By Mitch Gaynor
AFTER nearly four years of planning, delays and promises to “minimise disruption” to Maleny retailers and locals, the $3 million Maple Street upgrade got off to an inauspicious start.
A number of retailers we spoke to last week said they received just one working day’s notice of traffic changes that have cruelled trade through the town centre.
Others said emails sent to a Sunshine Coast Council streetscape address simply bounced back.
Maybe the inbox was full.
Judging by the feedback we heard while walking Maple and Coral streets last Thursday, there would have been plenty to get through.
At the heart of the frustration was a familiar complaint: a lack of meaningful dialogue between businesses and Council.
It has been a consistent concern throughout this project.
Despite the efforts of Maleny Commerce, in particular, attempts to work with Council towards better outcomes appear too often to have fallen on deaf ears.
Traders we spoke to reported falls in sales and foot traffic ranging from about 40 per cent to as much as 90 per cent.
Imagine being told your take-home pay would be cut in half for a month because someone else had construction work to complete.
You might reasonably expect whoever planned that work to have exhausted every possible way of reducing the damage first.
Perhaps some council officers should try living on half pay for a month.
It might sharpen the focus on finding workable alternatives.
And, after businesses raised their concerns, Council did manage to relax part of the traffic arrangements.
Local traffic can now use Teak Street from the eastern end of Maple Street at all times.
It is only a small change, but it begs a fairly obvious question.
Why wasn’t that solution identified before traders spent a week discovering just how damaging the original arrangements could be?
Perhaps if businesses had been properly listened to, or properly asked, some of that first week’s chaos might have been avoided.
Hear ye!
Speaking of community engagement, Transport and Main Roads probably got what it wanted after holding a Wave Rail ‘drop-in’ session for locals at the Beerwah Community Centre last Thursday.
We dropped in for a chat and were outnumbered by TMR staff six to one.
A couple of locals wandered through, but it was slim pickings.
We did learn that having your say about the design extended to a choice of three colour palettes and pattern designs.
And apparently the four-storey car park is technically only three storeys because there’s no roof on the top floor.
No doubt commuters parked on the fourth, sorry, third storey will relish climbing into a baking hot car after a hard day at the office.
All aboard!