Are battle lines being drawn again at
Maleny?
22.01.2007
BY TOBY WALKER
Sunshine Coast Daiily
MALENY is often viewed by its coastal relatives as the
rebellious older cousin in the Sunshine Coast family.
It's an analogy certain elements of Maleny's community
would probably enjoy while others on the Range may prefer to
think they walked out on the family a long time ago.
Either way, most would agree there are few communities as
passionate or stubborn about protecting their lifestyle.
Its picturesque rural landscape has provided a scenic
escape from the pressures of city life for many newer
residents.
And it seems a significant portion of those newer residents
– sometimes labelled "tree-changers" in the shorthand of
social trend-spotting – are just as inclined to fight to
maintain their newfound lifestyle as the Range folk who have
called the hinterland hamlet home for a lot longer.
A case in point is the tense confrontations
that came with the protests over the construction of a
Woolworths supermarket in the main street, which gained
national attention.
Despite the best efforts of agitators, the supermarket was
built and now sits alone on the banks of Obi Obi Creek. A
floodlit monument to money eager to please but with few
friends.
But while the supermarket stoush was perfectly scripted for
the lazy stereotype of Maleny - a David versus Goliath,
Corporate Australia against Struggle Street kind of affair
-the issue of the Maleny Community Precinct is about as
clear-cut as a David Lynch film.
It didn't take long for public opinion in Maleny to filter
down the Range when Caloundra City Council considered teaming
up with a private company to develop a 150-hectare site on the
northern outskirts of the town back in 2003.
The idea began some years before with the Maleny Golf
Club's request to council to provide a public golf course.
The concept grew with the proposal to develop part of the
golf course land for housing.
A residential estate would provide a handy income source to
help council pay for the golf course.
Later it was deemed necessary to also designate part of the
land for community use in order to make sure the greater
public weren't left out – or put offside.
By the time consultation began in 2003, everyone had an
opinion on the grand plan for an 18-hole golf course and
clubhouse, 50m swimming pool, village green, gymnasium,
theatre, meeting hall, shops and prestige housing
sub-division.
But some were unhappy about the approach to consultation,
believing council was conducting a cynical charade by seeking
public opinion even though it appeared to have pre-determined
wishes for the land.
Obvious concerns centred on the new housing estate, which
would contain somewhere between 260 and 400 new homes and mean
more than 1000 new residents would put further pressure on
Maleny's ageing infrastructure.
Another concern was the potential for a conflict of
interests.
Council would be responsible for rezoning the land to
satisfy requirements of the developer it would ultimately be
in business with.
Then problems surfaced in the council chamber as some
councillors began asking how the hundreds of thousands of
dollars allocated to investigate the Community Precinct plan
had been spent.
Further questions were raised about council's purchase of
the 62-hectare Porter's farm land, leading councillors to
request an independent audit into the entire project.
With too many questions and few satisfactory answers
forthcoming, the project was put on hold while consultants
KPMG put the ruler over council's books.
Accusations, agendas and angry residents all simmered away
until the matter reached boiling point at the end of 2005 when
council voted to block the public release of the $230,000
report into its handling of the project.
The move outraged ratepayers who believed council had a
responsibility to reveal the contents of the ratepayer-funded
report, even if it did expose levels of supposed incompetency
demonstrated by councillors and staff.
It was only last month, a full year after the probity audit
controversy, that council relented and agreed to the document
being made public.
The final decision on what elements of the KPMG report can
be publicly released is now being considered by Queensland's
information commissioner Cathi Taylor. Meanwhile, council has
returned to Maleny keen to patch the relationship up and start
over.
Last week a further $200,000 was allocated by council to
fund a structure plan for the Maleny Community Precinct,
essentially meaning council comes to town with a blank slate.
It will spend the next year asking the community what it
wants to go on the land and will then investigate whether the
community's desires are possible.
It's early days but the general consensus amongst Maleny's
community is that council appears to be doing things properly
this time.
But critics of the project fear Maleny will miss out on
vital funding in the coming years as council funnels the bulk
of its budget allocation to justify the hype surrounding the
Community Precinct.
Former Caloundra deputy mayor Ian Bryce believed it was a
stupid and quick decision to pursue the development and felt
the issue continued to be solely driven by mayor Don Aldous,
who would still like to see the golf course and housing estate
built.
"The great problem with this whole scenario is that Maleny
has a desperate need for a whole range of new facilities,
particularly a swimming pool and a community centre," he said.
"They are the two major priorities for the town but they
will be light years away if the town has to rely on funds
coming from the precinct's land sales.
"You would be looking at a term of four to five years for
that money...and because of this cockeyed precinct scheme
there won't be enough funds coming into Maleny in the interim
to address other needs."
Divisional Councillor Dick Newman felt the land was a
valuable community asset but said he would be just as happy to
see it left as a greenfield site for another 30 years.
"The mayor wants a golf course and residential estate,
there's no doubt about it, but he has to show me how Maleny
can accommodate more people," he said.
"We're low on water, there's virtually no public transport
and the road network is stuffed."
And what about his opinion on the $500,000 spent on the
first shambolic attempt to progress the Maleny Community
Precinct idea?
"I'm not going to say it was totally wasted, I understand
within council there is some pretty useful data obtained
already.
"But in respect to anything they spent on public
consultation before, that was a total waste of time."
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