March 12, 2015
A decision to lift “onerous” building covenants on the Lake Boondooma Estate and substitute normal building provisions has proven to be a winner for the South Burnett Regional Council.
Properties Portfolio chair Cr Deb Palmer told Wednesday’s council meeting that 14 of the 19 blocks remaining on the Estate are now under contract.
Council’s property agent L. J. Hooker will continue to promote the remaining five blocks over the Easter long weekend.
The 22 blocks on the Estate were originally released by the former Wondai Shire Council in December 2006, but stringent building conditions made them unattractive to buyers and only three were sold.
Councillors voted to lift the estate’s original building covenants and substitute normal building provisions at their July meeting last year.
At the time, Mayor Wayne Kratzmann told fellow councillors Wondai Shire Council had originally thought buyers would want to create city-style residences on the estate, but it seemed more likely the blocks would appeal to buyers who wanted weekenders.
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The South Burnett Regional Council is currently working on four major road projects at Nanango, Kingaroy, Wooroolin and Mondure, Roads Portfolio chair Cr Damien Tessman told Wednesday’s Council meeting.
In Nanango, work on sealing and slightly realigning Brights Road and installing drainage is about three weeks away from completion, after which the work crew will move on to Semgreens Road at Coolabunia.
In Kingaroy, work on reconstructing Venman Street’s kerbing and paving has disclosed that the soil is far more “soupy” than originally thought. Because of this, subsoil drainage is now being installed to ensure the work stays together when it’s done. Once completed, the work crew will move to Markwell Street in Kingaroy.
North of Wooroolin, work on widening the Bunya Highway has reached the point where Council crews are almost ready to seal the new section. Once this is done, crews will remove the current section of highway and then build it up to match the height of the new section.
And in Mondure, two box culverts are being installed on Campbell’s Road to reduce ponding on upstream properties at an existing floodway. After this, the concrete gang will move on to Nanango for the Drayton and Fitzroy Street CBD upgrade project.
Eight unsealed roads have also had attention from grader crews in the last three weeks: Tretham Lane at Boondooma; Mercer Springate Road and Snowy’s Knob Road at East Nanango; Usher’s Road and Edenvale South Road at Coolabunia; Whiterock Road at Goodger; and Wattlecamp Road and Memerambi Barkers Creek Road at Wattlecamp.
Pavement rehabilitation has been carried out on the Mundubbera Durong Road; and Byee Road has had shoulder maintenance.
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Council will hold two public meetings over the coming fortnight to update residents on current activities.
The first will be a meeting at the Blackbutt Memorial Hall on Monday, March 23, at 6:30pm to provide an update about Council’s efforts to get a supermarket built in the town.
Council recently called for expressions of interest from developers, and at Wednesday’s meeting it voted to draw up a short list of preferred applicants from those who’d shown interest in the project, then invite them to submit tenders.
The second meeting will be held at Ironpot Hall on Tuesday, March 24, for residents of the Ironpot and Burrandowan areas to discuss issues relating to road maintenance. The meeting will be followed by a barbecue dinner.
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Proston’s Blake Street will get a stylish new footpath once residents decide what colour they would prefer.
Their two choices are terracotta brick with an onyx colour in between; or onyx bricks with a corn colour in between.
The outcome should be known by Council’s next meeting on April 1, after which Council will put the $130,000 project into its works schedule.
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A streetlight study to identify potential “black spots” that need fixing has been completed for Blackbutt and Nanango, and the next town to be surveyed will be Murgon.
Ergon will cover the capital cost of installing extra lighting at identified black spots, but Council will make a contribution for each installed light under a State-wide arrangement negotiated between Ergon and the Local Government Association of Queensland.
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Council may consider another venue next year after a “disappointing” turnout to the evening performance of Jally Entertainment’s “Gallipoli – A Manual Of Trench Warfare” at Kingaroy Town Hall on Tuesday night (March 10).
Several hundred school children saw the performance for free at a daytime matinee, but their enthusiasm wasn’t shared by their parents. Barely 100 tickets to the evening performance were sold.
Arts Portfolio chair Cr Ros Heit said Council might like to consider moving next year’s theatrical production to another town.
She said smaller towns seemed more appreciative of touring shows, and attendances were usually much higher.
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The 80km/h speed limit on the Nanango-Brooklands Road will be extended a further 3km to the intersection of McNamara’s Road because of the number of driveways in this rural residential area.
The decision was made at the most recent meeting of Council’s Traffic Advisory Committee on March 10.
The committee also approved the creation of a new taxi bay in Avoca Street near Kingaroy’s SupaIGA store, and will look at what can be done to reduce fatigue-related road crashes on the D’Aguilar Highway between Nanango and George Green Road.
However, the committee rejected an application to lower the highway speed limit in Memerambi to 60km/h; and turned down a request to remove stop signs at the intersection of Coral and Fisher streets, Kingaroy.
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The cause of recent inlet pump failures at the Murgon Water Treatment plant which led to water restrictions being imposed on Murgon residents for four days after Cyclone Marcia passed through the area remains a mystery.
Water Portfolio chair Cr Barry Green said the cyclone raised water levels in Barambah Creek and this was probably a factor.
The inlet pumps are currently in Toowoomba so the exact cause of the malfunction can be assessed, after which repair work will be completed as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, the plant is operating well with a temporary pumping arrangement.
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Council crews are using splatter guns to treat lantana adjacent to the existing track on Staines Road reserve, and have also started similar work in the Goodger-Kunioon area west of Nanango, Natural Resource Management chair Cr Kathy Duff told Wednesday’s meeting.
Treatment of ragweed infestations is occurring at Blackbutt and Wengenville, and all Giant Rats Tail grass sites on the region’s roadsides have received another treatment.
Council NRM staff also recently attended an African Boxthorn control workshop in Bell to learn about the latest control strategies and treatment trials for this noxious weed.
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Eighty landholders have registered to participate in this month’s 1080 baiting program, and another 50 have registered for April’s trapping program.
Both programs will tackle wild dog and feral pig control in the region.
A meeting was also recently held with about 30 landholders in Blackbutt to discuss wild dog control programs there, and the establishment of a wild dog control group in the Blackbutt-Benarkin area.
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New stepper pavers have been installed at Kingaroy’s Memorial Park, and the painting of an anti-grafitti wall there has also been completed.
Work on a new unisex/disabled toilet block has begun at Wondai Cemetery.
New banner poles have been erected at Nanango, and banners have been put up.
Works will also start at the Nanango Cultural Centre on March 30 to remove two old cold rooms and install a new one in the Stage 1 bar area.
