5 Community Conversations at one Open Day

Saturday 14 March 10am-noon
Progress Hall. 197 Skye Point Rd
(Parking at Gurranba Reserve)

1. Grow Me Instead Display - Protecting Coal Point’s Living Web

An important Open Day conversation centres on something slowly disappearing all around us, our biodiversity. Globally, species are disappearing at unprecedented rates. Habitat is shrinking. Ecosystems are under pressure.

And yet here on the Coal Point peninsula, we are in a rare and precious window of time. We still have extraordinary diversity in our yards, reserves and verges. Bushes, shrubs, trees, groundcovers, grasses, insects, birds, possums, fungi and flying foxes, all the intricate threads that form the web of life.

Some of it is obvious. Some lies hidden in dormant seed banks beneath lawns, but it is still here. Given the chance, it returns. Our local landscape has strong regenerative capacity. Birds move through the canopy spreading seed and maintaining genetic diversity. Life is ready. The question is, will we make room for it?

The garden escape problem

At the Open Day a Grow Me Instead display will highlight common weeds across the peninsula.

Some are already established in bushland. Others remain mostly in gardens but have the potential to escape.

Once certain species move beyond the fence line, they outcompete local natives, alter soil conditions, suppress regeneration and reduce habitat complexity for wildlife.

That’s why we need local heroes. Native species that provide nectar, pollen, fruit and shelter. Plants adapted to our soils and climate extremes. Species that strengthen the genetic diversity of our isolated peninsula.

What you’ll see at our Landcare team’s display:

• Common environmental weeds

• Garden plants to keep under watch

• Recommended native replacements

Bring a sample or photo of a mystery plant and we’ll help identify it.

Have the conversation about why small decisions matter, the verge planting, the creeper allowed to spread, the clippings dumped in the reserve. Each choice either strengthens or weakens the web of life.

We will also take orders for autumn plantings, where cooler soil and better rainfall makes for strong establishment before summer.

Join the conversation. Let’s strengthen the strands of our living web.

2. Progress Hall Access, Inclusion and the Next Chapter

In 1951, the people of Coal Point built Progress Hall through garden parties, fundraising and working bees. For more than seventy years it has hosted dances, concerts, meetings and celebrations. It is owned by the community, not council.

But expectations have changed. Accessibility standards have strengthened, community understanding of inclusion has grown. What was once acceptable no longer meets contemporary standards.

If the Hall is to serve everyone into the future, we must plan for it now with a strategic approach.

This year, CPPA will develop a detailed Disability and Access Plan, with a staged, strategic framework that assesses the current limitations, identifies best-practice solutions, integrates building and landscape design and positions the CPPA to apply for grant funding to implement the design.

We are seeking expertise from landscape architects, design specialists, surveyors and grant writers.

More than compliance, accessible design benefits everyone; parents with prams, less mobile residents, hall users moving equipment. Good access is good design.

At the Open Day we invite imagination. What could be possible? Seamless pathways, integrated landscape design or flexible outdoor spaces. The Hall was built by the community. Its next chapter will be shaped by the community too. If you can't make it to the open day and are interested in contributing to the discussion, register your interest here

3. Dancing Through the Decades with music, movement and community.

When Progress Hall was built, it was designed for dancing, with a raised stage, sprung timber floor, and plenty of room to roam with razzle and dazzle.

This year we want to bring that intention back to life with Dancing Through the Decades, a celebration of music from the 1950s to the 2020s across eight events.

And who better to provide the soundtrack than our own community? Coal Point is rich with talented musicians. Bands. Duos. Solo artists. Some gig regularly, others may just need the right invitation...you’re invited!

The concept is that each event will include a dance instructor to guide a few moves from the era, nothing formal, just enough to get started, then the floor is yours.

Dancing dissolves age barriers, it builds connection without saying a word and is good for the brain and the body.

If you would like to attend, perform, organise or suggest some songs for a decade, come to the Open Day or get in touch through this Expression of interest form.

Let’s fill the Hall with music and dance again. 

