Environment Features
From "Maple Street Co-op News", Oct/Nov 2007

Parklands for the People
By Co-op member Jon Woodlands

The future of the Maleny Community Precinct has become a battle of wills between Caloundra city's mayor, Don Aldous, supported by a lobby group calling itself Malpan, and a growing number of residents who see a unique opportunity for an extensive parkland and wildlife refuge within walking distance of town. If deputy mayor Don Smith were to have his way, we would get a $20 million, five-star, resort-style golf course, which could significantly change the face of Maleny.

Having barely recovered from three years in the trenches fighting the invasion of Woolworths into our peaceful village, the community is once again priming itself for another potential threat to our way of life. Using 'weapons of mass deception', Caloundra City Council (CCC) is attempting to coerce the community into accepting an 18-hole golf course and sprawling residential development on a stunning arc of land, which was originally purchased by council and subsequently allocated for community use. A drawn out, stop-start process going as far back as 2001 has gained new momentum since June this year, to reach a final resolution about its usage.

The land, situated to the north east of town, comprises 122 hectares of farmland that belonged to the Porter and Armstrong families, who have run generations of dairy cows. Prior to European settlement in the 1880s, it was part of a vast rainforest, which spread across the Maleny plateau. Very little remains of that forest and there are few signs of the original Jinibara people who inhabited the area, their descendants now spread sparsely around the region.

It is powerfully symbolic that the Obi Obi Creek, which borders over half the Precinct land, is named after a local warrior chief who fought valiantly against the original European invasion, the loss of his people's land and destruction of their way of life.

A sensitive piece of land
As pointed out in the last Maple Street Co-op News, if Maleny were ever to have a golf course, this site is arguably a most inappropriate location. Local resident Steve Swayne, a former Naval computer surveying officer and member of the recently formed Obi Obi Parklands group, is convinced the council's plan simply cannot proceed on environmental grounds.

"If the Queensland Water Act were actually amended and a 40-metre buffer zone were established preventing development either side of a tributary to a water supply, six of the proposed fairways would have to be scrapped," says Steve. "Why can't the State government adopt this as a minimum standard?"
Long-time resident, soil scientist and hydrological engineer, John Wildman, has made a strong case that the council seems to be ignoring its own advice in attempting to construct a golf course on this land.

"The plan ignores drainage lines, springs, heritage trees and slip zones, which will be bulldozed to make fairways," he says. "It ignores all good agricultural practice of land management."

For four weeks straddling August and September, council officers promoted the draft 18-hole golf course plan at the Maleny library. The product of a unanimous vote in council on 5 July, it appears to offer little to the wider community - unless you are a golfer, or planning to become one.

Michael Cole-King, a member of the Obi Obi Parklands strategy group, suggests that the council's senior strategic planner, Leah Bancroft and her team were "likely requested to superimpose a golf course regardless of the site constraints of a sensitive piece of land and water catchment."

Within the eastern half of the land there are a number of remnant trees, some of which occur on proposed fairways. Unless the Obi Obi Parklands group and a growing number of supporters can realise their vision, the fate of such trees may be grave.

Big money, little community gain
With the massive costs involved in establishing a golf course - the council estimates $9 million, without the inclusion of a club house, but is only offering $1 million - the only suggested means to raise that money is to carve up chunks of the land for housing. Critical of the Maleny Golf Club's lack of a detailed financial plan, Steve Swayne makes this observation: "The reason they won't give any figures is because they don't have to. They'll just keep building more houses until they get enough money. All with council's backing."
He adds: "It's silly to believe the community would get much in the way of facilities under this plan, as to fit in the houses they'll need all the land they can get that isn't super steep."

Neville Shillington, the developer of the adjacent Cloudwalk estate bordering the western end of the Precinct, has spent time and money creating a draft plan which includes an estimated 350 to 400 houses and a golf course for the Precinct land. He admits to having had meetings with our mayor, Don Aldous, and also the Maleny Golf Club. It is interesting to note that his company is listed as 'Maleny Golf Estates Pty Ltd'.

