Cooroy’s Mill Place Project Delayed 

In a bid to cut costs, council has put library on the shelf.

What should have been a day of celebration for Noosa hinterland communities turned bleak and miserable when news broke that the Sunshine Coast Regional Council had voted to delay the Mill Place project in a bid to cut costs.

A last ditch effort by division 12 councillor Lew Brennan is all that stands in the way of council’s approval to call tenders for a redesign of library, a u-turn from last week’s general committee decision to call tenders for construction.

At close of business Friday, councillor  Brennan sent notice of his intention to repeal the motion and it will be discussed at a special meeting July 21 after division 4 councillor Chris Thompson failed to do so.

The change of heart has shocked and disappointed the Cooroy community as the library was the final piece of the jigsaw in redeveloping the heart of Cooroy after the closures of its major employers.

Cooroy Lower Mill Board chairman Seb Vecchio said the project was much more than a library and would serve an area from Kenilworth to Yandina.

“It’s a multi purpose community facility including a data centre, meetings spaces, a heritage information centre and is linked to a nearby industrial development,” he said.

“This project has involved 10 years of consultation with the community in order to rescue the local economy after losing more than 100 jobs through closure of the two sawmills.

“The additional $350,000 is due to the increase of the cost of steel of between 40 to 60% in the last six months and this continues to increase.”

Cooroy Chamber of Commerce president Greg Dinsey said the time lag in calling for new tenders and a new design would nullify any possible cost savings.

“We’ve had advice that this could cost in the vicinity of $200,000 negating any possible cost savings,” he said.

“Not to mention the $700,000 that has already been invested in the project to date which would be wasted.

“It just doesn’t make sense to jeopardize all of these projects and the investment of $3.5 million form the state government for the sake of an amount that represents less than 4% of the total project.”

Division 12 councillor Lew Brennan confirmed the importance of getting the project started and he said he “had it on good authority” that the council could lose the extra $3.% million in state funding with further delays.

More than losing a library, Mr Brennan said it was a chance for the new council to show they were capable of rising above political infighting.

“It’s a most disappointing decision of governance from the council given the lack of debate around the issue,” he said.

“Without further reports the vote turned from 9-2 for, to 7-6 against.

“Since that meeting I’ve been overwhelmed with people from all over the Coast concerned that this is old-fashioned Maroochy politics.

“I really hope that this is not the case.”

LIBRARY 10 YEARS IN THE MAKING

• 1999 – Cooroy hospital closes.
• 2000 – Queensland government closes Cooroy mill.
• 2002 – Lower mill site handed to Noosa council to be used for community development.
• 2004 – Cooroy Lower Board Mill formed by community and Noosa council to oversee the development of the land.
• 2006 – Board commissioned consultants to prepare a master plan to develop lower mill site and butter factory precinct.

Mill Place Project Delayed…article here