Following on from years of deliberations and public consultations costing many hundreds of thousands of dollars, Caloundra City Council staff developed their 'best land use' concept plan for the Maleny Community Precinct land which went before the Council meeting this morning.

The Obi Obi Parklands team members were satisfied with this compromise plan, which included many worthy features from the parklands concept plan submitted to Council. Here you can see a photograph of the compromise plan which would have been accepted by most in the Maleny community: Council-Staff-Plan.jpg (1.4Mb).

Lo-and-behold the surprise of many when Deputy Mayor Don Smith produced his own hastily and arbitrarily amended precinct plan WITHOUT THE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE OTHER COUNCILLORS. The amended plan, which surprise - surprise included provision for an 18 hole golf course was hastily flicked through by Councillors before being voted on a mere 3 hours after they laid eyes on it for the first time. 

Only 5 of the Councillors spoke against the revised Precinct plan, many with passion about due process being sabotaged and sufficient time for scrutiny yet again being brushed aside. Councillors Dick Newman, Danny O'Kearney, Andrew Champion, Anna Grosskreutz and Gordon Wallace deserve a great vote of thanks by the people of Maleny.

Councillor Smith admitted that he had drawn it up over the weekend, and paid for private consultants to produce the map. Here you can see a photograph of the adopted plan prepared by Councillor Smith. See the full sized map image here: Adopted-Concept-Plan-L.jpg (1.2Mb).

Compare this map with the council staff preferred concept plan and you can see straight away that the agenda is for an 18 hole golf course at the expense of all other community sporting groups, and at the expense of the environment. In the western part of the property the proposed parklands areas are physically disconnected from the Obi Obi Creek riparian area. Any conservationist will quickly tell you that linkages are vital for migration of small species such as frogs, snakes, small mammals and lizards. In addition to removing wildlife corridor linkages, many sections of the Obi Obi Creek riparian land have been slashed back to token widths (most likely to fit in fairways).

Councillor Smith's plan was created by scanning the council staff preferred concept plan and hastily tinkering with the sizes of various areas in some graphics program. Considerations such as site constraints, drainage, and linkages of green areas have been ignored. Sufficient significant changes were made to justify added feasibility checking and scrutiny before Councillors took the vote. This scrutiny was not undertaken. Vey unprofessional of Councillor Smith, and very dismissive of all the hard work undertaken by Council professional staff.

Councillors did not have time to thoroughly go through the document, ask Council staff appropriate questions, seek required clarification and make an informed decision. Once again the almost amateurish way some Councillors undertake their public duties was highlighted. Once again how little they regard the opinions of the public who make up their local government authority became evident. Roll on the amalgamation. Hopefully the new Sunshine Coast Council will have elected representatives with more common sense and who display proper due diligence to their elected responsibilities.

The written feedback process (involving 2,480 residents), the results of which Council officers had so carefully analysed, was largely ignored. No doubt the reasons for this were: 55% voted in favour of Obi Obi Parklands (although this alternative land use was omitted from the official Council forms); 73% said they did not want an 18 hole golf course. Only 24% said they did...

Questions immediately arise:

• How is the golf course going to be constructed whilst allowing adequate room for all the sporting fields promised? - There is a finite amount of suitable flattish land.
• How will massive earthworks be avoided? Earthworks to direct water, cope with the springs all over the site, steep slope reduction etc must be undertaken if a viable golf course is to be constructed.
• How is the golf course going to be funded?  By the rate payers? - Hopefully not as it will cost at least $9 million.
• When the master planning for the precinct area is undertaken, full site analysis will be required. Should the golf course be found to be unfeasible due to site constraints, what then?
• What has happened to a democratic process where the Councillors are there to represent the community?
• Why is Councillor Smith so passionately determined to see a golf course in Maleny? He does not live here and is not the Division One Councillor. Ample other golf courses can be found close to where he lives.

Rather than moving this issue towards finalisation, once again Councillor Smith has managed to further prolong the conjecture over the Precinct site, and upset many in our local community. This is a disapointing outcome for all, excepting the die-hard golfing supporters - and even they are now going to struggle to produce the funding to pay for the golf course - if it goes ahead.

Words from Caloundra City Council's own website relating to the Precinct land planning process:

• Options for the site need to be sustainable against a triple bottom line framework (ie: economic, environmental, social);
• Options for the site need to be financially sustainable; and
• Council is committed to openness and inclusiveness in consultation.

A pity that the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and some Councillors did not read them.

The fall back solution for the precinct land is obvious. Adopt a majority of the good ideas incorporated in the Obi Obi Parklands concept plan - a plan which is achievable, properly funded, and environmentally sound.

This plan makes no bones about three quarters of the land being given back to reforestation and rehabilitation with a wonderful series of pathways and walking trails making it fully accessible. The plan is backed by Maleny Green Hills, Lake Baroon Catchment Care Group, and Barung Landcare.

The many people who have put considerable professional expertise into this plan (acknowledged by the Council's own planning staff) are not pushing any particular agenda, and they are not anti-golf. They just wish to see the best use made of this land for the majority of the community, any local golf course built on more appropriate land elsewhere, land set aside for green and eco business use (and thus job creation), and a significant area of land restored for nature.

This plan has some provision for sporting clubs and sports grounds, but the team believes that these activities are best undertaken on more appropriate land elsewhere in the Maleny and Witta district. People have to drive to the beach to surf and swim. People have to drive to Brisbane to see opera and attend live shows. What's wrong with having to drive 20 minutes to have a round of golf?

More comment and opinions on this issue may be seen on the Maleny Times website.

Obi Obi Parklands
A website to raise public awarenes of an alternative proposal for the use of the Maleny Community Precinct land purchased by the Council. An environmental park with walking trails is surely better than another hack community golf course...