Divisional Manager
Community, Arts & Recreational Services
Thank you for the opportunity to be able to comment on the draft ROSS that called for submissions to be lodged before 26 October 2017 (extension given to end of Nov).
This submission has been compiled by the Secretary THPA given that the closing date for submissions is due on 26 Oct 17 and the next THPA meeting will not be convened until 2 Nov 17.
THPA COMMENTS & SUGGESTIONS
ON THE TUROSS HEAD SEGMENT OF THE
Draft RECREATION OPEN SPACE STRATEGY
To begin I note that the community assets and open space inventory associated with TUROSS HEAD, and mooted future planning is covered on Pages 120 to 127 of the draft ROSS. The majority of comments offered by the THPA reflect a number of topics and issues that have previously been raised by our Association or the wider Tuross community with Councillors and Council staff over a number of years, but this occasion affords the opportunity for our wishes and suggestions to be included into the formal ROSS segment for Tuross Head when the final ROSS for the Shire is finalised and presented to Mayor & Council to be adopted, planned, budgeted, funded and implemented in future minor Works Programs.
Old Tuross Head Progress Hall
Once significant anomaly is that on Page 121 of the draft ROSS, this planning document still lists the former Tuross Head Progress Hall (built circa 1949 by the Tuross community) as being a community asset, notwithstanding the fact that the old Hall was demolished in 2014, and the site subsequently re-zoned from community land to operational land in order to be sub-divided into two residential blocks of land which were sold by Council circa 2015/16. The site of the former Tuross Head Progress Hall also still appears in orange on the Map of Tuross Head’s current open space network on Page 122 of the draft ROSS and labelled CF012, and the land still appears as a community facility land shaded in orange on the map of Tuross Head at Page 127.
Skate Facility & proximity to the Childrens Playgrounds
There is strong community support from those Tuross Head parents with school age children for the construction of a Skate Facility, noting that there are approximately 230 children under the age of 14 years residing in Tuross, but that number swells ten fold in the height of the holiday season. It is desirable that the location of the mooted Skate Park/Skate Facility should be able to be under 24-hour passive surveillance by passing pedestrians and motor vehicles (including police patrol vehicles). The general consensus from past surveys conducted on this topic is that the proposed Skate Facility should not be sited within Evans Park in close proximity to the younger children’s playground area because of the extremes in age differences, the attitudes towards society and even anti-social behaviour of some adolences, and noting that all recreational park users in Evans Park will be utilising the same public toilet blocks and picnic shelters, whereby youths tend to congregate in boisterois groups in competing with famillies with young children attending Evans Park to use the youngsters playground equipment, and have picnic meals and birthday parties in these shelters.
Wheeled action sports (aka BMX tracks or Skateboard Facilities)
Skate Facility.
There is more than sufficient available space in Kyla Park to cater for new sports facilities, such as the Skate Facility.
If an alternative site to Evans Park needs to be identified for a Skate Facility, then the THPA suggests the large open area in Kyla Park adjacent to Mylott Close and Hector McWilliam. This is an open area that can be observed by other users in the Kyla Park precinct, but in particular from passing traffic and police patrols, and also by the owners of homes in Lake Street who have a good panorama view across the Kyla Park landscape?
Alternative site for Skate Facility in Kyla Park (located between Mylott Close,
Hector McWilliam Drive and the rear boundary of residences in Lake Street).
Children and teenagers could reach this proposed Skate Park site at Kyla Park, either by foot or by bicycle using the shared cycle/walks. There is adequate off-road car parking spaces in the immediate vicinity for Parents driving their children to and from a Skate Facility in Kyla Park, or alternatively patrons could use the Tennis Court carpark if Tennis matches are not in session. Again the toilets and changerooms are in close proximity for skate facility users.
BMX Track.
In addition to the requirement for a Skate Facility, there is the prospect of introducing a short term measure for the youth outdoor activities. Many suggestions have been made over past years by parents with young boys for the Council to plan for the “low cost”development of the area adjacent to Kyla Oval (which over the past 20 years the Council has used as an ad-hoc waste dump/soil/green waste storage and transit site) in order to construct an earthworks small scale BMX bike track by utilising the stockpiles of soil already dumped on site.
