KINGSTON Council has agreed to release $5 million in funding to the Hawthorn Football Club for works at its Dingley Village homebase.
Hawthorn Football Club purchased a 28 hectare site at 370-440 Old Dandenong Rd and Lot 1 Grange Rd in 2016, and plans to move its training base to it. The football club hopes to move into the $103 million site, titled the Kennedy Community Centre, next year.
The state government committed $15 million to the project in April. That commitment was a trigger for Kingston Council releasing its $5 million in funds.
A report prepared for Kingston Council read that the football club has achieved three milestones to earn the funding. They are “evidence to the satisfaction of council that funding has been secured from the Victorian state government towards the works and of the fully executed contract(s) for the construction of the works, provision of independent certification to the reasonable satisfaction of council that the construction of the oval is complete and suitable for use”, and “provision of certificate of occupancy under the Building Act 1993 (Vic) and to the reasonable satisfaction of council that the construction of the pavilion is complete and suitable for use”.
The decision to release the funding was opposed by Kingston councillor Georgina Oxley. Councillor David Eden abstained from the vote, and all other present councillors approved it.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone Times – 14th June 2023