‘It’s well overdue’: Time to find a spot to build an exciting new seaside clubhouse attraction at the Capricorn Coast

The Capricorn Coast Outrigger Canoe Club has had about $60,000 sitting in the bank for almost 30 years, waiting to build a new clubhouse and coffee attraction. Here’s why it is still waiting to deliver what would be a fantastic facility for the entire community and tourists alike.

President of the Capricorn Coast Outrigger Canoe Club John Jennings, club members Ray and Karen Pomfrett, Cr Adam Belot and Cr Pat Eastwood at Lammermoor Beach, Yeppoon. Photo Darryn Nufer.

Livingstone deputy mayor Adam Belot has called on the council to make it a priority to help find a new home for the Capricorn Coast Outrigger Canoe Club.

And in doing so, pave the way for a fantastic new seaside clubhouse and coffee attraction to be built for the enjoyment of the entire community and tourists alike.

Whether that new home for the club is away from its primitive long-time existing base in the corner pocket of Lammermoor Beach or close by, is still very much an open book.

The club has money in the bank to build a new clubhouse, has architectural plans drawn up, and has members who have the skills to help the dream become a reality.

But finding a suitable site for such a facility has been a near 30-year battle that still does not have a solution.

The are a lot of complexities involved.

In a nutshell, the major impediment to the club being able to get any sort of approval to build a new clubhouse in the space it currently occupies in the corner of Lammermoor Beach, is this land is land that the club has no formal arrangement over.

And nor does Livingstone Shire Council.

The land is essentially tidal/coastal land and has no formal status such as trust land.

At a recent Livingstone council meeting, Mr Belot went into bat for the Capricorn Coast Outrigger Canoe Club saying: “We need to find a way forward for them.”

President of the Capricorn Coast Outrigger Canoe Club John Jennings, club members Ray and Karen Pomfrett, Cr Adam Belot and Cr Pat Eastwood at Lammermoor Beach, Yeppoon. Photo Darryn Nufer.

“I would just love the organisation (council) to take it on as a pet project, almost,” Mr Belot said.

“To be able to come back to the (council) table, whether it be three months, six months, 12 months, whatever the case may be, to put forward potential sites so that this club can actually truly reach its potential.”

At the council meeting, Mayor Andy Ireland asked Mr Belot whether, in his discussions with the club, it was open to potential sites other than Lammermoor Beach.

Mr Belot replied: “Lammermoor Beach has certainly been very suitable for them, but in speaking with the club president, their eyes are open (to alternatives).”

Speaking to The Morning Bulletin, president of the Capricorn Coast Outrigger Canoe Club, John Jennings, confirmed this.

“Boats are stored on the beach (at Lammermoor) and then we’ve got our makeshift clubhouse, if you can call it that, which is a little aluminium toolbox building that’s two metres high, by one metre wide, by a metre-and-a-half,” Mr Jennings said.

President of the Capricorn Coast Outrigger Canoe Club John Jennings sits at the group's home base at Lammermoor Beach, Yeppoon. Photo Darryn Nufer.

“All our rigging gear, and as much rigging as we need to put the boats on the water, is in there.

“And the rest of our ‘clubhouse’ consists of my garage and everybody else’s garages around the town, where we store bits and pieces everywhere.

“We (club) have been trying to get a home for almost 30 years.

“We fundraised 25/20 years ago and raised some money to build a clubhouse, but we’ve had the money in the bank for all this time, and never been able to get anywhere to do anything.

“I think we’ve got $60,000 in the bank that was set aside for a clubhouse - we’re open to looking elsewhere for a site to build it on but ideally, we’ve got a concept plan for a building here (existing Lammermoor base) that would be for our use and for public use, because along here there is not much shade on the beach.

“And the concept we’ve got is a building with an open area where people can sit in the shade and watch their kids play on the beach, showers and toilets, and there’s a concept there for a small coffee shop.”

Mr Belot said the council should be looking at “every possible angle” to make this project come to fruition.

“It’s time - it’s well overdue,” Mr Belot said.

“To get through the bureaucratic impediments that are there and it should be not ‘how it can’t happen’ but ‘how can we make this happen’,” the deputy mayor added.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Capricorn Coast Outriggers Canoe Club attracted competitors for a quality competition event in July 2016, at Great Keppel Island, hosting the inaugural GKI Kanu Klassic. Photo Contributed/The Capricorn Coast Mirror.

Councillor Pat Eastwood said sports tourism was “taking off” and it would be great for our region to have a new facility to host outrigging events.

“We’ve already got a club here, let’s make sure they can progress in the best way they possibly can and give them a hand to do that,” he said.

“And that’s not just for the outriggers, that’s for any club.

“You know, this is what makes our community and if we don’t have these things here, people may go somewhere else.”

Councillors voted unanimously at Livingstone’s September monthly meeting for the council to, in partnership with the State Government, identify potential sites on the Capricorn Coast that may accommodate a clubhouse and facilities.

Originally published as ‘It’s well overdue’: Time to find a spot to build an exciting new seaside clubhouse attraction at the Capricorn Coast