4. From Brighton Avenue to a Nature-Positive Future

Thinking Ahead of the Curve

Some conversations take years. In 2016, a DA for 2 Brighton Avenue/133 Excelsior Pde proposed removal of 215 of 218 trees on the block. Community concern was strong with 133 submissions and the matter progressed to the Land and Environment Court. The amended proposal retained 31 trees in keeping with Council’s recommendation “the applicant should give strong consideration to retaining continuous canopy vegetation to conserve scenic amenity to the Toronto Bay area”

As the implementation of the DA works began with the gruesome grind of the arborist’s arsenal it has again highlighted how confronting canopy loss can be. Biodiversity decline rarely happens in one sweep. It happens incrementally, tree by tree.

Across the Coal Point peninsula, connected canopy corridors allow wildlife to glide, flit and forage between the Spotted Gum Open Forest, remnant rainforest gullies and Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest. When those corridors are thinned or broken, fragmentation compounds and safe movement through the landscape becomes harder with each passing year.

The bigger picture

In February, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released its Business and Biodiversity Assessment.

Its message is clear. Biodiversity loss is not just environmental. It affects economic systems, property values and community resilience. Nature underpins everything. The report calls for shifting financial flows toward protection and regeneration, not simply managing decline.

A local response?

One Open Day conversation will explore the idea of a local Green Investment Fund.

Not an offset scheme or a protest mechanism but a proactive investment model supporting habitat protection and restoration, linking of wildlife corridors and collaborative and sustainable housing

This would require careful design and collaboration. It is not about stopping development. It is about recognising biodiversity as living infrastructure.

The Brighton Avenue story reminds us that decisions today shape canopy cover for decades. How do we move from reacting to shaping? Join the conversation or register you interest in the project here.

5. Fortify Your Foreshore

Walk the waterfront after a storm and you can see the change. Exposed roots. Slumping banks. Sections of foreshore that are quietly disappearing. The foreshore is under pressure.

This year, CPPA proposes a workshop series titled Fortify Your Foreshore. You can register your interest in the workshops here.

Workshop One – Where and When

Where is the foreshore? It is not a fixed line. It shifts over time with water levels, storm surge, sediment movement and vegetation change.

Experts, historical mapping and current mapping will help demonstrate where the foreshore sits now and where it may move in future.

Workshop Two – What and Why

The foreshore is the transition zone between land and lake. Water meets soil. Roots bind banks. Fish shelter. Birds feed. It is one of the most biologically rich areas in the landscape.

Healthy foreshores absorb wave energy, filter runoff, protect property and safeguard water quality. When degraded, impacts ripple outward.

Workshop Three – Who and How

Responsibility for the foreshore is shared between landholders, Council and State agencies. But practically, one property owner’s actions affect their neighbour.

Hard structures can deflect wave energy. Clearing vegetation can accelerate erosion. We will explore soft engineering approaches such as strategic native planting and appropriate structural responses.

Protecting foreshores is not a single-property issue. It is a whole-of-community project. If you live by the water, walk the shoreline or care about the health of our lake, this conversation is for you.

Complete the Expression of Interest form to keep in touch about the event.

Progress Parlance

Bush Blocks – A new beginning

The flurry of February activity to garner pledges of support for the 20 Laycock Street, whilst not successful in securing the site, was in fact a success in showing local support for such a project.

It is acknowledged that there were shortfalls in the process: not enough time, background knowledge, nor detail. In spite of this there were 17 pledges made totalling $47,120. Considering the 48 hour timeframe this was very inspiring and genuinely appreciated.

Many of those that pledged have rolled over their pledge as a show of ongoing support for the project. As the concept is more fully explained and direction and new opportunities arise, the pledges will provide a barometer of our community’s capacity to undertake a collaborative housing project. You can pledge support for the ongoing project at   https://hub.benojo.com/connect/org/coalpointprogress/campaigns/progress-posterity-pledge-now

The CPPA committee has endorsed further exploration of the collaborative housing concept and an invitation is warmly extended to anyone interested in joining a project team to develop a project plan with defined objectives and a crystal clear mission within our geographical area. Contact Suzanne to get involved coalpointprogress@gmail.com.