Uses & Values – Table 45 – Tuross Head Quality of recreation and sporting opportunities
Children’s Playgrounds – Evans Park.
The THPA opinion differs from the perceived survey result enunciated in the draft ROSS in rating the villages Playgrounds as being GOOD.
The existing Evans Park swings were totally funded and installed by the Tuross community in 1997 (20 years ago). Components of this grouping of playground equipment are affected by rust and according to the Director of Infrastructure Services this equipment has passed its expected service life.
Poor drainage is a major problem throughout this sector of playground equipment, and the playground proper is rendered un-usable after heavy rain due to flooding surrounding the equipment which may take weeks to dry out, and the damp wood bark ground covering is a haven for mosquitoes. This issue of ingress of groundwater would most likely have been avoided had Council been involved in the design of earthworks and drainage back in 1997. What is required now is the removal of the existing outdated playground equipment, followed by complete re- landscaping with engineer designed earthworks and underground drainage measure suited to the sloping site, and the replacement of old children's equipment with brand new playground equipment, or alternatively, Council could include the re-use of serviceable components that have already been salvaged from other playgrounds, such as from Gundary Oval children's playground which it is understood is now being stored at the Moruya Works Depot.
Children’s Playgrounds – Kyla Park Picnic Reserve
The Children’s playground equipment in the Kyla Park Picnic Reserve (mooted to be informally named as the BRINJA YUIN Reserve) also requires attention from a public safety perspective, in that the two “tiny tots” swing seats requires replacing as the rubber seats are badly perished and cracked. These defects (2 x chair seats) have been reported by the THPA as a CSR dating back some 12 months following concerns expressed by parents of pre-school children using the equipment, but to date no action to replace the two chair seats has transpired.
It is requested that Council planners look to the following issues.
Replacement of the Qty 2 “tiny tots” rubber swing chairs
That additional components of children’s playground equipment be added into this Picnic Reserve utilising salavaged components already held in ESC works depots or earmarked for removal from other Shire playgrounds. This is because this small Picnic Reserve is becoming increasingly popular with mothers with pre-school children and in informal organised group activities for kindergarten age children, as well as for family picnikers and by fishers engaged in fishing in Coila Lake.
Public safety/Council duty of care issue. As has been raised with Warren Sharpe & Kathy Arthur in the past, there is a need for the Council to install physical barriers to prevent the fishers (including commercial fishers) from driving their SUV vehicles & boat trailers along the edge of Coila Lake foreshore and parking inside of the boundary of the Picnic Reserve (Lot 91 Sporting precinct), and moreover, in creating for their own convenience a vehicle turn-around route by continuing through the Picnic Reserve and egressing through Lot 77 (zoned and Area of Cultural Significance). These predominately heavy 4WD vehicle and trailers (some mounted with freezer boxes) are causing damage to the sensitive foreshore which has been proven by archaeological surveys, as recent as 26 July 2016, to be laden with a strong density of Aboriginal artefacts. In summing up the mixing of families and young children using the picnic reserve and paddling/swimming in Coila Lake in having to share this confined area with moving vehicles represents a grave risk to the public on Council controlled lands. Any physical barriers, such as TP Pine Log Fence Barriers or Bollards with PVC chains would need to take account of lake water levels, that is, be installed when the water level has receded to historical drought levels . The Council response to date on this issue when raised by the THPA was that it is a waste of effort and resources in enclosing this public picnic reserve with physical barriers, as the perpetrators simply just take it upon themselves between the hours of dusk and dawn to remove or breach these barriers. That said, it is likely that warning signage, witness reporting of infringements by the community and more proactive policing by Rangers would be a deterrent for prevalent offenders?
Expansion of sporting facilities at Kyla Park
Overview.
Kyla Park is an ideal precinct to cater for further sporting groups into the future. There are new toilets and new change rooms/shower blocks, with a canteen kiosk facility for self catering.
