STARTING LINE

$350m CORA training facility seeks public feedback

THE backers of the proposed $350 million elite sports training facility to be built near Modewarre have made their first pitch to the public, and have talked up the potential community benefits.

Proponents of CORA (Cape Otway Road Australia) were surprised at the size of the 300-strong crowd that filled Modewarre Memorial Hall – close to the site for the 240-hectare development on Cape Otway Road – on Monday night.

Officially launched at an invite-only event on November 22, CORA will have training fields and facilities for nine of Australia’s 10 most popular sports (including a wave pool), four- and five-star accommodation and an organic farm.

CORA’s Daryl Pelchen – one of the seven landowners on whose land the complex will be built – said the facilities would be fully available to the community most of the time, CORA would pay for the reinstatement of Moriac’s railway station, and the project would provide at least 1,000 jobs during construction and 500 ongoing jobs when finished.

He said CORA was aimed at and there was interest from the “absolute best sporting teams and athletes in the world”, with 28 letters of intent already received.

“We’re talking about Team GB, we’re talking about Real Madrid, we’re talking about NBA teams.

“This is like us having a mini-Olympics every month – it is actually going to be watched by the rest of the world.”

He made two “loud points” in his speech: that CORA would not be a match-day venue; and that “the rest of the world wants to live exactly like you do”, with CORA’s natural setting a key part of its appeal.

CORA does not yet have planning approval but hopes to apply directly to the state government within six months.

Mr Pelchen said CORA had taken eight years to get to this point, but the facility was “not a done deal”.

“This project has to belong to the community, it has to represent this region and this is not lip service – if this community doesn’t want it, it doesn’t happen.

“We’re not here to upset people and clearly we’ve upset some; I take that firmly on the chin.”

He acknowledged residents in Connies Lane (which CORA would wrap around) had not been consulted but “we are reaching out to them”.

The next community information session will be held at Modewarre Memorial Hall, 910 Cape Otway Road, Modewarre on Saturday from 10amnoon. To RSVP, head to cora.net.au.