This is the latest news I have on the proposed Water
Park.
Proposed opening date: 9th June 2009, in time for
the Queens Q150 celebrations.
Purpose: Public education regarding water
sustainability. It will show water treatment,
desalination and sewer mining plus some?
Location: Seven sites were looked at, with the
North end of Main Street abutting the Seafront Oval
being chosen.
Design: Whales and Dolphins will be predominate
as they are Aboriginal totems for this area. There
will be permanent CCTV security and the toilet
block will be environmentally friendly. The project
will be wheelchair friendly.
Features: Underneath the play area will be a 1.8
megalitre storage tank for storm-water.
Costs: it is envisaged that running cost will be
covered by sponsorship, cafe’s and the SurfRider
and seasonal attractions.
I hope the above is of interest and helpful,
John A Neve
BBS writes: we’ve printed this information as contributed - we are yet to confirm the details ourselves but if this is true we’ll just ask - who will “sponsor” this facility? Ratepayers via council rates or inflated water charges? Where is the business case for the park and where is the proof it will not become a burden to the community?
Re; Water Park Update.
If J Neves latest comments regarding the Water Park project are correct, then all is lost and it just appears to be yet another local Council fiasco waiting to happen.
Plastic whales and dolphin fountains and sewerage education exhibits right on our lovely foreshore … how crass and boring? It should arrtact thousands of tourists to pay for the upkeep of it all I am sure!
Simply converting the unsightly water slide on the way into town might have worked, but this option is obviously financially doomed in my opinion! Let’s hope J. Neve is wrong on this one!
I’ve got a great idea, lets spend everything on a water park that may or may not work, who needs a feasibility study, lets just build it and see what happens. Given half of the new council is responsible for the wrongly conceived,and badly designed rowers club pontoon, now broken, and lets not mention the “other pontoon”, and public wharf debacle, where somewhere in the vicinity of $470,000 has been wasted, and now lives at a marina in the river at rate payers expence. Another brilliantly designed and wonderfully engineered piece of well oiled machinery thats useless.
I’ve got a better idea, lets get the same council engineering team to do the design, that way when it fails no one will be accountable, and all the coucilors can put their hands in the air and say,”We’ll have to come up with some other way to do it” - Hell it’s only money - OURS!!!!!!
WATER PORK BARREL
Dont forget the real truth here , the park idea came from the top 3 involved , dreampt up to counter the community perceptions that the top 2 , are suffering badly from negative public perceptions.
The top one is caught up in the downward spiral of an arrogant goverments popularity ( 800 voters) , the number 2 is caught up in the public rejection of watery profit promises from days of yore.
The number 3 is caught up in the fantasies of the top 2!
If the project had been the result of a community grass roots ideal , we would all get behind it ,the sooner these 3 vignerons get that message the better we will be in the Fraser Coast Region .
Maybe it’s a good thing that Wide Bay Water are finally exercising their nose thumbing arrogance in full view of the ratepayers instead of behind closed doors. This blatant con job could be the beginning of the revolt.
The public supported the water park because it was led to believe that it would be a tourist draw card and something for our kids to do. e.g. a tilting bucket and fun activities. Indigenous art and crafts were to be major features. One newspaper even described it as Hervey Bay’s Eiffel Tower.
Now it’s going ahead it has become an educational monument to Wide Bay Water and a restaurant to generate income for Wide Bay Water.
After the revolt we might get some accountability and finally see where our money is REALLY going.
What off-shore assets do WBWC hold? Why is it necessary to buy apartments in China when there is ample rental accommodation.
Is there a positive return for us ratepayers from the overseas projects or just frequent flyer points and business class travel?
These questions deserve answers,
as presswatch said, Hell it’s only money - OURS!!!!!!
Ohhh Nooo!!! Not another gigantic sell job on HB’s planned Waterpark in todays local press. It seems certain folk are still determined to drum up greater public support for this rather interesting, yet high cost, questionable value, risky and poorly sited concept.
Oh please, not mechanical singing whales, talking dolphins, noisy wave tanks, water spraying about everywhere (including over nearby roads, Seafront oval and probably all passers-by, especially in moderate winds). Even the pools are to be non-swimmer friendly (zero depth) and therfore virtually useless except to toddlers! The backers and designers claim our facility will be another theme park to rival any on the Gold Coast or elsewhere right here on our own lovely foreshore?
Whats the point of all this very ‘cras’ noise, clutter and everyone getting soaked whether they want it or not? Why waste precious resources and prime land on a facility that offers little value to HB’s large backpacker and non-family tourist sectors at all, let alone HB’s unusually large aged population?
Will we need to don raincoats when entering or passing the proposed site? Maybe automatic windscreen wipers will become a popular new vehicle option in HB? I guess it really won’t matter in 15-20 years anyway, because if one believes the global warning predictions being bandied about by government and the green brigade, then the site will definitely be completely under sea-water by then anyway!
Surely proven and more conservative, practical aproaches adopted by other key tourist destinations worldwide are far more desireable and practical? I admire imagination, vision and progressive thinking; however, not at the expense of rational common sense.