New park for Palmwoods

PALMWOODS is set to have a major new park which will provide the space for local families to gather and will also meet the needs of the projected future population.

The new park, likely to be known as Federation Park, will be on a 3.3 hectare site behind Primrose Court in the Range View estate off Lingard Street.

Cr Geoff Littler, who said he had been contemplating the project for a number of years, has come up with a basic concept plan in consultation with Maroochy Shire Council Parks staff.

The park will be accessed by a 10 metre laneway off Primrose Court and will be bordered to the west by Paynters Creek. It is set to include open areas for community gatherings, picnic areas, an informal oval area, shelters, viewing pockets and an avenue of memorial trees.

It will not be available for organised sporting events.

Cr Littler said the park would put the low lying flood land to good use and would be designed to take flooding into consideration.

"Basically Federation Park would be for the local people and not a drawcard for visitors, although they may like to come and see it too," he said. "It will be a community park for all members of the community to participate in its development.

Cr Littler will continue taking the concept plans to the various community organisations over the next few weeks and plans to call a public meeting as soon as the groups have had an opportunity to consider the proposal.

He said he hoped to see the plan driven by an Adopt a Park Committee made up of representatives of all community organisations as well as individuals.

"I would like to see each organisation take up a particular aspect of the park and develop it as their own project," he said. "For example, some groups could look at providing the picnic tables and seating while others could work on repairing the riparians zones and establishing a wetlands area."

It is envisaged that there will be a walkway around the park lined with black bean, which is the Maroochy Shire emblem. This would also present an opportunity for families to own a tree and for it to be recognised as a federation project.

Cr Littler said the Palmwoods Progress Association’s pavement project to celebrate the turn of the century, could also be incorporated in the new park.

He said reaction from Palmwoods organisations who had inspected the concept plan to date had been favourable and there was general agreement that it would be an asset to Palmwoods.

"The popularity of Kolora Park has made it just too busy. There’s really not enough space even to kick a ball around," he said.

"We really don’t have any other suitable parks but we need to expand. I knew this land was available and with the centenary of federation coming up, it is a good opportunity to have it recognised by developing this land as Federation Park."

Cr Littler said he wanted to stress that the plan was only a concept and that it would be more fully discussed at a public meeting when input would be sought from the community and integrated in the plan.

He said the concept plan did not include any allocation for parking but this would follow as the project developed.

"There will be sufficient parking for the final concept, but we need to know what is planned before we organise the parking," he said.