Holdfast Bay to ask community for Buffalo site ideas – but it could take two years
The derelict Buffalo restaurant might be gone from Glenelg, but it’s set to take at least another two years to do anything with the land.
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It took years to remove this eyesore from Glenelg’s waterfront and now it’s set to take longer to do something else with the land.
According to Holdfast Bay Council, it could take two years for anything to happen at the site on the banks of the Patawalonga River.
Councillors on Tuesday night agreed to spend $13,000 building a permanent fence around the site of the former replica boat restaurant, opposite Adelphi Tce, to replace the temporary fencing currently in place.
Meanwhile, they will go out to public consultation to drum up ideas for the site – which will eventually be whittled down to a number of concept designs that will again be sent out to the community.
It would then have to be endorsed by the council and sent off for development approval.
Money has already been allocated by Holdfast Bay to remediate the site.
Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson said she would like to have work begin within a year but she was “just not sure that’s feasible”.
Suggestions for the site so far included decking it and opening it up to the community, as well as having a kiosk nearby.
The replica HMS Buffalo was demolished in September – many months after it was supposed to have been removed.
The Buffalo was originally set for demolition in 2014, before Troy DeYoung bought it from Richard Finlayson for just $1.
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He later announced a $1 million upgrade, approved in 2017, which was to involve a redevelopment of the inside and outside of the restaurant.
It was announced in January that the project would not happen due to costs.
The original HMS Buffalo brought the first settlers to Glenelg in 1836 but was destroyed in a shipwreck four years later.