Seeking a hall booking coordinator

Feel like volunteering a small amount of time throughout the year to coordinate the bookings at our Hall? The job involves keeping a calendar of bookings, showing interested parties the hall and processing the paperwork, taking about 1 to 2 hours a week on average. Contact Ian Dennison to find out more 0412 083 130

Muso’s musings

The CPPA is willing to support and encourage a regular social jam session at Progress hall with the intention of having a musical event as a regular Progress activity in the future. If you’ve got musical ability and are interested in making music contact Suzanne and we can get together, see what’s possible and look for suitable times.

Can we be plastic free?

The Toronto cafés and about 35 other cafés around Lake Macquarie have had the strong bamboo reusable coffee cups for a month now for only $2. With the COVID concerns about handling now addressed, it’s considered safe to use reusable coffee cups. With 2.5 million takeaway cups going to landfill in Australia each day, the TASNG team are keen to get Toronto back on track and heading towards being a plastic-free community. Later in the year it is hoped to support coffee trucks and fastfood restaurants with the reusable cups initiative.

Formosa’s getting hard to find!

We’re not popping the corks yet...but it won’t be too long. Well done, Coal Pointians, on great progress in eliminating the elegant but evil Formosa lily.

We’ve noticed a significant drop in number this year, indicating that far fewer seeds have been spread along our beautiful bush ridge.

That success is in no small part due to each one of you who has kept an eye out since last summer and dug out that horrible bulb, or at least removed the flower head before it seeded.

If we can keep up this rate of reduction, soon will come a summer when we’re down to a handful of sightings.

Watch for them in your yard. And feel free to remove them from our bush reserves if you can. If we get down to five floral fiends we’re all celebrating! ...and it will be well-deserved.

Can We Create Our Community?

Another out-of-character Chronicle to do a last ditch pitch to purchase a parcel of land for posterity, thank you for your patience with the process. The regular format Chronicle with a variety of local topics, the DAs in Play and all the aspects you’ve grown to enjoy will return in March.

It’s been almost 3 months since The Chronicle last occupied your letterbox. If you remember the November edition it was full of excitement and anticipation about collaborative housing, trying to explain this different style of living and seeking interested people to attend information sessions. 

The workshop at the hall booked out in 4 hours with a waitlist, fortunately the COVID capacity of the hall was reviewed and those in waiting got to attend. The 30 who booked out the event never showed up, it was a hot day, however there were concerns that our community driven process was being thwarted. If a local community group wanting to undertake a community driven development is seen as such a threat, we must be doing something right. Onwards and Upwards!

There were three other meetings held and the upshot was that there is interest within the community, the site at 20 Laycock Street seemed a perfect option, but the concept is new and needs more discussion and education.

A $250,000 grant application was submitted to fund the collaborative housing process, the grant outcome won’t be known till March. So the only option open at the moment is to attempt to purchase the Carey Bay block and work through the process.

An ideal collaborative housing parcel of land at 20 Laycock Street is still up for sale. The agent has recently changed to Matrix Property Group, an agency that specialises in development site sales, the asking price has risen to $1.8million, reflecting the recent surge in the property market.

What we are asking for and why.

The CPPA is seeking pledges from our community (and beyond) for an investment for around 2 years to enable us to lodge an expression of interest (EOI) to enter into negotiations to purchase 20 Laycock St, Carey Bay. The EOI is due on Wednesday 17 February, 3pm.

If we can progress past the pledge stage a legal framework will be established to ensure everyone’s investment is secure. We expect each investor will become a shareholder or equivalent in some kind of holding structure which will purchase the land.

If the development we envisage goes ahead the income from sale of new properties will provide funds to repay investors. If it does not go ahead within 2 years, the intent would be to sell the land and distribute the proceeds back to investors. It is expected that in either case the return to investors would be similar to the original investment - any profit or loss would be expected to be small - but there is no guarantee.

The CPPA is a registered charity and our constitution recognises that buying land may be an appropriate way to pursue our objectives.

So why is there such a rush on now for a 17/2/21 deadline and why has there been such a delay in communicating with the community? A word from The CPPA President- Suzanne Pritchard.

