By Jackson Russell
Broadford State Motorcycle Sport Complex is hoping to expand and the public will soon be able to have their say on the plans.
A feasibility study exploring the possibility of expanding the complex will soon be made public.
Mitchell Shire councillors last week voted unanimously in favour of the contents of the study, drafted by GHD Consultants, and will release the draft for a four-week public consultation period.
Motorcycling Victoria purchased the site at 260 Strath Creek Road in the early 1970s and now owns 163.51 hectares of land across eight parcels, including the 77 hectare State Motorcycle Sports Complex.
According to the council officers’ report, Motorcycling Victoria has identified its vision for Broadford to become the recognised home of motorsports in Victoria.
It hopes the complex will become a stand-out national facility by expanding it to attract a larger and more diverse range of activities and events, which has the potential to bring more jobs, businesses and visitors to the site and the wider region.
Some of the issues identified in the feasibility study that restricts the complex to operate at its full potential include noise restrictions and the days the complex is able to operate to the full noise capacity, as well as the size of existing tracks.
The study identified two key changes that would help the complex’s expansion, allowing more days at the maximum noise level of 95 decibels, or more days overall but fewer at maximum noise levels and extend the 2.1km road race circuit to between 3.2km and 3.5km.
The study identified the most beneficial option to have the complex’s operations expanded to 335 days a year, with 150 day at the maximum noise level and 185 at a lower level, and the road race track extended to 3.5km.
It’s estimated the expansion would create 41 construction phase jobs and 44 operational phase jobs.
Central Ward councillor David Atkinson said there had been a lot of work on the study and it was ready to go out to the public.
“It’s great to engage with the community. It’s an important project, it’s great for tourism and for residents to go out and enjoy,” he said.
