Tony Goodman, Lorraine Broadley: Gympie CBD move not best option after flood

Two of Mary Street’s traders say the idea of moving Gympie’s CBD out of the flood is too expensive and are calling for cheaper mitigation options as questions continue to swirl over the best location for a new city centre.

The question of packing up Gympie’s CBD for higher ground following the latest floods has been challenged by prominent business leaders who say cheaper and better options need to be explored.

Mary Street traders Tony Goodman and Lorraine Broadley have called for a closer look to be taken at other options given the extraordinarily high cost of moving a city centre and the impact of doing so on surrounding businesses.

The possibility of moving the CBD out of the flood zone was raised Thursday by members of Gympie’s business community.

Among them was new Chamber of Commerce president Petra van Beek who said all levels of government should be discussing if it was necessary.

“Either the street be moved or at least lift those shops up to a mezzanine level and put a car park underneath,” Ms van Beek told the ABC.

“So that when we do get the standard floods, they aren’t affected.”

She was aware it would be an expensive option if taken.

Mr Goodman, a former Chamber of Commerce president himself, said with “respect to my colleagues” who were in the middle of a highly emotional time, “where is the money going to come from”?

Toyworld owner Lorraine Broadley wants options like fixing an apparent bottleneck in the Mary River at Fisherman’s Pocket explored, saying they would be far cheaper than shifting the entire Gympie city centre.

He said a look at the Federal Government’s balance sheet showed it was carrying a debt of more than $800 billion; the State Government had one in excess of $100 billion.

There had been more than two dozen local government areas affected across Queensland and New South Wales, including Lismore, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, too, and all of this was coming on the heels of a two-year pandemic.

“It will take a huge amount of money to do it,” Mr Goodman said.

“It all sounds good, but (move it) to where?”

Mrs Broadley said cutting off the top of the street would leave the city with “a very scattered business district”.

She was “fed up” with the talk that goes on after every flood and simply wanted investigations into “a few minor (flood mitigation) issues that are possible”.

Lorraine Broadley said businesses and the CBD could manage if flood levels were able to be kept to about 16m in height.

These included an apparent bottleneck at Fisherman’s Pocket or smaller dams on the Mary River, with a hydrologist brought in to assess the options.

It would be a huge help if flood levels could be kept to “a sensible proportion”.

“Sixteen metres we can handle, 21m we can’t,” Mrs Broadley said.

The idea of moving the CBD had been brought up following the 1999 flood.

It was found to be on par with the cost of building a levee, and canned as too expensive she said.

In 2014 a 22m flood levee was rejected thanks to an expected $34m cost.

In the end, Mrs Broadley said despite all the talk in the two decades since that flood nothing had been done.

Mary St has been the heart of Gympie since 1867, when James Nash found gold nearby and the commercial precinct grew there.

Chamber of Commerce president Petra van Beek says governments should begin discussing whether Gympie’s CBD should be relocated in the wake of the latest devastating floods. Photo: Contributed.

The questions of whether the CBD needs a new home garnered hot debate on social media as well.

Bec Shailer-Kross asked if it could turned into “a historical museum/nature walk or some kind of sight seeing venture in the flood area”, with the unaffected ends filled with businesses.

Daisy Aragon Tramachi said it “should have been done years ago” and

Mark R Treeby said the plan was still hindered by a simple problem: who would foot the bill?

“And then the small business owners are left paying off the debt with huge rents,” he said.

The question of where to move it to was

Tozer St near the old historical station was a popular choice.

The entire rail precinct on the north side of the street, from Station Rd to Ranson Rd, is owned by Queensland Rail.

The 37 lots on the southern side between Station Rd and Tozer Park Rd are owned by two companies: Frank Sauer and Sons Holdings (lots 1 through 25) and Adin Pty Ltd (Timeless Treasures and the vacant block at the intersection).

Craig Warhurst said the “best bet” would be the between Albert Park and Central Shopping Centre on what will be the old Bruce Highway once the bypass is built.

“Nice wide road, all the traffic will be gone and connected to a major shopping centre,” Mr Warhurst said.

The bulk of the land on the Mary River side is owned by the Queensland Government.

The other side of the street is a mixture of businesses and homes, all privately owned.

Originally published as Tony Goodman, Lorraine Broadley: Gympie CBD move not best option after flood