{"id":233327,"date":"2019-04-16T20:37:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T10:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=233327"},"modified":"2020-07-21T13:50:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T03:50:16","slug":"council-to-vote-on-murgon-footpaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/04\/16\/council-to-vote-on-murgon-footpaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Council To Vote On Murgon Footpaths"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UPDATED: Murgon’s new CBD footpaths will look like this … a trial design outside Murgon’s Post Office was chosen by the SBRC as the most popular of four options after a recent public consultation process<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell (Photo: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 16, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South Burnett Regional Council is expected to approve the design that will be used on a $1.24 million upgrade of Murgon’s CBD footpaths at its monthly meeting on Wednesday (April 17).<\/p>\n

The Council will announce which of four possible designs will be used after putting them out to public consultation last month.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Mayor Keith Campbell said the project will be paid for through a combination of funding sources.<\/p>\n

The State Government’s Works For Queensland program will contribute $740,000 towards the cost, and the $500,000 balance will come from Council’s asset depreciation fund.<\/p>\n

Work on upgrading the footpaths is expected to begin early in the new financial year.<\/p>\n

An upgrade of the CBD’s footpaths has been a long-standing project of the Murgon Business and Development Association (MBDA).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The MBDA first raised the need to fix the town’s footpaths in 2014.<\/p>\n

The project was initially estimated to cost $400,000, but this rose to $600,000 after an engineering report disclosed the footpaths were in worse condition than first thought.<\/p>\n

However, it had to be deferred soon afterwards when Murgon’s Jubilee Swimming Pool required an urgent $1.2 million upgrade.<\/p>\n

In November 2016, with the pool re-opened, the MBDA proposed the footpath project be put back on the agenda for Council’s 2017-18 Budget.<\/p>\n

In July the following year, the Council secured $240,000 through Works For Queensland to repair a small section at the southern end of Lamb Street.<\/p>\n

But the remainder had to wait a further two years while the Council diverted the bulk of its funds to road maintenance.<\/p>\n

Last November, Mayor Campbell announced a plan to spend $1.24 million on the footpath project.<\/strong><\/p>\n

$240,000 would be allocated to repair a section at the southern end of Lamb Street in the 2018-19 Budget; and the bulk of the job would be carried out in 2019-20.<\/p>\n

The Mayor told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> at the time that while $1.24 million might sound like a lot for two footpaths on either side of Lamb Street, the project was much bigger than it seemed.<\/p>\n

“Council will be using this as an opportunity to upgrade or replace all the infrastructure below ground as well as the footpaths,” the Mayor said.<\/p>\n

“Murgon is in much the same position as Kingaroy is right now.<\/p>\n

“Most of the infrastructure was laid down 60 to 70 years ago, and it\u2019s pretty close to the end of its working life.<\/p>\n

“So if we\u2019re going to replace the CBD\u2019s footpaths, this is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to upgrade the infrastructure so it will last another 60 or 70 years.”<\/p>\n

The Mayor warned the main problem Council faced was the exact condition of the underground infrastructure would not be known until the existing footpaths were removed.<\/p>\n

This meant staff had to make an “informed guess” about the likely total cost of the project.<\/p>\n

* * * <\/strong><\/h2>\n

UPDATE March 17, 2017: <\/strong> The South Burnett Regional Council voted unanimously at its April meeting to accept the first of the four design options it proposed for the footpaths.<\/p>\n

Option 1 – a design currently used on a strip of footpath near Murgon’s Post Office – was preferred by the Murgon Business and Development Association, and by more than one third of respondents to a public consultation process.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday afternoon, MBDA president Leo Geraghty said he was very pleased the Council had selected the option preferred by most CBD traders.<\/p>\n

He also praised Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff for her hard work on the project over several years.<\/p>\n

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