Maleny Voice


 
 
Maleny Voice News
Maleny Precinct Master Plan Complete - What Next?
3 September 2010

The Obi Obi Parklands group (part of Green Hills) held a public meeting on Saturday 28th August and they put the message loud and clear to the Council staff present that Maleny would like to see the pathway to Gardner's Falls afforded a higher priority. Restoration of the riparian zone vegetation is also a vital element of the overall precinct and this should be afforded a very high priority from Cloudwalk right through to the existing vegetation cover past the water treatment plant. We would like to see Council being more open with their deliberations for the precinct and running a full page on what they intend over the next few years in their in-house glossy magazine next issue. We are pleased to see that Barung intends to hold a major tree plant on the precinct to coincide with their next AGM. This is a welcome move forward and will be the first opportunity for many to actually do something on this long awaited public land.

Biggest Little Town - A Song About Mullumbimby
26 June 2010

In 2004-2005 Maleny went through a period of anguish when Woolworths Ltd forced a supermarket onto our town in an unwanted location. The store is now there and many who were here through the campaign refuse to shop there even 5 years later on...

Mullumbimby is undergoing a similar battle and a lovely song has been posted to Youtube to highlight the issue. Please have a look, and add your comment of support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToZWtNWc-qo

Our campaign archive pages detail our struggle, and offer resources to Mullumbimby and other towns with a similar dilemma. To all the good folk of Mullumbimby, we are behind you 110%.

Council Approves Maleny Community Precinct Master Plan
12 June 2010

At the Ordinary Meeting of Council on 10 June, council endorsed the final master plan, which will be used as the guiding plan for the staged development of the precinct, which will take up to 25 years to fully develop.

The Maleny Community Precinct Master Plan is a culmination of many years of community and council collaboration to provide community use facilities on former agricultural land. The site comprises of 126 hectares of former dairy pasture located within a kilometre of the Maleny Township. Bordered to the south by Obi Obi Creek, the boundary meanders with the creek as it weaves its way eastwards towards Baroon Pocket Dam. It also contains the state heritage listed Pattemore House.

The master plan recognises the site, its character and is relationship with the surrounding landscape and nearby townscape. It considers the importance of creating a ‘sense of place’ that stimulates social activity, creating a legible precinct character, and providing good connectivity from surrounding areas of human habitation. The plan embraces the importance of ecology and balances environmental protection areas with community activities and benefit. The aim is to protect and enhance significant vegetation and ecosystems, preserve and enhance the quality of storm water and natural waterways, improve habitat corridors and to create habitat cores — larger pockets of environmental protections areas that will increase regional biodiversity.

Concerns expressed earlier on this website about the viability of all the infrastructure projects mooted for the site remain. Council and the ratepayers of the Sunshine Coast have finite amounts of cash to spend in this small town. Where is all the money going to come from for all the sporting facilities, golf course, swimming pool, new parks, roads etc etc? Time will tell, and we remain skeptical as to whether some the elements of the master plan will ever occur at all...

More details are on the Council website here.

Maleny Precinct Moves Forward
10 March 2010

Below is a press release from the Council:

Council and the Maleny Precinct Working Group yesterday had a preview of the bright ideas proposed by the planning consultants designing the Maleny Community Precinct.

Sunshine Coast Division five councillor Jenny McKay said the vision for the precinct is to create an area that not only locals but ultimately the whole Sunshine Coast community and their visitors can enjoy.

“Following a number of meetings with council and the working group, the lead consultants Gamble McKinnon Green, today presented a draft of their ideas to the group for consideration,” Cr McKay said.

“This is a complex project with lots of high and differing expectations—there has been a lot of discussion to date between council, the working group and the consultants around the limitations of the site.

“But I think that the consultant’s ideas were warmly received by the working group and that good progress is being made.”

“The consultant’s are suggesting that Pattemore House becomes the primary destination for visitors arriving at the precinct.”

“They believe that the house should be conserved, and council would love to see this happen with the Friends of Pattemore House and the Historical Society working together with heritage architect Roger Todd to do this.

“Gamble McKinnon Green are also proposing that Barung Landcare now be located to the east of Pattemore House outside of the Pattemore House heritage precinct with plenty of room to expand their operations over time.

“The golf course designer has been working overtime to maximise the number of holes on the course and I think golfers will be pleasantly surprised at the proposed course layout.

“Considerable effort has also gone into achieving a balance between environmental and social outcomes.

