BATHURST RSL Club continues to plan for a future physical expansion, but it will always be done sensibly and sensitively, according to its CEO Peter Sargent.
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Mr Sargent and club president Ian Miller were at a recent function to unveil a renovated property in the Bathurst CBD that will be used by Veritas House as transitional housing for locals who are doing it tough.
The property is owned - and was renovated - by the Bathurst RSL Club, which has been strategic in its purchases in the centre of town over the years.
Those purchases were made with an eye to future growth, but Mr Sargent said the club was now reviewing how it might one day expand given the heritage value of the properties it owns.
"We're conscious that we're increasing our footprint in a heritage precinct, so we would need to be conscious that some of these assets may need to be maintained.
"But the key thing for us is to work out how to expand sensitively within our current footprint.
"We're looking at a range of options at the moment for masterplanning and obviously that also extends to the work that's being planned in the car park."
The Bathurst Regional Council-owned space behind the club is the site earmarked for a multi-storey car park that is part of the proposed Bathurst Integrated Medical Centre development on Howick Street.
A development application is imminent for the medical centre, which would be determined at the state level rather than by Bathurst Regional Council.
The Bathurst RSL Club and the medical centre developers have together pledged $8.4 million towards the multi-storey car park, but it remains well short of the money it would need to go ahead.
In regards to possible expansion for the club, Mr Miller said it was important to have a plan in place.
"You look at the ABS [Australian Bureau of Statistics] figures and what Bathurst is going to be like in 10 years' time with population and we need to be able to cater to that in 10 years' time.
"You need a three-year, five-year, 10-year plan of where we want to be."
Mr Sargent said the club's 2018 reacquisition of the adjacent Cityfit building was a strategic decision "because that also improves our holdings on the block".
"The main strategy for us at the moment is to secure our place in the CBD with property holdings, but none of that is indicative necessarily of specific plans," he said.
"We are just growing our strategic holdings so that we can ensure the club's place in the CBD of Bathurst."
He said owning nearby property also gave the club the opportunity to head off potential problems with new nearby residential developments that might lead to noise complaints.
"It's important for us to have some impact on what's being built around us," he said.
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