Ocean Grove District Ride Centre.
While we have acknowledged that Kingston Park is the preferred location for this centre, we need to give appropriate respect to all community members and ensure the design takes on a range of perspectives from a broad cross-section of the Ocean Grove community.
This has been our thinking with this project all along and comes after a thorough community engagement campaign in 2022.
The Community Reference Group will be made up of as many as 12 people and will be able to give their input on specific issues and suggestions to inform the design of the centre.
It would be wonderful to see a diverse Community Reference Group formed for this project as this is truly the best way of ensuring all voices are heard and as many ideas can be considered as possible.
The ride centre will contain features such as dirt jumps, an asphalt pump track and a skills trail, and has been proposed as an alternative to the high number of makeshift jumps being created in Ocean Grove.
It would be designed to cater for riders of all skill levels, and a facility like this has the potential to be of real value not only to Ocean Grove residents, but also the broader community.
It has genuine appeal for people of all ages and would add yet another attraction to those visiting the Bellarine Peninsula.
Once formed, the Community Reference Group will meet for three workshops of up to three hours, in Ocean Grove across March, April and May.
A final report with a recommendation on a proposed location will then come before the Council by August this year.
The Terms of Reference for the CRG can be found at yoursay.geelongaustralia.com.au/OGDRC-EOI and all applicants will be notified of the outcomes of the selection process in writing.
If you are passionate about Ocean Grove and specifically this project, I strongly encourage you to consider applying.