Even half that number of houses would place further unwanted pressure, in the form of pollutants, adding to the cocktail of chemicals likely to be used on a golf course, on the water catchment and certainly the immediate ecosystem of the Obi Obi Creek. The creek is abundant with wildlife, including a healthy population of platypus, and despite an indifferent council and State government, most local residents would no doubt like to enhance that environment, rather than do further damage to it.

There is a great deal of murkiness surrounding other possible community gains, particularly in the form of sporting facilities, which may or may not be accommodated on the Precinct land. Contrary to what residents have been led to believe, the golf course plan will not guarantee an aquatic centre on the Precinct land. Councillor Dick Newman believes the Precinct is not the ideal location for an aquatic centre, as council planning approvals could take years and are not necessarily guaranteed, however he has stated he will support the location of a swimming pool on the Precinct land if it's what the majority of the community wishes (The Range News, 20/9/07, p38).

Aquatic centre or not, there will be plenty of exercise for the golfers, as the hilly terrain will provide a tough course. But the problem with the golf course remains the location. Other than the critical environmental constraints, many residents have expressed their displeasure to council about the prospect of being excluded from much of the land designated for community use, unless they are members of Maleny Golf Club.

Alternative site for the golf course
Steve Swayne of the Obi Obi Parklands group believes Maleny should have a golf course, but only if there were sufficient community support, and the means to finance it. Provided an alternative, less environmentally-sensitive site were found, his group would "back it 100 per cent".

"We'd help plant out environmental buffers, and we'd be happy to run sausage sizzles to raise money for trees or to set up fairways," he said.
In fact, at a meeting between representatives of the Parklands group and the golfing lobby at CCC headquarters on 18 September, facilitated by the mayor, the Parklands group proposed the purchase of a relatively flat 65-hectare farm at Witta as an alternative site for an 18-hole golf course.

In a seismic shift, the mayor had the previous week suggested the Parklands group look around for an alternative site for a golf course. Perhaps the mayor is taking notice of public opinion in Maleny, which appears to strongly favour the Parklands plan.

Nevertheless, some local people want a golf course on the Precinct land. There is also a desire to ease a growing level of anxiety within the community over the issue, and to try and satisfy the wishes of as many people as possible. However, whether a golf course would be viable remains a vexed question.
The council's draft plan, favoured by the Maleny Golf Club, has an open-ended housing component, which is effectively the catalyst to provide an open-ended source of funding.

The Parklands group offered the Maleny Golf Club $2.3 million towards a golf course, provided it was not located on the Precinct land, at the 18 September meeting. They upgraded their income predictions of the proposed sale of 41 house blocks and 32 retirement units included in the Parklands plan to raise funds. This offer was snubbed by the golf club, which is determined to have the golf course on the Precinct.

My personal impression is that the golfing fraternity seems fairly thin on the ground in Maleny. During the Obi Obi Parklands group's inspired doorknock campaign, there was a pattern of sighting only the occasional golfer. In fact, there were cases of whole streets being doorknocked with not a single resident supporting the golf course plan.

Max Whitten, a former CSIRO scientist and president of the Maleny Golf Club, cuts a lonely figure at the helm of the golf course drive. He refutes all claims against the viability of a golf course, the projected negative effects on the catchment, and any doubts about the popularity of the game in Maleny.
When asked recently by the Parklands group to produce his list of 400 local members of the Maleny Golf Club, the list mysteriously went missing.

If the letters section of Maleny's local newspaper The Range News is a guide, only a handful of letters in support of a golf course have been printed in the past two months, compared to a flood of support for the Obi Obi Parklands plan.

Community feedback
Local residents have had the opportunity to have their say about this most important issue for Maleny's future via a public consultation process organised by CCC. Feedback forms were recently delivered to each household in the area, complete with a map of the council's draft golf course/residential housing estate plan.

