Of the 7 councillors in the current Douglas Shire, I reckon its fair to say that the majority of energy that has been directed at making the Port Douglas revival happen has been, for better and worse, the writer, even stemming back some 10 years. But to say that the Douglas Shire has a good track record on performance in getting a waterfront revival plan together would be pushing it. The DSC’s success can be measured by the lack of outcomes over the past 6 years, where little has been achieved. Times have changed with the input of very capable planners like Paul Trotman coming aboard the DSC to head planning, but regrettably, he has left the DSC facing amalgamation. His international skills were helpful. At the time of writing, a dozen or so specialist consultants in engineering, valuation, architecture, traffic, and environment etc, are being contracted and when the CRC takes over in March, much of their investigative work will be well underway. More information on the process can be sourced from the DSC web site.

Whilst some feel the community has been ‘consulted to death’ there is meaty involvement ahead for the many stakeholders and community groups making up the community PAG, but not to talk about design motherhood statements, but to actually contribute to a working, design by enquiry process, that has all the makings of being an inclusive and cooperative way by which this local community can direct its major urban issue.

Many in the Port Douglas community feel the slip of standards as Palm Cove and even Kuranda show more focus on public infrastructure, which leaves us now badly lagging in Port Douglas. At the same time, the community has concerns over its potential loss of unique character. Whilst 70% of the communities’ views are relatively similar, there are others who feel nothing more than grass should be developed along the waterfront. Somehow, the process ahead, as designed, aims to respect and embody most if not all communal views, from development nihilism, to development modernism.

I think there is a growing consensus that any new plans for the area, out to sea of the slipway, should be a minimalist green zone, with development mainly only for civic use in this area. The community’s desire to preserve the Combined Club is strong - it was the first place I ever visited in Port Douglas and as it was my former waterfront neighbor, when I lived below Gary Hunt’s waterfront office, I too deem the Combined Club as a sacred shed.
The mangrove areas upstream are not development zones, other than maybe a small dead patch behind Marano’s.

It’s my view that any new development along the waterfront should be built to the new cutting edge standards of sustainable development, mainly in energy use, as the feature of any new buildings. I once had a lot of detailed personal ideas about how the waterfront should look, but after several years of hearing the many views from the community, I have become more confident that a communally driven master planning process will deliver results better than one person’s vision and I strongly suspect that a fantastic, revitalizing waterfront plan can be the product of a well advised group effort.

It was I who pushed for the formation of a board or committee to steer the process and it was I who encouraged the subset formation a community PAG as the forum for community groups input. The car crash of suspicion and rumor, residual of the intervention by State Government’s Coordinator General has taken months to repair, restoring community consultation and confidence. Most of 2008 is devoted to a series of investigations and option explorations needed to come up with a viable master plan in phases 3 and 4 of the waterfront revival. The timetable is below.

I would hope that at the end of the process, everyone has direct access to the entire waterfront, from the Yacht Club, to Rex Smeal Park and maybe even around to 4 Mile Beach if well away from housing. I would hope the markets area is expanded, manicured and re-greened. I would hope grass will replace acres of carpark asphalt. I hope we end up with a working harbor, with pontoons below the boardwalk, to keep the boating function of the harbor real. I hope we can reconnect the footy fields to the waterfront and make better use of the land between Marina Mirage and the Yacht Club. I hope we create a good working zone for the marine service industry and the government and rescue services.

I hope we can build a terrific get wet kids playground. As a daily beach swimmer with some nervousness about certain pea sized jellyfish, don’t hold it against me if I personally really want to see a lagoon-pool-meets-exercise-pool. Whether to put such a pool at the surf club side, or the Dickson’s Inlet side, is a debate split down the middle. I can live with either option, but as a yachtie, I am inclined to the left side, out of the SE trades, for an afternoon swim, ie the Dickson inlet side.

I would hope that Douglas could restore some of its former access to the servicing of the white boat industry, noting that at any one time, there are something like 150- 250 Douglas residents serving on white boats in the Med and Caribbean. By service, I don’t mean heavy industry service, (which is best still at Portsmith), but dockside service in competition with the new, category killing facilities in Cairns. That is not to say that Port Douglas does not need an affordable slipway or travel lift. As a former world sailor, with several boat projects on the go, including the 110ft solar hybrid, the Trybrid Project and having spent more that 20 years living on the waterfront, excuse me if I have more than the usual interest in water rat affairs.

If done well, the waterfront revival has the ability to lift the town, but the ‘lift’ must be spread up the main street and to the Esplanade. The Esplanade, despite is recent improvements, has a lot more improvement still possible. We do not want retail dramas that, for example, Cairns Central delivered to suffering strip shops.

