{"id":182407,"date":"2017-06-27T15:48:49","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T05:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=182407"},"modified":"2020-09-11T11:30:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T01:30:16","slug":"council-plans-8m-cbd-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/06\/27\/council-plans-8m-cbd-upgrade\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Plans $8m CBD Upgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kingaroy’s CBD has been expanding steadily over the past decade, but in a piecemeal fashion … the SBRC wants to undertake an $8 million upgrade in 2020 to set a clear path for its future<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell (Photo: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 27, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South Burnett Regional Council will begin setting aside money next year for a major upgrade of Kingaroy’s CBD.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Mayor Keith Campbell announced the Council will set aside $2 million each year in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 budgets to build a $4 million war chest for the project.<\/p>\n

It will then seek a matching contribution from State or Federal Government grant programs so work on the $8 million upgrade could commence as soon as full funding was secured.<\/p>\n

This year, the Council will begin reviewing previous strategies for CBD revitilisation developed by the former Kingaroy Shire Council in the mid-2000s.<\/p>\n

It will then undertake community consultations to determine what shape the project should take.<\/p>\n

The Council will use the outcomes of the consultation process to develop concept drawings and carry out some preliminary design work.<\/p>\n

The project will fulfil a long-standing commitment by Cr Campbell to revitalise Kingaroy’s CBD and town entrances.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In November 2015, then-Deputy Mayor Campbell told a meeting of the Kingaroy Chamber Of Commerce and Industry that Kingaroy was looking “tired and shabby”.<\/p>\n

He thought the solution was a streetscaping project similar to Nanango\u2019s that would upgrade the CBD and the town\u2019s three highway entrances.<\/p>\n

However, because of the size of the town’s CBD, it would be a costly project to undertake and wasn\u2019t likely to happen until the economy improved.<\/p>\n

“When it does happen, though, I hope the KCCI will play a big role in the process,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Campbell told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> some aspects of the plan – such as a CBD car park on the old railway land behind Haly Street – were already part of the Council’s long term thinking.<\/p>\n

Others, however, would be up to the community to decide.<\/p>\n