VISITORS and residents can look forward to a revitalised and refreshed CBD over the next 20 years.
VISITORS and residents can look forward to a revitalised and refreshed CBD over the next 20 years.
Picture new landscaping, better pedestrian networks, improved links between the Town Beach area and town centre, and a re-designed Glasshouse forecourt.
They are among the key issues highlighted in a Town Centre Master Plan review.
The document guides the town centre vision.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council wants to hear the community’s thoughts as part of the review. Town Centre Master Plan Sub- Committee chair Cr Geoff Hawkins said under the review there would not be radical changes but the town centre would be modernised and made more functional, not that it wasn’t modern and functional already.
The town centre would be easy to access for residents and tourists, and a really attractive place so people loved going to the CBD into the future, he said.
“I envisage there will be areas that are activated,” Cr Hawkins said.
“Whether you come by foot, bicycle, car or public transport, it’s easy to get around.”
The council is seeking feedback on a suite of documents in a review of the Town Centre Master Plan.
The review builds on the town’s strengths and will inject new energy and ideas into the planning process to ensure the town centre continues to thrive and develop in a way that contributes positively to social, economic and environmental health of Port Macquarie, the project overview said.
The master plan covers town centre streets, foreshores, parklands and open spaces with a boundary defined by the Town Green to the north, Kooloonbung Creek to the west, Gordon Street to the south, and to the east a series of boundaries along both Murray Street and Munster Street.
Cr Hawkins said Port Macquarie was the envy of regional Australia with a CBD flowing to the beautiful foreshore, and the Town Centre Master Plan funding model was also the envy of regional Australia, with CBD landowners funding the majority of the work.
Projects have gone ahead in stages since the 1990s.
About $12 million in work in the Town Centre Master Plan is done, with an estimated $15 million in work remaining.
Key opportunities identified in the review fall under six themes -– town centre networks and arteries, the Town Green, Kooloonbung Creek, the breakwater and Town Beach, town centre public realm and gateways into the town centre.
Cr Hawkins encourages people to have their say.
The Town Centre Master Plan Sub-Committee – a combination of community, CBD landholders, Port Macquarie Chamber of Commerce, CBD traders and council staff – will recommend priorities to the council.
A report will go before the council after the exhibition period. The Town Green forms part of the review but is not on exhibition as more intensive community consultation will go ahead about the much-loved community space.
People can access the documents and make a submission at www.pmhclistening.com.au until February 3.
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