Many more feedback forms were also distributed by residents supporting the Obi Obi Parklands plan. These particular forms however, were accompanied by an alternative design for the Precinct, (in full colour like the council's), and were offered by local people with much enthusiasm about what many believe would be a wonderful adjunct to the village of Maleny.

Seizing the opportunity provided by council in creating the feedback forms, the Obi Obi Parklands group organised around 60 people to doorknock local households, as well as holding displays in the library and in front of the Maple Street Co-op. Pat Fuller and Fern Veit, in particular, volunteered much of their time over three weeks on the front line, informing the community of the alternative plan for the site, which wasn't offered as an option on the council feedback form.

"The response to the Parkland plan has been overwhelming," says Fern. "Some people are not aware of the issue, but once you explain it to them most love the Parklands plan and can understand that a golf course is just not appropriate for that place."

Two public meetings held in late August and early September by the Parklands group presenting their plan were well attended; a strong indication of community sentiment on the issue.

Councillor Dick Newman has also publicly given his full support to the Parklands plan, gaining many admirers but also frustrating the ambitions of some local golfers.

The visionary Obi Obi Parklands plan
The plan itself is a beautifully integrated design, which features extensive rainforest plantings around the site, as well as a significant buffer along the creek. Swampy areas fed by permanent springs will be rejuvenated as wetlands - a haven for birds and other aquatic animals.

A centrepiece of the design will be an expanded Barung Landcare headquarters and nursery, offering increasing training and job opportunities. This will be part of a green industrial zone - now described as an 'ecological business park', after confusion among councillors, who thought the industrial zone equated to smoke stacks and noise.

The Sustainable Maleny group, co-ordinated by Barry Earsman, hopes to participate in the Parklands scheme. "One of the reasons that we founded Sustainable Maleny in the first place was to work towards localising our food production, and the Parklands plan offers a spectacular opportunity to actually achieve one of our primary goals and get that ball rolling," says Barry, referring to the proposed community garden and organic farm, which has much potential to produce food and also trial various crops that could be grown in our area.

He adds enthusiastically: "We're also interested in running a variety of alternative energy projects. A few of our people are working on forming an alternative energy co-op, and down the track I'm sure they'd love to run some experiments and demonstrations. It would be something unique on the Sunshine Coast, and [would] probably draw a lot of interest."

Bicycle trails, an open-air amphitheatre, art spaces, bushfoods kiosk and sculpture gardens are among the features of the Parklands plan.
A trail running several kilometres along the Obi Obi Creek to Gardeners Falls will form part of 14 kilometres of proposed paths and walking trails throughout the Precinct.

The Obi Obi Parklands group driving the campaign forward is spear-headed by volunteers Paul Veit, a former businessman who lives at north Maleny, and Steve Swayne, who has carried out important graphic design work for the popular Parklands plan.

For the record, the genesis of this whole concept goes back four years to the Common Gardens, then the Bio-regional Gardens group, who created the original blueprint for an extensive parkland, gardens and wildlife refuge within walking distance of town. Defying the council push for a golf course /housing estate with mirage-like sporting facilities, a few trees and a walking track, the 'fab 5' of Les Hall, Norm Dobson, Michael Cole-King, Paul Sykes and Henrietta McAlister gave birth to the most fantastic vision this town has seen. (I'm not biased!)

A decision on the future of the Precinct land could be made in the next one to two months. The community feedback forms will be assessed and tabled, and a presentation of the results made by council officers to the councillors during October.

The lack of consensus at the 18 September meeting would have been frustrating for Mayor Aldous, who had hoped to "nail it down". It may well end up in the 'too hard' basket and stay unresolved until after the formation of the new Sunshine Coast Council.

Nevertheless, to be prepared for any eventuality, I suggest giving your marching boots a jolly good polish!

* For more information on the Parklands plan, visit www.obiobiparklands.com

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", October/November 2007; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.coop@ serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]