The future of race horses on Spookys Beach is in the hands of Warrnambool City councillors who will decide on Monday if it will give the racing club more time to finalise its plans.
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The request from the racing club comes after it failed to meet a crucial deadline on November 30.
The long-running saga to allow horses to get year-round access to Levys Beach has seen no racehorses on south-west beaches since the beginning of December.
The racing club also wants horses back on Lady Bay on March 1 rather than April 1, and has asked the councillors to reverse their decision from October 2018 that effectively cut short access by a month.
Councillors are also expected to clarify the city's position on the $400,000 it wants the club to stump up to help pay for the extension of the foreshore car park.
It has been recommended that the racing club be told that the money was required for it to secure continued access to Lady Bay beach.
Warrnambool Racing Club chief executive officer Tom O'Connor said it was "fully committed to the $400,000 to assist with the Lady Bay car park expansion project".
"It is an important project for the space, and assists with safety for the users," he said.
But the expansion of the car park is under a cloud with the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning saying it doesn't support the project.
Mayor Tony Herbert said the council was keen to meet with the department.
He said he believed the opposition to the extension was based on the wrong assumption that it was for a horse car park.
"It's a bit ridiculous," Cr Herbert said. "It's not just for horses."
The extension would cater for the increased traffic on the foreshore, he said, and horse trainers were just one user group that was usually gone by early morning.
He said the car park area was so busy and so full, even in winter, that the extension was needed.
He said the land earmarked for the extension was land that had been used to dump the "spoils" from the dredging of Lady Bay.
"How precious is it?" he said.
Cr Herbert said the council was going "full steam ahead" with a state government budget bid for safe boat launching facilities and repairs to the breakwater.
He said he was concerned that they might not get the funding if there was no expansion of the car park.
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