IT’S been called “the jewel in the crown” of the Portland foreshore by some, and “a permanent blot on the landscape” by others, but a decision has finally been made on the new multipurpose building that will replace the yacht and angling clubs.

Glenelg Shire councillors unanimously voted on Tuesday night to endorse the location and design of the new $5 million building, which will also include a café and seafood market as well as function and meeting rooms for community use.

That followed a public vote on the Your Say Glenelg website where three options were offered for each of the design and location.

The council received 136 responses – in the location stakes, the site on the lawns next to Henty Beach (further south to the current yacht club building, closer to the TS Henty Navy Cadets building) won out with 63 votes, narrowly ahead of the existing Portland Yacht Club site with 56 and another site in between those two with 19.

The alpine look won in the design race, with 61 votes, ahead of the with 42 for the flat roof with rounded corners and 14 for the flat roof squared off – photos of both the winning design and layout accompany this story.

A report prepared for the council meeting says the views from Bentinck St were highlighted as important by 18 of respondents and that, as well as the closeness to the water for clubs, were the main drivers for the winning location.

Before councillors voted, questions were asked from the public gallery about the proposal.

The yacht club’s former commodore Michael Doherty asked if councillors were aware that club members were uncertain of its direction and future “due to the lack of response from Glenelg Shire with regards to the future lease agreement”.

He also asked if they were aware the club had not received designs and the various options, including the provision for a storage structure for the boat yard.

Council assets director Paul Phelan said plans had been provided with the club in confidence before being made public and at its request had made some changes.

He said he was “more than happy” to continue consulting with the club but there would be various other tenants in the new building.

Damon Jarrett questioned the council making a decision when less than 140 people out of a total of 1267 visitors to the Your Say Glenelg website actually voted, and also queried the numbers when some submissions were made by groups.

“Do the councillors believe that the disproportionate response reflects a very large number of people who wished not to have a building on the foreshore in one of the three locations given,” he asked.

Then-Mayor Anita Rank said she expected more responses than what were received.

“We did all that we could,” she said.

“I personally believe 136 formal responses is not a lot, we would expect more.”

While there was no place in the survey for anyone who didn’t like any of the designs or locations to state that, “we didn’t receive (feedback) that people didn’t want it”.

Cr Rank said the council wasn’t actually required to consult on the matter “but we chose to do that as I believe it’s an important topic”.

The Historic Buildings Restoration Committee did not speak at Tuesday night’s meeting but also lodged a submission with the council objecting to the development.

Vice president Lex Chalmers said the main issues were a lack of time allowed for community input (about two weeks), no response to climate change (no water-saving capacity and not oriented for solar panels), lack of due regard for the site’s cultural heritage and the building was an over-development which did not respond to needs of “actual marine users” of the foreshore.

Ms Chalmers said the downstairs market space and upstairs community venue “could be over-developed white elephants with very little community use” that would create “a permanent blot on the land and seascapes”.

The report prepared for the council meeting says those and other submitters’ concerns had been taken into consideration.

Council chief executive Greg Burgoyne told the Observer after the meeting there would now be further discussions before a final design consultation and work beginning on the building.

“The yacht club is an anchor tenant and this has always been considered through the context of that,” he said.

“We’ve worked very closely with the yacht club for a couple of years and we see them as fundamental to the success of this project.

“But there’s room for other organisations – the (state) government funding criteria (it provided the money for the building) was specific that they wanted a seafood retail outlet to be included.

“The aspiration there is fresh fish off the trawlers can be sold to the public.

“Upstairs will be a community facility for functions and events, we see that as being quite critical and the positioning over the harbour lends itself to this.”

During the meeting councillors also praised the progress made.

“This is a really exciting project which has been asked for for some time now, for a number of years,” said Karen Stephens.

“(It) is part of the big picture we had for the foreshore.

“The option… for the location is such a brilliant opportunity for us to really get that foreshore humming down there.”

Gilbert Wilson said discussions on the project went back to the 2000s when the Becker plan was being developed.

“In 2012 the council of the day sat down with a whole range of stakeholders to see what their vision would look like on the Portland foreshore,” he said.

“They were going to demolish the angling club, which we will, they were going to demolish the yacht club, which we will do, and they were going to build a multipurpose facility which we will do to cater to those groups.

“One difference is the location – (back then) that was near the (Maritime Discovery Centre) but there’s not enough room there.

“(The chosen option) puts it in behind the cliff on Cliff St and that won’t obscure the view from Bentinck St.

“The loss of greenery will be taken up by (the space currently occupied by the) angling club, so there’s no loss of greenery.

“This is the jewel in the crown, when built it will be the drawcard for people to go and set up right next to the water.

“One of our goals was to connect the CBD to the foreshore and this is part of the key to doing that.”

Cr Rank said after the meeting that the community contributed to the final decision.

“Thank you to all those who had their say and helped determine the best location and design for this key community asset,” she said.

“With the location and exterior designs locked in, we can now work on producing a detailed interior design for the facility, which we hope to release in 2023.”