Victoria St developer: “We keep getting red taped”
CITIZEN action is ramping up in West Dubbo to make Victoria Street a worthy gateway to the city for the 200,000+ visitors arriving by air and the 100,000 or so residents living in the western region who drive into town on that route to access Dubbo’s services.
On Thursday, March 1, at 5.30pm, an information meeting has been scheduled at the Westside Hotel, inviting property owners, business operators and residents along Victoria Street to meet with the intention of forming a precinct committee to be a collective voice to lobby Dubbo Regional Council.
“We’ve been having this conversation with Council since February 2014 and we’ve been petitioning Council with written communication as well as face-to-face meetings about timed parking along the front of the shops, for one to two hours,” City West Plaza developer Kath Skinner said.
“We get lots of problems with people parking here all day. There’s no restriction. Council have said they don’t want to talk to individual property owners. If they’re going to invest in something they’d want to make sure the community is on board. I agree, and I acknowledge that entirely.”
In order to comply with Council’s request, Kath and partner Terry are hitting the streets.
“So what we’re doing is foot slogging and putting out flyers. We’ll have the meeting on March 1 and the idea is to get a collective of people representing a range of stakeholders.
“Vicki (Etheridge) will be the councillor on that committee and hopefully we can say, ‘Listen guys, take us seriously please. What does this (Victoria Street) approach say to people when they come to Dubbo?
“We want people who are residents, people who have a business, and property owners like ourselves in the area to say ‘let’s invest in the area and be a collective voice to Council’
“At the same time we started doing this, Vicki was already in the media about improving the neighbourhood centres, so I rang her before Christmas and she was like ‘yes, great, let’s meet over there’. She couldn’t believe what we’re looking at here. Then we had a meeting with (Dubbo Mayor) Ben Shields. He’s really on side. I think now is the right time.”
Councillor Etheridge moved a motion in council to make a dedicated effort to improving neighbourhood shopping precincts.
“We really needed to look at these shopping centres, they’re old and run down, with old concrete footpaths, they’re dated and they’re just not green or cosmopolitan enough. I’ve spoken twice with the Tamworth Street guys and we discussed their hopes, wants and wishes to get some nice paving down and get rid of the concrete, and put in some heritage lighting and raised planter boxes,” Councillor Etheridge said.
“The roundabout’s too big. I’d like to see that a bit smaller with a palm tree in the middle like they’ve got up at Bunnings, and when it grows it will create a canopy over the intersection. I’m really
looking forward to working together with them
“For Victoria Street, we’ve got a meeting with Kath who’s doing a door knock and putting out posters. We’re going to try to get everyone together. I’m bringing Council’s community and recreation director Murray Wood and a member of our traffic committee
as Kath’s been talking about the need for timed parking,” Vicki said.
Partnering with Council is one of Kath’s goals.
“We’re interested in a partnership approach and have told Council this,” but Kath points out that a ‘partnership’ should see both sides contributing fully. She
says “we’ve put our money where our mouth is” and believes council and the RMS should step up and look after infrastructure such as parking, footpaths and street beautification.
“We can’t do those sorts of things,” she pointed out. “We really like West Dubbo. We think it is a gateway to and from Dubbo city.
“It’s been on Council’s agenda since 2009. There is a document which talks about the Victoria Street precinct, Tamworth precinct, and even says that Victoria Street presents a ‘unique opportunity’ – that’s their word – because it’s different from Tamworth Street, Boundary Road, they’re more a village.
“So (the south Dubbo strips) can be enhanced in a different sort of way. This strip along here is a major highway, it’s the Mitchell Highway, so we do need to be cognisant of that – but so is the other side of the bridge.
“Cobra Street is the Mitchell Highway as well. Why can’t something like that be done over here where you’ve got median strip plantings, some turning in lanes.
“Anybody who flies into Dubbo has to come via here. At the moment there’s visual congestion.
“We want people who are residents, people who have a business, and property owners like ourselves in the area to say ‘let’s invest in the area and be a collective voice to Council’ and say, ‘This is what everyone’s interested in here. Come on guys let’s talk about it.”
The state of the footpath is at the top of Kath’s wish list for improvements.
“Council says all those lips are within tolerance. They’ve been slightly improved because our builder has taken them into consideration.
“The idea of a neighbourhood centre is that people can shop locally and people who are disadvantaged and don’t have access to public transport can walk here. But there’s holes,” she pointed out.
“This is our frustration. We keep getting red taped,” Kath said.