Elsie Lange
To help finance a $1.9 million redevelopment of the Sunbury Senior Citizens Centre, Hume council will partner with Sunbury Senior Citizens in applying for a $600,000 state government grant.
The grant will be sought through the Sunbury and Bulla Neighbourhood Fund, which was set up to acknowledge disruption caused by the transportation of soil from the West Gate Tunnel project to the Hi-Quality processing facility in Bulla.
A report presented to a council meeting on Monday, February 13, said population projections suggested with the increase in the number of older persons, there would also need to be an expansion of services and programs in town.
“Future redevelopment of the… facility provides a great opportunity to reimagine and transform the building into a modern, multi-use facility that is warm and welcoming and responsive to the needs of a new and emerging generation of people,” councillor Jack Medcraft said.
“Not the depressing and dilapidated building that it is at the present time.”
The report said significant planning and investigations had taken place over the past two years to assess the compliance and condition of the building, with council engaging an architectural firm to prepare a concept plan and cost estimate.
“Applying for funding via the Sunbury and Bulla Neighbourhood Fund will help support and offset the redevelopment costs of this centre, which have been estimated to cost around $1.9 million,” Cr Medcraft said.
Councillor Jarrod Bell praised Louise and Frank Zambello, who are president and secretary of the Sunbury Seniors, for all their work in advocating for the group.
“They have come to the Sunbury Seniors Club, they’ve seen an organisation that has such a valuable and important mission … and they’ve seen an organisation that needed a bit of a jazz up… they’ve done an absolutely great job of getting this on the agenda,” Cr Bell said.
Councillor Trevor Dance said the building had been “wreck and ruin” for a long time and the revelopment was “well overdue”.
