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It STARTED with a drawing on the back of an envelope, and now the Ettalong Beach Foreshore upgrade is almost finished, with an official opening planned for early next year.
Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Mainstreet Co-ordinator Debra Wales said Gosford Council and Scape Constructions had hosted a sneak peak tour of the construction works last week.
“We have been highly impressed with both the progress and the standard of work as the project nears completion,” Ms Wales said.
“The Plan of Management was initiated by the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce under their Mainstreet Program in 1998 with the early stages of planning funded under Gosford Council’s Financial Strategy after the Ettalong Beach town centre revitalisation had been completed.”
Ms Wales said that the beachfront and reserve had degraded so badly over the years that very few people were using it at that time.
“It had become a haven for anti-social behaviour and was unsafe for young families to visit,” she said
“At the time, the business community were very focused on doing something to protect the beauty of Ettalong Beach and bring back families to our waterfront.
“Since that first meeting with Council’s senior engineering officer Mike Alsop in the mid 1990s, where we drew the initial plan of the Ettalong Beach upgrade on the back of an envelope, we were determined to see it come to fruition.
“We and the community have been rewarded with new foreshore facilities that we can sit back and enjoy into the future”.
Gosford Council adopted the Plan of Management in 2007.
The first stage commenced in 2008 with the removal of the unwanted toilet block at Picnic Parade followed by the construction of the three viewing decks which were completed with Federal Government funding.
In 2010, then-Robertson Federal Labor MP Deborah O’Neill committed $2m of federal fundsto complete the upgrade but the work did not commence until new Gosford Council general manager Paul Anderson put the process into action.
Today marks the turning of the first sod at the $5.2 million Ettalong Waterfront redevelopment, with Member for Robertson, Deborah O’Neill MP, Member for Gosford Chris Holstein MP and Mayor of Gosford City, Councillor Lawrie McKinna celebrating the start collaborative project.
Member for Robertson, Deborah O’Neill said this was a project of great pride for the entire community.
“I’m very proud of this Federal Government’s investment in our region and it is a real boost for local residents and businesses in Ettalong.
“The redevelopment of the Ettalong Beach Foreshore will help us to showcase the natural beauty of our area and will allow both locals and visitors a better chance to share the great lifestyle we enjoy here on the Central Coast. Ms O’Neill said.
Member for Gosford, Chris Holstein welcomed the redevelopment.
“This project is long overdue, and will be appreciated by both locals and visitors alike,” said Mr Holstein.
Mayor of Gosford City, Councillor Lawrie McKinna said the local community has been very involved in this project and everyone is excited for works to be commencing.
“The local community is really getting behind this redevelopment and we are happy to see the project will be consistent with the Ettalong Beach Reserve Foreshore Plan of Management.
“Council has undergone consultation with the neighboring property owners, the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and the Ettalong Beach Business Group, with everyone working together to ensure the redevelopment is reflective of the natural characteristics of the area and meets the needs of the local community,” Clr McKinna said.
Scheduled works include;
Construction of the new public toilet facility at Ferry Road and the demolition of the Schnapper Road public toilet in November 2011 are also included in the redevelopment project.
The Ettalong Waterfront redevelopment has a $2 million dollar funding contribution from the Federal Government, $2.79 million from Gosford City Council, $300,000 from the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Greenspace Program and just over $83,000 from the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage.
Gosford City Council has recently awarded the Ettalong Foreshore Redevelopment to Scape Constructions Pty Ltd.
Stage 5 Construction works on Kibble Park are progressing well since Scape Constructions Pty Ltd took possession of the site on 16th March 2009. Demolition, and excavation works are well underway with the most obvious transformation to date being the removal of the wisteria covered walkway in William Street. The new walkway along William Street south side wide will feature an all weather shade sail providing protection for pedestrians making their way between Imperial Centre and Town Centre. The new footpath along this section will be widened to 4 metres and is expected to be completed and available for pedestrian use in early May 2009. Additionally, this section of road will incorporate two disabled parking spaces to the east of the pedestrian crossing, outside the entrance to Imperial Centre, and the standard parallel parking spaces will be reinstalled.
The native Cabbage Tree Palms have been removed from Kibble Park and will be relocated to other reserves across the LGA while the Cccos Palms have been removed. Gum trees and other plantings will replace the Cocos Palms along Donnison Street and in front of Kibble Park Cafe. The pond has been drained and the Koi were relocated to new home with assistance from the Koi Society of Australia. The northern end of the Eliza Street road reserve has also been transformed with drainage installed and the area cleared to provide space for the children’s playground, seating and shade sails.
Expressions of Interest to operate the Kibble Park Cafe closed on 25 March and Council Staff are currently assessing all submissions.
Heavy rain over the past few weeks has slightly hampered construction work however Scape Constructions Pty Ltd are confident that the project remains on track for completion in August 2009.
Gosford’s new-look Kibble Park was well on its way after work began last week on stage five of the upgrade.
The tender, awarded to Scape Constructions earlier in the month, will include the upgrade of footpaths and the installation of play equipment.
Scape director Andrew Smith was born and raised on the Central Coast but has not been to Kibble Park with his children.
“I have never had much reason to bring the kids to Gosford, but we have used some of the children’s playgrounds such as Broadwater Park over at Kincumber,” Mr Smith said. “But I’m looking forward to bringing my children Astrid, two, and Asher, seven months, to the playground.”
Gosford Council parks and playgrounds co-ordinator Kim Radford said the park would have plenty of grass to run on and trees to clim.
“This is great for me – my four-year-old-son Logan loves playing outdoors,” Ms Radford said.
“He tests out all our parks and playgrounds at Gosford. His favourite type of play equipment at the moment is trees.”
The park has been redesigned to be a retreat for families with young children. To view a plan of the park upgrade visit
www.gosford.nsw.gov.au
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