“Council will work closely with Maleny District Green Hills to plant and develop an environment corridor and walking trails along Obi Creek and over time to develop the Obi Obi parklands in the west of the precinct.

“A lack of flat land has meant a challenge for the proposed sport facilities. However, council and Consultants are working closely with the Maleny Sport and Recreation Association to try and maximise the opportunities for field sports on the precinct.

“These ideas, along with the final master plan, will be refined with the stakeholders over the next couple of months and are expected to be presented to council in early June 2010.”

Global Climate Change Initiatives
10 December 2009

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) recently held in Copenhagen generated a global focus on the serious issue of climate change. If you visit the website you can watch replays of all the sessions and press conferences via webcast. Here in Maleny we are experiencing dryer winters, warmer summers, and a small decline in average annual rainfall. Perhaps an early sign of far more serious things to come.

IGBP

IGBP Climate-Change Index

Global-change trends for the public and policymakers
Launched in Copenhagen, 9 December 2009

The IGBP Climate-Change Index brings together key indicators of global change: atmospheric carbon dioxide, temperature, sea level and sea ice. It will be released annually. The website is well worth a look.

This international index relies on key sea level data which is collated and computer modelled by the CSIRO here in Australia.

Sunshine Coast Regional Council Delays Master Plan
30 November 2009

Completion of the master plan for the Maleny Community Precinct has been delayed until the middle of 2010. Council is undertaking a major review of the entire planning scheme for the Sunshine Coast and many other pressing commitments must be holding things back. It appears that hope by the sporting groups that money will appear out of nowhere for major infrastructure and sporting facilities is dwindling.

Barung Landcare is still awaiting the final word on where they will be located within the precinct. The delays are being exacerbated by the secretive and un community-minded efforts of a few nasty right wing individuals. The Obi Obi Parklands group continues to develop their concept plans and they are trying to seek funding to get their parklands going once the master plan is approved.

The whole precinct seems to be a case of hurry up and wait. And perhaps that isn't such a bad thing, as it permits time for all parties involved in the precinct to cool off a little and perhaps come to some sort of co-operative consensus for the land. Whilst many in the community don't care one way or the other what happens with the land, many will benefit from the facilities once they are complete 

Water Pipeline Looms Nearer
12 October 2009

Pipeline Route MapThe plans for the pipeline linking Maleny township with the SE Qld water grid are now available. The logic of the decision to pump water uphill over many tens of kilometres to a plateau with one of the most reliable rainfall patterns in Australia defies reason to many in our town.

Clearly developers have put considerable pressure on state government as the housing development ideal of 'town water' and 'town sewerage' for all new lots outweighs common sense. Not to mention aging engineers who know only pipes, pumps and dams...

The average rainfall in Maleny is over 2000mm per annum. Check out the Maleny Weather Station stats for last year. The average roof catchment area is around 200 sq m. Do the maths: 200 sq m x 2m rainfall = 400 cubic metres of water or 400,000 litres or 88,000 gallons per annum on every roof in town. Surely water tanks and kitchen tap filtration is the better solution for our region?

Those residents living along Burgum Road or North Maleny Road and particularly Tamarind Street are in for a very messy and disruptive time as the engineering works to construct the underground pipeline take place.

If you click on the small map at right you will open a full screen version to see the route the pipeline will take. We feel for those who will be personally disrupted by the engineering works outside their properties. We are very concerned about the huge costs of this project - financial and environmental. The greenhouse gas emmissions to pump so much water uphill and the embodied energy in such a huge engineering project will be immense. We fear that the next 'logical' step will be to raise the dam wall height of Baroon Dam to harvest even more water at the expense of the downstream environment...

Maleny Community Precinct Master Planning Underway
12 October 2009

The Maleny Community Precinct master planning process is now well underway. Community interest groups continue to have their opportunity to contribute in the process of business plans development and governance plan development for use of the land and Sunshine Coast Regional Council is now evaluating all submissions in the master planning process.  
 
This community driven website exists to assist with the collation and dissemination of information for and on behalf of the Maleny community. The aim is to cover a wide range of social, environmental, and economic issues of concern, to protect the town's character and to foster support for local food producers and retailers that sell their truely fresh produce. This website is funded by small public donations from many local people, and is maintained by a group of dedicated volunteers. Contributions of opinion and news are welcome. We have received over 500,000 site visits since going online and have served over 13Gb of webpage data.


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