THE Gawler & Districts Softball Association (GDSA) wants assurance extra land needed to complete a planned upgrade of Karbeethan Reserve will be acquired prior to the project starting, after Gawler Council settled on a final masterplan for the Evanston Gardens sports ground.

At their meeting in December, elected members voted to endorse a final draft of the council’s proposed $10 million overhaul of the ageing reserve, after an extensive public consultation process last year.

During the consultation period, Karbeethan Reserve tenants, including the GDSA and Riverside Cricket Club raised concerns over the uncertainty of the latter stages of the fourphase project.

The first two stages of the proposal will deliver an upgrade to the existing baseball diamond, new shared-use clubrooms, two new soccer pitches and a synthetic soccer pitch and diamond.

While the first two stages can be completed within the existing boundaries of the reserve, the second two phases, which would include a gymnasium, oval and walking trail, require council to acquire neighbouring land from property owners and further external funding.

The uncertainty had both GDSA and Riverside worried the project could stall after the first two stages, leaving them without home ground facilities.

Speaking to The Bunyip, GDSA vice-president Kat Ingram said the association had been told by council it would be looking to complete some of the construction stages concurrently, which would minimise the impact on clubs and ease uncertainty over the future of the project.

However, she said the association needed assurance the land and external funding required to complete the project were locked in before any work started.

“Hopefully council are working hard with local owners and looking at securing some of that land and having this discussion now, which will hopefully alleviate some fears we had about the staging,”  she said.

“I don’t see how the current plans would work if they couldn’t secure the land.

“If they don’t secure that land, I assume they would need to review the original plans. How else can you see to it that none of the sports get disadvantaged?”

Mrs Ingram added the council and association had worked together “productively” to ensure its concerns were heard by elected members.

A further report on the masterplan will be presented to the council’s corporate and community services committee meeting on March 10.

Gawler Mayor Karen Redman confirmed the council was looking at completing stages concurrently to deliver better facilities faster.

“Council is looking to implement the Karbeethan Reserve Master Plan, in a timely manner, with a greater initial precinct redevelopment and a less segmented and staged project,” she said.

“This implementation strategy will see an initially increased range of redeveloped facilities, so providing additional upgraded infrastructure for more immediate use by the community and our local sporting organisations.”