After abandoning its secrecy requirement, Glen Eira City Council met with members on May 20 to outline its plans, which include restoring the building and tearing up the bowling greens to create open space.
The club, which started in 1899 above a shop on Glen Huntly Road, has been located at 19 Sandham Street in Elsternwick – in a historic Italianate villa called Stanmere – since 1919.
Its 30 gaming machines were causing a cash drain as the club must pay quarterly gaming entitlements of $34,000 after it signed a long-term contract. The club’s previous board approached the council in August to discuss a sale.
“Glen Eira has the least open space per person in metropolitan Melbourne, so naturally we welcome the opportunity to secure the site for the benefit of our local community,” said Anne-Marie Cade.
Cade said the purchase would be funded by the council’s open space reserve – which is in turn funded by open space developer contributions – and be completely separate from the council’s operating funds. This money must be spent on open space and can’t be used to fund other council projects and services.
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The council thinks the site is a “major opportunity” for community use and fits into its strategy, allowing it to preserve local heritage while increasing publicly owned open space.
Opponents to the sale formed a “Save the Elsternwick Club” ticket but were unable to swing the vote. A representative from the group was contacted on Sunday after members voted in favour of selling the club.
Money from the sale must be spent on a “like cause” according to the club constitution. The group against the sale had been concerned there was no clear plan for what would happen to the sale money. They also believe the club was not in imminent financial danger.
A leaflet released ahead of the vote by the Save the Elsternwick Club group read: “We want all members to enjoy and bowl at our club on our greens for the next 50 years.
