RECOMMENDATIONS from a Sunshine Coast University and council Glass House Mountains placemaking project won’t be delivered after the council declined to set aside any immediate budget for the project.
Advocates said it was a “disappointing” outcome for a project that had received strong community input and support.
A detailed report for the Glass House Mountains Place Co-Lab, was released by UniSC last month.
It identified key strengths and weaknesses across the hinterland township, focusing on transport, mobility and social infrastructure.
But citing economic and construction industry challenges, council stated project would only be considered for future delivery.
Although an educational-focused activity, the hope was that insights gathered throughout the intensive project would assist with preliminary placemaking plans earmarked for Glasshouse Mountains.
Glasshouse Country Chamber of Commerce President, Jenny Broderick, said while UniSC had provided a valuable presentation that captured the ideas, values and priorities expressed during the community consultation, it was disappointing to learn placemaking plans had been pushed back.
“Our Glasshouse Mountains businesses deserve to feel they are valued as well,” she said.
“With the Visitor Information Centre and glorious mountains on our doorstep, the Glasshouse Mountains township is often seen as the gateway to Glasshouse Country.
“The plan has always been to enhance our townships one at a time and its now time for Glasshouse Mountains. We have been promised in the past and its disappointing to see this consultation may prove seemingly pointless.”
UniSC Program Coordinator Dr Nicholas Stevens said that although he too was somewhat disappointed in the lack of budget, he was pleased that the local community now had a tangible resource that could assist future outcomes.
“It was the community that identified the insights contained in the report,” Dr Stevens said.
“A key purpose of the exercise was to provide a community asset, and now the Glasshouse Mountains community has a document that could be used to advocate for future design and utilised as the community sees fit.”
Division 1 Councillor and Deputy Mayor Cr. Rick Baberowski said the Co-Lab Project was an excellent preliminary process and he had encouraged student and community collaboration to explore unrestrained scope and scale. However, it would still have to feed into more formalised Council processes around delivery outcomes.
“With escalating costs and delays in material and human resource availability, the delays in actioning further stages of this placemaking project are not a reflection of a change in will by Council, but rather a change in market,” Cr Baberowski said.
The report presented an analysis of six key areas of discussion, as well as insights into the key qualities that made the community and surrounding areas unique, and suggested future visions for the township. The six topic areas centred on economics (business and tourism), place (culture and identity), housing, transport, community, and environment.
Issues around transport and access featured strongly, with community representatives seeking improvements to footpaths, and pedestrian and cycling access. Many people highlighted a need for the town centre to become more inviting and allow for more community meeting spaces. Opportunities to capture a greater number of tourists and visitors, rather than have them pass through the township, were also highlighted as important. Suggestions included improved coach and bus services, to provide better access for locals and tourists, further exploration of agritourism opportunities and greater cultural tourism information.
Better lighting for the township and restrictions on heavy vehicle traffic was also on the community identified wish-list.
The consultation also highlighted a perceived lack of town identity and town centre, along with invaluable grass-roots observations, such as lack of working elevators at the train station and narrow overpass paths, contributing to access issues. Unsurprisingly, the installation of a heavy rail line through to Maroochydore and public transport challenges on the Sunshine Coast were also highlighted.
Main image: Glasshouse residents were asked, in 2022, what makes their community special.
