Alcoa extends lease on Anglesea Bike Park again

A FINAL decision about the Anglesea Bike Park has been pushed back again, with Alcoa offering the Surf Coast Shire an 18 month extension of its lease on the land.

The extension to June 2020, announced by Alcoa on Tuesday, follows Alcoa’s six-month extension (to December 31) just before the shire’s previous lease was set to expire at the end of June.

The shire requested earlier this year that the lease on the land be continued on a month-by-month basis until the rezoning process through Anglesea Futures was resolved, and also offered to buy the land for $500,000 should Alcoa wish to proceed.

The company continues to believe the bike park should be moved elsewhere.

Alcoa Anglesea asset manager Warren Sharp said extending the lease would provide the community certainty about the bike park in the near term and allow further time for consideration of the options for the park’s future location.

“We understand the bike park is a highly valued community asset and want it to remain as an important part of Anglesea’s social fabric long into the future.

“We maintain that the best way for this to happen is for the bike park to be located on public property, which provides greater long-term certainty and the opportunity for future improvements and expansion.

“This is reflected in the Alcoa Freehold Concept Master Plan published in March 2018.”

He said Alcoa was reviewing recent analysis undertaken by the Surf Coast Shire on possible alternate locations for the bike park, including on two other sites on Alcoa freehold land, together with the recently released Anglesea Futures Land Use Framework Plan.