V-Wall Precinct Revitalisation
Two years ago, the Nambucca Valley Council was awarded nearly $500,000 from the State Government to help bring about its grand vision for the well-loved V-Wall precinct.
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The 'Master Plan' incorporated an enhanced parking area, with more spaces, including parking bays for coaches and motorhomes, reclaimed from some of the lawn area directly adjacent to the V-Wall Tavern.
According to the original plans, the lawn area is to be planted out more and there will be new undercover areas and picnic tables, along with installation of featured sculptures.
Signage at the construction site mentions a 'small performance stage'.
"It also involves some environmental work - revetment work to mitigate erosion in the really popular areas that people want to access," Mayor Rhonda Hoban said to the Guardian News in September 2018.
The money allocated to the project went a good way towards completing it ... but not quite. So a few ideas were scaled back to allow the project to be sufficiently completed before the peak summer tourist season this year. An initial deadline of the end of October was put in place.
Since work started on the latest phase of the project, a new swathe of funding ($310,000) has been granted through the State Goverment's COVID Recovery Infrastructure Investment Stimulus.
With this funding boost council has reinstated many of the original improvements, including extra shelters, footpath widening and improvements along Wellington Dr, and extra work opening up the carpark.
Assistant General Manager Engineering Services Paul Gallagher said the land around the old toilet block will be reclaimed as extra car parking space, and there will be better traffic flow, in general.
Mr Gallagher said some of the old shelters that were there previously will be "removed and revamped" and placed at other locations, like Bellwood Park.
He said there are also talks with Nambucca Heads High School to borrow their showstopping pelican from their Maagunda Gaagal sculpture festival for the V-Wall precinct - an idea he is particularly excited about.
Of course, this extra work means a protracted end to the project. But Mr Gallagher said the crew working on revitalising the V-Wall is working hard to have the precinct looking a million bucks before the next school holidays begin.
Mann St 'goat track' is dead and buried
After five long years, the entire length of Mann St has now been resurfaced.
Asphalt has been laid on the final sections - Bent St intersection, the roundabout, and the crest near the water tower - over the past month.
There are still a few little tweaks needed before council ticks the project off completely; a couple of driveways need to be fixed, and line markings on the newly resurfaced sections need doing.
Paul Gallagher said the line markings would have to wait until there is a more significant workload for council's chosen contractor to complete. But he is hopeful that will happen next month.
But the main drag through Nambucca is due for a little more zhooshing too. Nambucca Heads was successful in receiving another $30,000 in State Government infrastructure stimulus funding in order to erect six new flag-poles with banners along Bowra St.
These banners would be similar to the ones leading into North Macksville from Nambucca along Giinagay Way.
Council is currently in talks with the Nambucca Heads and Valla Chamber Of Commerce to work out the best positions for the new banners.
Nambucca River Boardwalk
Earlier the Guardian News reported that the wooden walkway between the Visitor Information Centre and the Stuart Island causeway was closed after an inspection found borers had damaged many of the pylons.
Indeed, when you look at the walkway, it is significantly bowed in quite a few areas.
We spoke again with Paul Gallagher to get a more realistic understanding of how long it might be until the walkway is repaired.
First council must be successful in obtaining sufficient grant funding for the project. And then it will need to be fitted into the schedule of works.
He said it is likely that it will be at least a year until work can start on replacing the walkway with a widened version, more suitable to a saltwater environment - like the one recently installed between Gordon Park and the RSL.
And while that part of the estuary is not as environmentally sensitive - it has significantly less sea grass than around the RSL - there are significant access issues, meaning the construction process will not be a straightforward one.
So it could potentially be a two-year wait until that section of boardwalk opens again.