“The reason for the hiatus is that my dear dad, Laurie, died on January 25th. I have been caring for him for the past 8.5 years, he had a raft of health issues including dementia. In early December, dear ol’ dad had two falls attributed to low blood pressure, the 2nd fall bruised his ribs, a prescribed painkiller caused a bowel blockage which led to hospitalisation over Christmas. Upon returning home dad’s mobility and mind were so compromised, work (paid and voluntary), had become impossible. On 25th January at 8am dear ol’ dad passed away quickly on our front veranda, in my arms, to ‘I can see clearly now the rain has gone’. A period of grief and transition has left very limited time to try and make the Bush Block project happen. I’ve been dealing with dad’s demise in various ways, grieving and grooving, drinking and deliberating.

Desperate times have called for disparate measures. If you visit the CPPA website or facebook page you’ll see the pleadings from a drunk and desperate President trying to make something happen ‘with the rainbow I’ve been praying for’ whilst coming to grips with grief."

The EOI on the 20 Laycock St closes on Wednesday 17 Feb at 3pm. We need pledges by COB Tuesday to collect and collate the pledges.

28 Reasons to support the Bush Blocks project

 

Why support this project?

CPPA Supporters: To shape the community we want with shared spaces and places and protecting the local bushland in the process.

COVID Aware: COVID has highlighted the importance of social connections, collaborative housing is architecturally designed to support social interactions.

Carbon Conscious Construction: Housing built with high thermal efficiencies and low carbon construction, will model the standards of the future, future-proofing this project.

Tree-hugger: A transferable model demonstrating how tree-safe housing can be built alongside the noble green giants that form the backbone of this community.

Landlubber: Creating housing whilst respecting the local landscape and the underlying landform.

Bird-watchers: Ensuring the grounds and gardens connect with the surrounding corridor and canopy makes a space for the birds and the bees and the local wildlife too.

Climate change believer: An option for a lifestyle that reduces the carbon footprint of the community by living lightly and locally.

Climate change denier: Somewhere nice to live that is energy efficient and won’t cost the earth.

Primary School parent: To provide hope that we can make the changes needed in time to create a community in a world that recognises the need to do things differently.

Pre-schooler parent: To show the next generation that there was an opportunity to do things differently and together we made a difference and took a step towards creating a brighter future.

High school students: We hear your calls for action and concerns about the future in a climate changing world and are trying to do something tangible to make a difference.

Social Impact Investor: Doing good locally with your dollars provides a way for our community to reclaim control of development in our area.

Delayed traveller: Those overseas holiday funds can be put to good use for a couple of years whilst big holidays aren’t possible.

Tradie of tomorrow: A best practice construction to demonstrate how thermal efficiencies can be achieved with local projects built by local people expanding their green construction skills.

Neighbourly types: A way to get to know your neighbours by building your home together.

Low-risk investor: A reliable and low risk investment in local real estate for two years that will likely hold its value, nothing is ever certain.

Community conscious: To support the creation of meaningful connections and relationships around the Carey Bay precinct building bridges between the preschool, Anglican Care, neighbours and businesses.

Future proofers: To build a sustainable settlement that supports everyone in good and challenging times, demonstrating what is possible when people pool resources.

Fearful types: A way of securing a safe future with guaranteed solar energy to keep the lights on and the water flowing.

Getting older group: For those who want to live where they love and continue to enjoy their bushland backyard surrounded by friends.

Older solo Women: Older women that did not have access to superannuation and now find housing affordability an issue may find living in a collaborative housing venture supportive and affordable.

Evergreen elders: Rekindling and returning to the sense of community you knew growing up where people shared and cared.

Lonely types: A way of living that creates connection with neighbours whilst retaining privacy.

Architectural enthusiasts: Designing a place that encourages physical connections that helps build and strengthen social relationships.

Down-sizer: To be part of a design team that creates the place you want to live in for the next stage of your life.

First homeowner: To be part of a growing housing style that makes buying and building a house more affordable.

Climate Emergency Declarer: A positive step in a different direction to do development differently that showcases a lifestyle that supports an uncertain future.

Legacy legend: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

MORE INFORMATION

• Collaborative Housing information
• The CPPA's background to the project
• Make a pledge by 16/2/21 to make a community

Progress Posterity Pledge

 You can print the pledge and lodge it locally by 16/2/21 

at

Carey Bay: Carey Bay Preschool, The Goods Café, Westlakes Trophies, Framing & Engraving

Toronto: Cleavers Café, Altitude Real Estate

or
Use the online form

The CPPA is seeking pledges from our community (and beyond) for an investment for around 2 years to enable us to lodge an expression of interest (EOI) to enter into negotiations to purchase 20 Laycock St, Carey Bay. The EOI is due on Wednesday 17 February, 3pm.

