Underwood Park Hall built without full kitchen after plans changed while council was in administration

An investigation will be held into how plans for a community hall were changed in secret while Logan City Council was under administration, allowing it to be built without kitchen facilities.

The new $12 million facility at Underwood Park.

An investigation will be held into how plans for a community hall were changed in secret to cut out a fully functioning kitchen, while Logan City Council was under administration.

The multimillion-dollar Underwood Park Community Hall at Priestdale was to be built with a large kitchen to cater for community events.

But when it opened in late September, the kitchen facilities were an urn, a sink and a bench.

Logan councillor Lisa Bradley called for a report into the lack of kitchen facilities at the hall and said the original plans drawn up in 2017 after community consultation, had been changed.

Logan City councillor Lisa Bradley told today’s council meeting that the plans were redrawn in secret while the council was in administration with the end result a hall without a full kitchen.

Cr Bradley had also contributed $500,000 from her Divisional Infrastructure Capital Improvement Program Fund for upgrades at Underwood Park.

Some of the spaces inside the new facility at Underwood Park.

“It was a shock to me to look in and see a bench, an urn and a sink,” Cr Bradley said.

“There were kitchen facilities there (at Nerida St, Rochedale South) and in the community hall which was demolished at Underwood Park (to make way for the new facility).

“It has been expressed, that the plans got changed during administration — that part is quite disheartening because the community was not taken on the journey — they were not consulted.

“The community has missed out greatly and I do not believe that the divisional funding should be used for facilities that were omitted by council officers.”

The multimillion-dollar Underwood Park Community Hall was built to replace a Logan City Council community hall in Nerida St, Rochedale South and a centre which was demolished at the park.

The new facility at the Underwood Park.

Original plans from November 2017, drawn up to be used to seek state government funding, showed the new facility would include a state-of-the-art kitchen big enough to cater for large groups of more than 100 people.

Cr Bradley said a council officer had stated he was responsible for representing council during administration, after the council was dissolved.

She asked officers for a report into why no full kitchen was built and why the administration changed the plans without consulting the community.

The council report will also include details of whether the cooking facilities provided were adequate, the results of public consultation done in 2017 and any early plans that included cooking facilities in excess of what was ultimately delivered.

The Meals on Wheels kitchen at Rochedale South, above, was supposed to open at its new facilities at Underwood Park but the move is on hold after its kitchen was also not to plan.

The community hall was part of a $9 million development, which blew out to $12.2 million, for new clubhouses and amenities for Logan City BMX Academy and Underwood Park Netball Association.

The overhaul also included a new soccer clubhouse, upgraded lights, a mountain bike storage space, and a Meals on Wheels kitchen.

The Meals on Wheels kitchen, also at Underwood Park, was supposed to open in September but has remained shut because its facilities were not to the organisation’s standards.

Ovens in the new Meals on Wheels building did not fit the kitchen and a stainless steel preparation bench was too long to fit into the kitchen and had to cut down.

Meals on Wheels said that the original plans for their kitchen included three ovens but only connections for two were installed and there was no grease trap or drainage around the ovens.

Meals on Wheels has continued to operate and cook dinners out of their old kitchen facilities at Nerida St.

Other problems with the new $12 million facility included the new Rochedale Rovers Football Club changing rooms being flooded after a heavy downpour on the day the building opened.