Development seems most logically concentrated where there is development at present, namely the Marina Mirage and slipway precincts. Funding for the civic component, which could run into tens of millions, should be a composite of private and government contribution, private funding through sale of rights, Government contribution means more than Local Government contribution and includes some Federal and State funding and with some $1.2 Billion in tourism turnover in Douglas alone, its certainly time some of the maybe $10 million per month this community contributes in GST is returned to the community.

 

 

 

 

For an insight into what the community has deemed important, here is a summary of the guiding principles for the waterfront that I too endorse:

Council have adopted the following nine guiding principles as the basis for progressing preparation of the Port Douglas Waterfront Master Plan.

(i) Acknowledge the importance of sustainability which needs to underpin all aspects of Port Douglas, the success of Port Douglas lies in its commitment to:

• Protecting and preserving the natural environment, including the mangroves and marine park, for future generations
• Setting high level sustainability goals in line with the Shire’s carbon neutrality policy
• Achieving broadly based social sustainability that balances the needs of both the business community with that of key supporting community components such as housing affordability
• Economic sustainability that protects the interests of the existing business community and provides it with a base to ensure its long term viability.

(ii) Provide a green heart for the town centre from the market area (and St Mary’s) to Rex Smeal Park, where the community can gather to celebrate, commemorate and enjoy the uninterrupted vista. Ensure open space areas are usable and celebrate the tropical climate by:

• Enhancing open space areas with appropriate landscaping (appropriate species and natural rather than formal style)
• Retaining mature trees
• Providing appropriate facilities and amenities such as weather protection, seating, lighting, water fountains and BBQs
• Improving accessibility for all including those with a disability
• Improving maintenance and cleaning regimes
• Continuing to host a range of outdoor community events and activities
• Work with relevant authorities to ensure high levels of safety and security.

(iii) Make the waterfront the heart of Port Douglas – a place to be visited, a place that is visually accessible and appealing from both land and water, and an active part of daily life, through:

• Improving public access to the waterfront for activities including walking, cycling, fishing, viewing
• Maintaining a working waterfront with a range of commercial activities that reflects the marine heritage and character of Port Douglas including meeting the needs of the fishing industry, tourism operators and the general boating public
• Maintain and promote activities and businesses including the Sunday Markets, adaptive re-use of the sugar wharf, Combined Clubs
• Plan for tourism trails that highlight local points of interest and new uses to meet tourism needs
• Effectively managing the interaction of public and business activities in the waterfront area
• Providing a range of facilities and activities for all – including residents and visitors and people of all ages and socio-economic groups
• Ongoing maintenance of existing facilities and infrastructure.

(iv) Reflect the tropical, relaxed, unhurried character of Port Douglas in the way people move around the town on foot, in the architecture and in the nature of low scale commercial activities, through:

• Improved pedestrian access to the waterfront and surrounds
• Improvements to the local road network and parking provision, to assist in minimising traffic impacts and to encourage the use of sustainable modes of transport such as walking and cycling
• Built-form that reflects and respects the heritage and character of the local area, achieves high quality and innovative design outcomes and adapts sustainability principles in line with overall environmental sustainability objectives
• Commercial activities that reflect the heritage and character of the local area (i.e. retention of existing activities / introduction of any new activities).

(v) Ensure planning for Port Douglas considers:

• The importance of tourism to the local economy acknowledging its seasonal nature
• Supports the growth of diverse industries that are independent of tourism.

(vi) Acknowledge the importance of safety for the Port Douglas community – planning needs to ensure that crime and other safety issues are minimised wherever possible through application of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles.

(vii) Ensure any development in the area comprising the waterfront and surrounds:

• Complies with the statutory planning framework
• Is sympathetic to the local context in terms of height, scale, mass and character
• Delivers high levels of design and innovation that meet aesthetic as well as built-form sustainability objectives
• Meets appropriate geotechnical design standards and sustainability criteria
• Respects and enhances local amenity through built-form design that increases public access to the waterfront, improves the street-scape through landscaping and provision of setbacks, provides increased visual interest and appeal, incorporates new community facilities

(viii) Thoroughly explore a range of options as part of the Master Plan process including a ‘no development’ option for the waterfront and test the social, environmental and economic implications of this for the future of Port Douglas and the Shire.

(ix) Acknowledge, preserve and reflect the Indigenous and non Indigenous heritage of Port Douglas through:

• Preservation, enhancement and where appropriate reuse, of iconic buildings including the Old Courthouse, Sugar Wharf, St Mary’s, Combined Clubs, and where appropriate removal of existing buildings from the waterfront
• Preservation of items and sites of Indigenous significance including Magazine Island
• Facilities, cultural activities and celebrations that reflects the heritage and character of Port Douglas.Council have also adopted an indicative timetable as follows:

CONTACT ROD DAVIS: vote@roddavis.org

MOBILE: 0418 235561 or HOME: 0740 994434

MAIL: PO BOX 714, Port Douglas, 4877.