Brelsford Park Controversy

COFFS Harbour City Council's endorsement of Brelsford Park as the site for a new skate park has not gone down well with businesses.

IT may have won over the city’s youth but Coffs Harbour City Council’s endorsement of Brelsford Park as the site for a new skate park has not gone down well with businesses.

One prominent local retail developer has slammed the decision as bad for business and others are angry the council has acted without advertising its intentions to the wider public.

The president of the Coffs Harbour Chamber of Commerce, Peter Lubans, said the decision had come out of the blue and was “very disappointing”.

“The chamber is disappointed that the decision was made without consultation with any neighbours and seemingly without any consultation with stakeholders,” Mr Lubans said.

“This is a major decision for one of the city’s key sites and it seems to have been rushed through.

“For many years the chamber has worked to develop plans for Brelsford Park and yet the council has decided that’s where it wants a regional skate park to be built before any plans are finalised.

“I’d like to know what studies have been done. On what economic and social basis have councillors made this decision?”

At its meeting last week, the council not only adopted for the corner of Harbour Dr and Earl St as its preferred site for a regional skate plaza but allocated $10,000 to commence detailed design and resolved to seek $200,000 in funding from the NSW Sport and Recreation Facility Grant program.

For the developer of the $23 million Coles supermarket on the opposite corner, Rodger Pryce, the news came as a complete shock.

“I can’t think of a worse position to put a skate park,” Mr Pryce said.

“That is not a slur on any of the kids who might use the park but experience tells us skate parks do have the potential to attract undesirables.

It is well established that skate parks are not compatible with retail areas, and a lot of town centre business operators I have spoken to feel the same way.”

Mr Pryce said he was appalled no one from the council had informed him or other nearby business operators that it was about to make such a major decision about the future of Brelsford Park.

“I would have thought it might be common courtesy for someone from the council to call and say this is what we’re about to do.”

But the council’s director of city services, Ben Lawson, said there had long been a significant number of people highlighting the need for a skate park and the desirability of Brelsford Park to be its home.

“We engaged a nationally recognised skate park design team to weigh up Brelsford Park and three sites at the Jetty

Foreshores against a series of key criteria such as access, security and natural surveillance,” Mr Lawson said.

“They came back with a 76% satisfaction rating for Brelsford Park as opposed to a rating of 43% to 55% for the Jetty sites.”

Mr Lawson said the skate park was now a natural fit for Brelsford Park.

Originally published as Brelsford Park Controversy