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Master-Plan Review Commences
25 February 2006
Much is being said in the media and in press releases about
traffic problems at Sippy Downs generally, and recently about a
Scholars Way - Columbia Drive link through the University,
specifically.
This link has been raised with the University over recent years
by local politicians and community groups. It is one of many
suggestions we regularly receive to breach our boundaries, realign
our boundaries, or provide land for various purposes.
On this most recent suggestion re Scholars Way, I have responded
by suggesting we await the outcome of our master plan review which
got under way this week.
Five years ago, at the time of the last review, we proposed a
very generous solution to the Scholars Way problem using University
land that would have relieved pressure on Chancellor College. It
was a road along our boundary, linking Scholars Way and Sippy Downs
Drive.
That traffic-calmed road with planned drop-off zones could have
helped both Chancellor and Siena but was met with such unwarranted
criticism of the University, that we gladly dropped the idea in
favour of a reconfigured Claymore Road with kangaroo
underpasses.
Over the years we have been generous in our provision of land
for wider public use, but always consistent with the University
Council approved master plan.
Coast residents have benefited considerably from the
University's provision. Not only did we provide $5 million for an
Area Consultative Committee case for an Innovation Centre but also
forfeited land worth conservatively $1 million at the time. We
provided land free for the Olympic Athletics Track, principally for
community use and worth over $1 million. We have also had to use a
corridor of land to relocate power lines, which would have been
better being completely off the campus.
Recently, as part of a memorandum of understanding with Maroochy
Shire Council and Education Queensland, we contributed six hectares
of land for sports fields that MSC is obliged to provide for
community use, but we did so in an MOU at minimal cost to them,
even though similar sized blocks are now selling locally for over
$5 million.
If a swimming pool is constructed, MSC will provide $1.5 million
for the $3 million project but with annual operating costs of $0.25
million for the University. With this, there is of course another
free land component of well over $1 million from the
University.
If the hospital is collocated there may be some further boundary
modifications.
In all of these, the University obviously gets a benefit, but
nowhere near the financial cost of our generosity and far exceeding
any relaxations that have been given to the University.
Into the future, we want to continue our master planning
systematically and continue to be a major contributor to the
community. We are not a profit-driven business. We are of and for
this regional community.
So, in relation to the Scholars Way problem we shall be
consulting those involved and we will be looking at solutions that
provide mutual advantage. We will not be charging into facilitating
yet another 'good idea' that in ten or twenty years time the
University may regret - in order to solve problems of inadequate
planning not of our making.
There are still many things to be done on the University campus
and we are currently at around one-third of the master planned
capacity of 15,000 people, to be reached around 2021.
In this particular case it is imperative that we look at the
function of the University's low wetlands and their filtering of
ground water on campus, for example, before we push a road through
a sensitive area for one political campaign or another.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of
the Sunshine Coast