REDLAND City Council has released its much-anticipated draft Birkdale Community Precinct master plan, revealing how it intends to transform the historic 62-hectare site over two decades.
The draft plan, endorsed at a special council meeting on Thursday, includes a Southbank-style public lagoon, playground, walking trails, and the widely-discussed Olympic whitewater venue.
Council plans to split the site into several hubs, with Willards Farm and the World War II radio receiving station to be among the centrepiece features.
The community will be given a chance to have a say on the draft plan, with consultation to take place between April 30 and June 6.
A consultation report will come back to the council after it receives community feedback across the five-week period.
The draft plan follows a decade of council lobbying to secure the land, which was earmarked for more than 400 houses in 2019 when it was under Commonwealth ownership.
Mayor Karen Williams, who presented petitions to two Prime Ministers before the multi-million dollar sale, said the plan was about more than the Olympics.
"When I was campaigning for Mayor, one of the things I said constantly was that we don't want our young people to be our greatest export," she said.
"It had been touted as a university site for many years before my time, but education has changed since then, particularly with COVID.
"This council, at a cost of about $5.5 million, has done everything in its power to preserve the integrity, history and heritage of the site.
"This project was held up as a shining example of legacy, because it is not just about the Olympics, it's about history, opportunity, development, disaster management and all those sorts of things."
Councillors Golle, Edwards and Berridge asked in the special meeting about how the draft plan would be funded.
"When we go to community consultation, the financials need to be fully explained for the ambition," Cr Berridge said.
"I'm thinking that the community needs to put trust and confidence into this project to make sure no uneconomical or inefficient use of resources which could result in the loss of public money."
Chief executive Andrew Chesterman said the council was in a strong financial position and referred to an officers' report which outlined potential partnership opportunities with the likes of private investors and other levels of government.
"This is a 20-year project. You need to have a master plan confirmed in order to be able to attract funding and attract the sort of investment I know you [councillors] are interested in," he said.
Cr Paul Bishop, who was the only councillor to vote against a motion to endorse the master plan, said some community members were "broadsided" when the Olympic venue was announced for the site.
"It should be an education precinct," he said. "It doesn't need to have a heavy footprint, I would like to see a light footprint, low cost, high-value outcome on that site."
Cr Williams said hosting the Olympics created several legacy opportunities for the Redlands, including investment in the Eastern Busway and Cleveland rail duplication.
"When we are talking about rail and busway, we are talking about billions of dollars of infrastructure that will now probably be in the mix of federal and state government funding," she said.
"This has been one opportunity to lock that up for the future. If we didn't grab that opportunity, it would have been absorbed by plenty of other people who wanted it."
Councillors voted nine to one in favour of the draft plan, with Cr Rowanne McKenzie absent from the meeting.
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