Strategic Committee Meeting 8 July 2008
The preferred option developed by Council's consultants shall be presented at a Council workshop at the Strategic Committee meeting on 8 July 2008. The public are welcome to attend and observe this meeting. A separate public workshop shall be scheduled following adoption for the purposes of public exhibition, of a preferred option.
Following the informative Community Consultation meeting on 11 December 2007, City Plan Urban Design developed four preliminary concept options for the Forster Civic Precinct. These preliminary concept options were tabled for discussion and constructive input from the community at a Community Workshop on 1 April 2008, 7pm at the Tuncurry Memorial Hall, Point Road Tuncurry.
The four options presented at the Community Workshop are available as downloadable documents and as part of the Powerpoint presentation at the end of this page.
First Community Consultation 11 December 2007
Approximately 110 members of the community, plus officers from Great Lakes Council and representatives of City Plan Services, packed the Tuncurry Memorial Hall on Tuesday 11 December 2007 to participate in a public forum on the future of the Forster School of Arts building and surrounding Civic Precinct area.
After a welcome and brief history on the School of Arts by Mayor of Great Lakes, Clr John Chadban, Council’s Director Corporate & Community Services, Steve Embry, and Director Engineering Services, Ron Hartley, elaborated on the structural problems evident within the School of Arts building and the income and expenditure relating to its use over the last 10 years.
Those present then participated in a question and answer session, facilitated by the Mayor, which went for over an hour.
“It was wonderful to see people engaging in this democratic process, where they could freely air their viewpoints, both for and against the proposal” said the Mayor. “We even had several qualified builders present whose input regarding the cost of repairs was enlightening.”
Mr Paul Walter from City Plan Services then presented details of the process which they will follow in the preparation of a Master Plan for the Civic Precinct site.
Following his presentation, the audience broke into small groups to explore their visions for the future of the site, which included public hall facilities, meeting rooms, community group use, neighbourhood centre facilities, CWA rooms and facilities for children and youth.
From these ideas, City Plan Services will develop a number of draft concept plans for the site, which will be presented for further discussion at a public meeting to be held during March/April 2008.
Second Community Workshop 1 April 2008
Following a brief introduction and welcome by Mayor of Great Lakes Clr John Chadban, City Plan Urban Design presented four preliminary concept options for the Forster Civic Precinct study area. These options were then put to the community representatives to workshop in small groups. Each of the groups then presented their ideas, concerns and feedback on the options presented.
A copy of the presentation by City Plan, and scanned images of the comments put forward by the community during the workshop, are available as downloadable documents from this webpage.
City Plan Urban Design shall now take this feedback into consideration in the development of a preferred concept for the site for consideration and discussion at a Strategic Committee workshop in the second half of 2008.
