Meeniyan millions
New hub: Tarwin Valley Sustainability Centre executive members Gil Trease, Andrew McEwen, chairman Lindsay Moore and Sacha Lamont discuss plans for a new $5 million hub proposed for Meeniyan.
MEENIYAN could become the hub of sustainability in South Gippsland on the back of a complex worth up to $5 million.
The redevelopment of the existing Meeniyan Art Gallery and cafe into a sustainability centre could eventually create 87 jobs, South Gippsland Shire Council was told last Wednesday.
The complex would be known as the Tarwin Valley Sustainability Centre and would display local history, include a theatrette and showcase dairy produce and local wines, as well as retain a cafe and gallery.
A learning centre will promote farm productivity, sustainability and the environment, showcase attractions and could generate new business.
Big spending ‘cultural tourists’ interested in arts, heritage, food and produce would be targeted.
The proposal was presented to council by Lindsay Moore, Gil Trease and Andrew McEwen of the Tarwin Valley Sustainability Centre group.
Mr McEwen said the centre would lure visitors to Meeniyan and become an icon of the likes of the famed Beechworth Bakery and Hepburn Springs Spa.
“We’re talking about building an iconic building,” he said.
“Attractions will draw attention to the area and will bring new people to the area.”
Mr McEwen told council the project, worth between $4-$5 million, could be paid back within two years of opening.
He said the centre would add up to $13 million to the local economy within five years and create 26 jobs within its first year.
Mr Moore, the group’s executive chairman, described the centre as a “modern day mechanics institute”.
“It is an ambitious project but we feel at this time it is not an inappropriate time to do this,” he said.
Mr Moore said the region needed a gallery to complement the substantial arts community.
“It’s a way of developing and promoting our culture and history, and where we are going,” he said.
Mr Trease said the complex would attract some of the people that travel in 2.2 million cars passing through Meeniyan every year and build on the success of the gallery.
The building would span several thousand square metres and an 800 square metre block behind the site could be used for parking or an undercover market space, he said. That could be a permanent or semi-permanent farmers’ market, Mr Moore added.
Mr Moore said the group would now apply for funding from the Gardiner Foundation to develop further economic modelling and architectural works. The Gardiner Foundation is supporting the Lower Tarwin Valley Project in a bid to make dairying communities such as Meeniyan more self sustainable.
The proposal was endorsed by the Meeniyan Community Plan in 2012.
Mayor Cr Warren Raabe said the centre would give visitors “a grasp of what the community is about” and Cr Jeanette Harding said it was a “fantastic project”.
“I like the idea. It talks about being self sufficient and it will be beneficial, not only to Meeniyan but the whole of South Gippsland,” she said.
Cr Mohya Davies asked whether the existing buildings held historic value.
Mr Moore responded: “They are iconic but they are extremely old and are quite decrepit. We realise people have a fondness for these buildings but we think the best thing to do is to knock them down and start again. They do not fit in with the development. We have patched them up and patched them up.”
Mr McEwen said the Tarwin Valley region needed a base, leadership and something to pull it together.
The hub would provide a vehicle to showcase and promote all facets of life in the Tarwin Valley with a strong focus on the dairy industry, local produce, a food and wine trail, rail trail and the arts.
The group is seeking major state and federal funding to the tune of some $5 million, and Mr Trease said council would have to be on board with the planning.
Mr McEwen said the group will meet council’s planning and community services directors Phil Stone and Jan Martin on May 31.
“We also have a workshop planned with consultants in Melbourne to look at branding concepts for the Tarwin Valley project,” he said.
Short URL: /?p=3513
Posted by 
