A more than 300 metre foot bridge across Stone Quarry Bay and a lookout on Macquarie Street, built out of shipping containers, make up an estimated $7 million project proposed to activate the CBD at George Town.
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The George Town Council endorsed its concept plans for the town's Macquarine Street precinct last week and will be seeking community consultation, funding and detailed assessments on the project in future.
The plan aims to make the town a tourist mecca, create a connection to the waterfront and utilise the river more and to develop an accessible and pedestrian friendly precinct in the main street.
It includes a number of ways to do this, but the major projects and concepts proposed include:
- a lookout near 69 Macquarie St made of shipping containers to draw people to the centre of town and provide a view from Low Head to Mount George
- a more than 300 metre York Cove foot bridge from the end of Bathurst St across Stone Quarry Bay to Esplanade St
- a Macquarie St redevelopment including wider, raised pedestrian crossings, more greenery, revised street width, wider footpaths, seating
- Additional street art and sculptures in the precinct
- Space for food trucks to activate unused spaces
Councillor Peter Parkes said it was a concept plan and nothing was set in stone, with community consultation to continue on the plans.
"I think this is a really exciting project for George Town, it'll be something we can look at for decades from now and ... a legacy that we can leave and the community can be proud of," he said.
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It aims to seek grants to fund the project, including a submission to the Building Better Regions Fund.
At the council's December meeting it endorsed the plans and authorised general manager Shane Power to use between $30,000 and $40,000 in budget allocation for specialist consultant services to seek grant funding.
Mr Power said the indicated costs, before detailed assessments were undertaken to secure funding, were $7 million for the project.
Concerns were raised about community consultation on the plans, as the endorsement was only for a concept and the final design could change.
Mayor Greg Kieser said the decision at the meeting was only to develop the idea in detail to seek funding for it.
He said if the project secured grant funding, more community consultation would be held on the detailed concept plan, before a final plan would be settled on and go out to the community for further consultation.
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
