I recenetly offered an overview of how council was able to acquire the Batemans Bay Bowling club site that had a caveat placed on it by the venerable Dr Mackay when he gifted the land to the community for recreation. The council cleverly used their position to buy the land then overturn that clause by declaring the newly acquired public owned land "Operational". We continue to hear that they want to have the land developed and they keep using terms like Strategic and Gateway. Well how is this for a crystal ball on their Gateway Strategy?
Above: A Crystal Ball on the Batemans Bay Bowlo is foretelling some interesting moves in town planning.
The Bowling Club land is next to creek. Like Surfside and Hanging Rock there is a likelihood of flooding that may well be exacerbated by the new bridge piers. Everyone knows that the Batemans Bay Bowling Club land is flood prone and Council have already admitted that the new floor level for the aquatic centre and performance space will have to be raised by at least 1.5m (which, by the way, they haven't costed) We now know Council has agreed to rent the land to the RMS and that they (The RMS) have been given the go-ahead to flatten the site before they use it. We also know by the draft bridge designs that there will be a substantial cut in the batter on the northern side of the bridge and that the southern approach will have to be ramped up. With that in mind there will be considerable fill available that has to go somewhere. A simple solution is available.... all the RMS has to do is use the Bowling Club land for a stockpile and then flatten out any that they don't use for approach ramps at the end of the job before handing it back - an instant fix leaving Council with land of the right height to sell. But the Bowling Club blocks are all the wrong shape to sell off individually. This is an easy fix. Consolidate and then subdivide so the new blocks have good highway access - that will make them more sellable. You would have to get that through Council of course and it would have to be adopted by Council as the developer ..... oh, that's right... they are council. And Sellable to who? Who wants to have great highway access and be right there at the gateway to a town and part of the commercial precinct? Seniors living ... NO. Maybe Ikea? OfficeWorks? The Good Guys? Just like Nowra ... YES Batemans Bay has pretty much run out of industrial expansion land and Vesper Street is already full to capacity with semi-industrial on its eastern side leaving only the western side available. Already Council have announced they are going to sell the Visitor Information Centre. But maybe Council won't sell the Bowling Club land after the RMS finish with it but lease it instead - now there's and idea for a good revenue stream and it might finally be a good result for their otherwise very speculative questionable purchase of 2016. And how will that industrial corridor look as the "Gateway of the Shire"? Very similar to the Gateway to Nowra, The Gateway to Queanbeyan, The Gateway to Wagga Wagga and the gateway to just about every other town you have with a highway passing through.
What of the proposed Batemans Bay Aquatic Centre that will end up surrounded by industry on the wrong side of a six lane town bypass?" Once the move starts to sell off the Bowling Club land the rot will set in. Even the Mackay Park footy ground will appeal, to those wishing to develop the town, as a likely prospect for "necessary regional industrial expansion" keeping in mind that Council is now required to proactively prove it is "Fit for the Future" and less reliant on State government handouts. After council flattens the old pool it will witness firsthand the community backlash in regards to vision, consultation and design as well as the receiving a massive backlash with the revelation of the true costs of their design and Council will have to admit they got it wrong and move back to Hanging Rock. Eventually they will reclassify the now flattened derelict old pool site into..... yep, you guessed it .... industrial leasehold - most likely to accommodate the hundreds of B-Doubles filled with all sorts of manna that everyone claims are going to come once the new bridge is open. The scary thing is that behind the closed doors of Council there are town planners with a box of coloured pencils and some building blocks assembled on a great big war-map and shuffling things around determining what Batemans Bay will be like in 20 years time. And they are not telling anyone. It is understood that Council now intends to do a revised Batemans Bay CBD traffic study acknowledging the dire consequences predicted of the RMS decision to remove off-ramp access from the new bridge into the CBD via Clyde Street. This will mean semi trailers delivering to Woolies Bridge Plaza and then leaving the CBD via the Orient Street will be trundling along the newly streetscaped "pedestrian friendly zone" near the Post Office to get out of town. On the table also will be the issue of local buses that currently stop at Innes' Boatshed being moved to a spot less likely to be appealing to shoppers and commuters. It is reassuring however to hear that there has been an agreement to can the Federally funded idea of putting traffic lights at the intersection of Perry Street and Beach Road and getting rid of the roundabout.
