Water park, Artspace and Council Meeting

Sue Brooks December 6th, 2009

Well the water park otherwise known as Wet Side has opened. It was wonderful to watch the kids splashing around and everyone having a good time yesterday morning. Apart from the hiccup where many people turned up at 10am believing the park would be open to them at this time, the morning was very relaxing. The weather was perfect and the park looks wonderful. Now that we have it and it is open I honestly believe it will become a very busy attraction and an asset to the Hervey Bay foreshore experience. It will need some fine tuning and yes will probably cost money for ever more but so do our Libraries and Galleries and we wouldn’t be without them. So I encourage you to go for a wander and tell me what you think of our brand new asset.

Yesterday evening saw me venture to Maryborough. I called in to say hi to the environment programme volunteers at Fay Smith Wetland celebrating a year of hard work. I know it sounds repetitive but without these hard working volunteers our region would not be the attractive place that it is. Thank you to all our volunteers.

Then off to the Gatakers Artspace which was officially opened. Like the water park both these projects were Q150 funded. It too requires several finishing touches but it has turned from an ugly duckling into a modern and attractive cultural space that will add another level of sophistication and enjoyment to the cultural health of our region.

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

So to this week at Council. Quite a large agenda with a few developments to be considered. The Micky Souvlis shopping centre in Maryborough is to be considered as is another 8 storey development for 23 Main St , Hervey Bay. There is a request to negotiate the decision for the Centro redevelopment with Council needing to consider allowing the major DDS (K Mart) to open in Nov 2010 instead of the following year among other things. I won’t be voting on this item due to the fact that Graham and I own a business in Centro.

There is a report on the Della Vista Lakes development in Maryborough and Policy items to be considered including Heritage Register and Brolga to Bridge both in Maryborough. We have a report in relation to tree clearing on airport land and other items also. All in all a busy week.

If you are interested in reading the reports and Council officer recommendations please try out the Council web site as the reports should be accessible later today.

waterpark

waterpark

3 Responses to “Water park, Artspace and Council Meeting”

  1. # jackon 11 Dec 2009 at 6:19 am

    Today I have just done a 50k round trip to the Water Park. It does look good. When I got there at 11 30 pm I was told that this PUBLIC FACILITY would be closed at 12pm for a PRIVATE PARTY. There must have been about 1000 men women and children there and I can tell you there was a lot of discontent at the closure. Can you tell me why a PUBLIC FACILITY is closed for a PRIVATE PARTY and how much did they pay? Some people may want to hire it in the future. Also alcohol was available at this function is that allowed? Council allowed some good trees and palms to be removed from the roundabout so that a water arch could be set up. Where is it? We will really know how good the Water park is in 5 years time.

  2. # Barry Jaqueson 24 Dec 2009 at 2:13 am

    I would also like to add my protest to any plans by council to rent out the water park to private parties. It has been paid for by State Government and belongs to all the people. It is indeed a PUBLIC FACILITY and is not an asset for the council to hire out for cash.

    I live in Hervey Bay and my relatives in Brisbane had been looking forward to visiting the new water park with their children. On the very day they arrived they wer confronted with this ‘private party’ booking.

    I wish to protest against this practice before it becomes the norm.

    Another concern is the late opening times over the Christmas holidays. Visitors are keen to start early when they are on holidays, similar to the Aquatic Centre (5:30am) but even 8am would be better than 9am and 10am.

  3. # Sadmanon 24 Dec 2009 at 5:18 am

    In response to Barry Jaques and others,

    While I stand to be corrected, Wetside does not belong to either the council or the people.
    It is owned by Wide Bay Water, the state government put in $5million, the council provide
    some land and Wide bay Water found the rest (about $8million).

    Entry to Wetside is free, the longer it is open the greater the cost to Wide Bay Water,
    lighting, power for the pumps and security all have a cost.

    I often wonder where people think all this money is coming from?

    Sadman

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