Kensington Rec Centre plans approved

The Kensington Community Recreation Centre (KCRC) is one step closer to redevelopment, with the plans for the centre endorsed by the City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee (FMC) last December.

The KCRC plans, which had been updated since the committee’s previous meeting in August last year, included changes that helped enhance the centre’s interface with JJ Holland Park.

This included the relocation of the centre’s reception and café to the park side of the facility, with an outdoor seating area included in the café design.

Cr Rohan Leppert moved that the council endorse the plans with the recommendation that on top of the new changes, the tender process should also consider options for an expanded café area, as well as a children’s outdoor play pool.

“I want the tender process to see what’s possible, what’s affordable, what’s efficient,” Cr Leppert said.

The council’s acting general manager for infrastructure and design Joanne Wandel said at the meeting that the cafe “could equally be designed with an expanded footprint, as a stand-alone, full-service cafe.”

Consideration for a bigger, full-service cafe and a children’s outdoor play pool came after several submissions were made to council by the community concerned about their omission.

One submission from Kensington local Heidi Edwards said, “I feel like it is a disappointing missed opportunity that it does not include an outdoor kids water play area or picnic area.”

According to Ms Wandel, there were several reasons why the omission was made, including that the design already included an indoor water play area, and that within three kilometres there was an outdoor children’s water play area already available at the North Melbourne Recreation Centre.

But according to Ms Edwards, though her family used the facilities in North Melbourne because of the outdoor kids’ area, the pool “appears way over capacity”, and was extremely busy on warm days.

A zero-depth, outdoor water play area at KCRC is estimated to cost $1.3 million.

Cr Davydd Griffiths, who seconded the motion for the endorsement of the plans, said that the motion was trying to “maximise the bang that we get for the bucks that we do have”.

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the motion and the plans will now go out to tender.