Hedging bets on walkway
THE council is to take it “stage by stage” and listen to residents after councillors unanimously backed another new section of the Gold Coast Oceanway.
Mayor Tom Tate has given that assurance to residents of Hedges Ave at Mermaid Beach – dubbed Millionaires’ Row – after councillors unanimously supported construction of the Surfers South Oceanway, to the north of their suburb, at a transport committee meeting yesterday.
Another section, the Palm Beach Oceanway, resurfaced last month with an announcement planning and design work was about to start on a section of pathway near the Tallebudgera Surf Life Saving Club.
This followed completion in January of a controversial $4 million section between Bilinga and Tugun.
While the southern pathway from Tugun to Coolangatta has become a big hit among cyclists and walkers since it opened, northern sections south of Surfers Paradise could spark debate from wealthy property owners in the lead-up to the council poll in March next year.
Outside the committee meeting yesterday, Mayor Tom Tate was asked about future extensions along Mermaid Beach.
“That will be part of the consultation,” he said. “I would suspect in that area if the people don’t want it, I’m here to look after the interest of the majority of people. In Surfers Paradise through the consultation, matter-of-fact people have changed their mind, especially the unit blocks. The Jewel development has a pathway there as part of the design.”
The Mayor said “safety was the number one criteria”, with the Surfers South Oceanway to take pedestrian traffic away from spilling into narrow roads like Garfield Tce.
But he had sought assurances from council officers that the planning of the new section would as much as possible be behind or on the “A-line’’, the city’s “line in the sand’’ where large boulders are buried along the beaches to provide a rock wall protection against future cyclones.
Councillors had been provided a map that showed infrastructure east of the A-line.
Cr Tate acknowledged however there were instances in which the Oceanway should be east of the A-line.
“There are special circumstances regarding the pathway going further out, for organisations like Northcliffe Surf Life Saving,’’ he said.
“If it means that we don’t intrude in their operation and we are actually going out further, I would back spending additional dollars on that and/or taking additional risks, because they are saving lives.”
The Surfers South section is 1.6km long from Laycock St through to First Ave.
Planning and delivery are to be completed by December 2020. The $3.5 million cost is to be shared between the council and the State Government.