Ararat Storm Football Club will be among the major beneficiaries of the Gordon Street Recreation Reserve redevelopment if the project successfully obtains state government funding for the project.
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The $3.1 million redevelopment would see a raft of additions to the reserve, including female-friendly change rooms, a new social room, two large soccer fields, a cricket field with a turf pitch, and a multi-use space for Little Athletics.
While presenting the plans for the redevelopment to members of the Ararat Storm Football Club on Monday, Dr Tim Harrison said he was confident the project would receive state government funding.
"This is a pretty well put together project, so I think we should have a very good chance," he said.
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Ararat Storm Football Club president Sandy Burton said the planned redevelopment was great news for the club.
"It will be a huge step to have our own ground, our own clubrooms," she said.
Ms Burton said the project would also help the club stay autonomous and build its own culture.
"We're hoping it will help a lot with attracting new players because we've had people who didn't want to join us if we joined another club because we were looking at merging with another club," she said.
"We have different values. We're all-inclusive, we accept anybody regardless of skill level."
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Ms Burton said she was grateful for council's continued support, and noted without council's help the Storm would likely have had to merge with another club.
The redevelopment would ensure the facilities fully meet AFLW standards.
Ararat Rural City Council government partnerships lead Damien Wieland said AFL Victoria was also very supportive of the potential redevelopment.
"AFL Victoria is very, very excited about what we've done with this project," he said.
"This has been designed to full regional AFL preferred facilities guidelines... this really is the platinum standard."
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Council was previously unsuccessful in their application for funding through the state government's Community Sports Infrastructure Stimulus Program.
However, Sport and Recreation Victoria invited council to resubmit the application for the next round of grants.
Council is applying for $2,550,000 from the state government, with the federal government having already committed $400,000, and council having endorsed a direct co-contribution of $150,000.
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