If we can progress past the pledge stage a legal framework will be established to ensure everyone’s investment is secure. We expect each investor will become a shareholder or equivalent in some kind of holding structure which will purchase the land.

If the development we envisage goes ahead the income from sale of new properties will provide funds to repay investors. If it does not go ahead within 2 years, the intent would be to sell the land and distribute the proceeds back to investors. It is expected that in either case the return to investors would be similar to the original investment - any profit or loss would be expected to be small - but there is no guarantee.

The CPPA is a registered charity and our constitution recognises that buying land may be an appropriate way to pursue our objectives.

A conversation on Collaborative Housing in our community.

This edition of The Chronicle has some grand plans for you to contemplate as the Progress Association considers its purpose, place and potential within our community. A facilitated forum is planned for Saturday 28 Nov (face to face) and Monday 30 Nov (online) to explore a local collaborative housing opportunity, Bush Blocks, and what we as a community can do to shape the place we call home. 

In 1946 our community purchased land and built a hall which has provided a shared space and common ground for locals for 74 years. We are hoping to mobilise the same community spirit to once again fashion our community for the future, by exploring a collaborative housing model to build homes where people share common ground, common spaces, common assets and a common attitude to treading lightly and minimising their impact on the local bushland and the planet.

The ridgeline of our peninsula is becoming an increasingly fragmented remnant wildlife/ecological community, as its connection to the wider bushland to the West is eroded by development. Looking at the DAs In Play and those in the pipeline it’s not hard to see that this trend is continuing, with local multi-dwelling development on the rise. The combination of our profit-driven economy and Council planning instruments is leading to large blocks with beautiful trees being transformed into dense concrete and brick constructions, with little consideration for the social aspects needed when people live in close proximity. 

The Progress Association would like to explore and implement an alternative multi-dwelling model that is founded on building community resilience, innovative community focussed design, and smart, small and sustainable housing, ideally built by local trades people from local suppliers, aiming to accommodate dwellings on existing bushland blocks - without unduly compromising the role of those blocks as a wildlife connection corridor along the peninsula for our threatened species and the common ones. 

“Collaborative housing is a movement that’s revolutionising the way homes are designed, built, lived in and valued. It encourages participation, sharing and community-building, while recognising that every household wants privacy, security and financial autonomy.” https://www.collaborativehousing.org.au/

Doing development differently, without a profit driven margin, reduces building costs and provides a community driven alternative to downsizing whilst supporting local construction businesses to take advantage of the growing sustainability/retrofitting sector and strengthening our community’s resilience against future shocks arising from climate change.

With interest rates at an all-time low and the Reserve Bank holding them there for at least the next three years, the Progress Association is keen to nurture the initiation of a community driven collaborative housing model to provide an additional housing option that respects the local community and protects the local environment. 

A parcel of land at 20 Laycock St, behind the Carey Bay preschool, is currently on the market. This provides a rare opportunity to enter the collaborative housing market, whilst also building a local knowledge bank and a transferable model to deliver a new housing option for our community. 

The land at 20 Laycock St site is on the market for $1.6million. It has an approved DA which can be modified to reflect the aspirations and intent of the people wanting to be involved in the collaborative housing project. 

The CPPA is seeking:

• Ethical investors and philanthropists to support the project. Here’s a proposal document which outlines the idea. It will be updated as more detail develops.
• Potential owners wanting to build and own a residence within the community. There’s a survey, Register of Interest, so we can keep in touch. 
• Supporters willing to offer time and expertise in fields of architecture, legal, finance, trades, town planning etc. The Register of Interest survey will gather your offers.
• Members and donors willing to support the community driven aspects of the proposal, such as the facilitated conversations, and an end of year fundraising campaign, there’s a donation page where you can make a contribution. 

Gatherings of Interest

A professionally facilitated forum by The Change Agency’s James Whelan will explore the collaborative housing model and gauge local interest in progressing the idea and what local support is available. Face to face and online meetings will be held.