Besides the Kyla Hall which provides many opportunities for indoor activities and sports with a self catering kitchen, the Kyla Oval now has regained its pristine grassed surface and cricket pitch after the horrendous vandalism that targeted the oval’s sodden surface by local hoons in cars tearing up the surface in May 2017. Currently Cricket and AFL is played on the Kyla Oval, and besides the cricket practice nets, there is also A Grade Tennis Courts and an outdoor Basket Ball Court. There is also a boat launching pad for use by sailing boats or recreational fishers, with a secure storage shed for boats and equipment belonging to the Batemans Bay Sailing Club (BBSC) and the Tuross Community Garden (TCG).
Absence of spectator seating.
In order to raise the standard of the Kyla Park sporting presinct (Lot 91) up to a district level, it is strongly suggested that some form of robust bench seating be installed for the growing number of spectators, especially for AFL fixtures, with consideration for the erection of a smaller scale “Grandstand” on the embankment. This could possibly be overcome by recycling seating components being removed from other sporting grounds across the shire and/or by using salvaged components held in ESC works Depots.
Requirement for Outdoor Fitness Equipment.
Past requests have been made to Council for a set of Outdoor Fitness Equipment (such as exists at Narooma) to be installed in Kyla Park for use by fitness groups, including sportings teams for warm up sessions and in particular the popular women’s fitness groups . A suggested location for the equipment is (1) between Kyla Hall and the Basket Ball Courts, or (2) between Kyla Hall and the BBSC Storage Shed.
Eurobodalla Little Athletics League
The Eurobodalla Little Athletics League would be most welcome from around the Shire to make use of the available facilities in Kyla Park, but in particular the oval for its running tracks. There is adequate available space in Kyla Park to construct a discus circle, long jump, triple jump and high jump facilities, possible in the level area adjacent to the cricket practice nets. There is also the opportunity to negotiate with the current users of the new Secure Storage Shed which located alongside the Kyla Hall and the adjacent Change Rooms, Showers & Toilets (i.e. the BBSC and the TCG) to have access to one of the secure bays in the shed in which to store the Little Athletics League’s sporting equipment.
Below standard Public Toilets at Coila Beach and Main Beach Caravan Park
Tuross Head has four public toilet blocks. The two new toilet blocks at Sandy Point Reserve and in Evans Road (funded by the frivolous school halls & pink bats GFC expenditure program) are in both good order.
That said the Council is well aware that the two most heavily used toilet blocks at Coila Beach and at the lower Main Beach carpark (alongside the Beach Caravan Park at Wolfe Reserve) are of a deplorable standard as both buildings have passed their useful service life decades ago. That said neither of these old toilet blocks are programmed for replacement in the proposed funded future works programs.
In December 2016 the THPA organised a community working bee to totally repaint both the Coila Beach & Main Beach public toilet blocks in order to bring them up to a basic hygienic standard ahead of the summer holiday season so as not to have tourists who use these facilities leave Tuross Head with a very poor impression of its vital public facilities. The repainting project was carried out to rid the walls and cubicles of graffitti and to present these toilet blocks in a much better light. The Council kindly provided the paint and materials, and the Secretary THPA orchestrated and oversighted the painting of the toilets, see photo below.
Photograph of Main Beach toilet block after repainting by Tuross community
In planning the removal of the above existing toilet block to serve the public swimming at the only patrolled beach in Tuross Head, the THPA strongly recommends that the new toilet block when constructed should be sites in the One Tree carpark, adjacent to the most southern tip of the Hector McWilliam Park as depicted in the aerial photograph below. The second preferred site is on the bottom edge of Clive Park and the western side of the upper Main Beach carpark.
The Coila Beach toilet block should be redeveloped or replaced in situ. The local architect, John Eglitis, has produced a concept drawing of a Café to be built on the current site of the public toilet with the aim of attracting local residents & tourists alike, with the Café on the first floor on the same level as the shared cycle/pathway, and the public toilets and showers on the ground level with direct access to the Beach.
Architect, John Eglitis, concept drawing of Café & toilets to replace current Coila Toilet block
Following the distribution of an information copy of this submission to THPA members, it is possible that a further addendum may be submitted to express other individual points of view.
Regards
JOHN TILBROOK, CSM, RFD, JP
Honorary Secretary Tuross Head Progress Association
PO Box 3100 TUROSS HEAD NSW 2537
