Mayor Bob Abbot
In interviews this month with the Hinterland Times both Mayor Bob Abbot and Councillor Jenny McKay stress environmental values will be central to whatever happens on the Maleny Precinct land.
Councillor Jenny McKay has been tasked by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council to set up a local advisory working group to resolve the components of a Precinct master plan. Jenny McKay wants a small group, ideally eight people representing, sports and recreation groups, Barung Landcare, the Obi Obi Parklands group and friends of Pattemore House.
Cr McKay is confident that she can broker a compromise of Precinct ingredients that will be acceptable to all groups.
“We can’t say that everything can go onto the Precinct. That’s ridiculous. But this is about a community asset around which there is a lot of passion in the community.I am sure that if we are positive around the table, we can use that passion to get some resolution to it”.
Both Cr McKay and Bob Abbot are clear that whatever happens on the Precinct it must not compromise the environmental sustainability of the land.
Sustainability says Cr McKay includes the future augmentation of Maleny’s sewage treatment plant, connectivity from the wetlands to the Obi Obi Creek and its buffer zones. We have to work out what is the best way to care for the Obi Obi”, she adds.
“One thing I have stuck to” says Bob Abbot,” is that that land needs a level of environmental protection to ensure the water quality in Obi Obi creek.”
“The environmental values will be kept to an absolute maximum as far as I am concerned”, adds the mayor. “I will be doing what I can to maximise the riparian protection.
I do not want to add to the problems of the Obi Obi Creek and the Mary River system by what we do on that land”. “In the end I am more interested in what the site can achieve for Maleny rather than what we can achieve on the site for individual organisations”.
“The Precinct is more than the recreational area”, the mayor continues. “It has potential long term as a feature for the town of Maleny not only in an environmental sense but for an urban village of the future.
“So I am not prepared to accept the models that have been put to me of simply a large recreational area that has lots of sports. There’s more to it than that, and I think that the people in Maleny recognise that there can be more to it, and it can be the best outcome for Maleny and the best for the region”.
Mayor Abbot strongly suggests a management organisation should oversee the development and maintenance of the Precinct. He says there are an inherent set of values including the waterway and the riparian zones that such a management organisation will be charged with preserving.
“I see that an overarching peer group will manage the site and the financial matters in terms of set up and maintenance of sporting and other facilities”.
One of the most significant Precinct features requested in surveys conducted by the old Caloundra City Council was walkways, something the mayor and Jenny McKay feel strongly about.
“Walkways are high on my agenda” says Jenny McKay. “I am a great walker and I put that as a high priority.”
“Walkways are a critical element”, says the mayor. “Over half the property will be in its native or natural state, and we will need walkways to access it. And I can’t see us having six foot fences around any of these recreational facilities. They will all have to operate integrally, so that people can move through and kids can ride their bikes. This will be a very different look to other recreational facilities we know”.
Jenny McKay says she wants her new working committee to put together a set of proposals which can then go to a council officers technical group for assessment. They will determine, amongst other things, the financial viability of the facilities, and how they will be paid for. She is also mindful that Council must integrate some urban housing on the site, not only to recoup the cost of the land but to start developing Precinct facilities.
“We have to agree on the boundaries of the various components before we do any futuristic planning or arrange leases,” says Jenny McKay. “How is it all going to be integrated and how is it to be environmentally sustainable?”
She is pleased that the first step has been taken with the establishment of Barung Landcare on the site which is set to move there in the new year. She also has an eye to future grant opportunities. There’s no denying Jenny McKay has a determination to succeed and a mayor who is very supportive. As for the people of Maleny people, they simply want the Precinct issue resolved.
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