Saturday 28 Nov. 1-4pm Face to face at Progress Hall The COVID capacity of the hall is 30, RSVPs are essential via the booking page. 

Online on Monday 30 Nov. 6:30-8pm Registrations essential to receive the meeting link invite. 

Anyone interested in learning a little more, connecting with like-minded people and exploring the concept is welcome. Attendance is a not a commitment to anything, merely interest in an innovative concept.

For more information or assistance in registering contact Suzanne 0438 596 741, coalpointprogress@gmail.com

The CPPA is also applying for a grant to develop the local collaborative housing model. Information submitted in the The Register of Interest survey will greatly assist the application which is due on 16/11/20. If you have any interest at all please consider sharing your thoughts on the survey.

Where to go to find out more or get in touch ?

A Collaborative Housing - Bush Blocks webpage has been set up on the CPPA site as a place to share and update information and resources.

What is collaborative living? The Collaborative Housing Guide says

Collaborative living is a new way of thinking about home, work, community and how we live our daily lives. Inspired by demographic and social change, it is also a response to rising living costs, the housing affordability crisis, the ‘loneliness epidemic’ and the growing ecological footprint of cities. 

Collaborative living is about building stronger communities by emphasising social connection and looking for beneficial ways to share resources and pool skills. The sharing economy is one example of collaborative living, collaborative housing is another.

A CPPA ‘Bush Blocks’ sub-committee has been formed to explore and scope the concept of a sustainable collaborative housing project, if you’d like to get involved please get in touch.

A personal declaration of interest in collaborative housing- Suzanne Pritchard

I moved into my house on Amelia Street 30 years ago. The bushland over the back fence belonged to several neighbours who owned 120m long blocks, with an intermittent creek crossing them and eventually flowing into a pipe under the preschool at the corner of our mutual back fence. Back then this land was zoned for low density. Around 2005 the zoning was changed to allow for medium density housing because of the proximity to the Carey Bay shops. 

Over the years I’ve watched on as the preschool sold their bushy backyard to expand their preschooler capacity and three more neighbouring blocks were sold and the long bushland backyards subdivided off to create what is now the 20 Laycock St site.

I’ve met the owner on several occasions as various development plans were put forward and I started planting out my backyard to buffer the inevitable, but as the trees next door were felled my heart broke and I began to question if there was another way of doing development. I started buying lottery tickets.

Thinking about alternatives to density dominated development is something I do every time I wash the dishes and gaze out my window, every day when I’m in my garden, wondering how an individual can make a difference. Every month when I write the Chronicle and compile the ever-expanding list of DAs in Play I think about how can we do development differently, every time I put pen to paper to comment on behalf of the CPPA on the next multi-dwelling DA creating community concern. It’s really no surprise that eventually a solution popped into my head.

I’ve been the president of the Progress Association for 25 years. I joined up to protect the awe-inspiring bushland that I had the good fortune to live amongst, and in doing so learned that you can’t care for trees without caring for people. The skills I’ve learned and the knowledge I’ve gained has significantly shaped my personal and professional life, and my outlook on the community.

It would appear that perhaps everything I’ve done has put me in the right place at the right time to do something, to make a difference, beyond my back fence, for the benefit of many and the beautiful bushland that I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience and enjoy for so many years.

As the President of the CPPA I’ve been forced to assess the organisation’s relevance within the community and the untapped potential of the asset it owns. As a daughter of ageing parents I see the need for living arrangements that support and connect people to friends and provide security of accommodation. As a neighbour to a community changing development I have the motivation to contribute to a different vision.

I realise some people may think that personal interest is at play. Rest assured the collaborative housing proposal can be applied anywhere, it’s just that my place in the community and the roles I serve have allowed me to see there are other options out there. With everything that has happened locally and globally this year, and with 20 Laycock St up for sale, now seems like a really good time to do something about making a lasting positive change.

My personal plan is to this this through, I’m looking forward to ensuring the relevance of the Progress Association within our community. I want to be part of the solution. I want to make the highly improbable possible or at least give it my best shot. I do believe the world is changing, there’s growing recognition we have to do things differently and collaborative housing appears to be a step in the right direction.

I hope you can join me on Saturday Nov 28 or Monday 30 Nov to talk it through and see if we’ve got what it takes to make our community thrive into the future.