Movies by moonlight is one option coming out of community consultation on future uses of the former Sunvale Primary School site in Sunshine.
A basketball half-court, table tennis, a kitchen garden, a playground and a Sunvale history-themed, privately-run cafe are other ideas put forward in a Brimbank council preliminary masterplan for the site.
The council bought a 1.1 hectare section of the site last March for $3.025 million.
Most residents surveyed want it to be used for ball games, or a skate park, with general open space for jogging, walking and cycling. Residents also suggested it could be used as a community hub, bringing people together for moonlight movies, markets and festivals, plus an indigenous-themed shared nature trail.
Save Sunvale member John Hedditch said many of the ideas had merit, but not all could be implemented.
“The moonlight cinema is a great idea,” he said. “I would like to see a large swathe of open space retained, with more trees, native grasses and granitic paths.
“And educational resources highlighting the original indigenous owners of the land and their use of the flora and fauna in the area,” he said.
The state government has been in negotiations with a developer to buy back a separate section of the school land after a proposed 60-unit residential development was rejected by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal late last year.
The Environment Protection Authority revealed during the VCAT hearing that groundwater at the site was contaminated. Council’s city development director Stuart Menzies said there was no requirement for an environmental audit of the area proposed for a public park.
