Recreational Land Plan for Toronto open for comments

The long awaited Recreation Land Plan for Toronto was released on 30th July and there are proposals for upgrades, acquisitions and extensions of recreational land in our local area.

This plan aims to identify the recreational facilities needed to serve the increase in population till 2025, so please consider dropping Council a line or two about what they are proposing by 5pm Monday 12th Sept.

The following information has been summarised from some of the documents available on LMCC’s website.

The priority system for new works

• High priority- short term upto 2020 
• Medium priority - mid term up to 2025 
• Low priority - long term 2025 and beyond 

There are new ideas for the ‘Pony Club land’ at Carey Bay- Hampton St Reserve

The land is categorised as sportsground but not used as such and so better use of the space is being proposed to include;

• Dog exercise area upgraded to a fenced dog park. Dog exercise areas can have disposal bins, water supply, seating, shade and fencing- High priority 
• Multi-purpose half court. These facilities contain a basketball hoop, netball ring and/or tennis hit up wall - Medium priority 
• A new community garden, ‘a plot where herbs, fruits, flowers or vegetables are cultivated. They provide a range of social, physical and psychological benefits and a mechanism for people to interact with others- Medium priority 
• A new BMX (Bicycle Motocross) track at Hampton St or Cooks St Toronto. The need for BMX is demonstrated by the number of unauthorised informal BMX tracks constructed in bushland areas and by the number of community requests for these facilities- Medium priority. 

Coal Point Ridgeline

Tracks and Trails upgrade 1260m of track once all the land has been acquired. ‘Develop signposted and interpretative walking trails though the ridge line reserve accessible from Lorron Close, Coal Point- Low priority

Toronto Foreshore Park

Expansion and major upgrade of the park and playground equipment with new outdoor gym equipment. The upgrade of the Toronto Foreshore Park is one of the key recommendations of this plan and is High priority.

Components of the plan include;

• A promenade from Wharf Rd to the land acquisition area with exercise stations, seating, feature trees, solar lighting, al fresco dining 
• A major playground with a sailing theme 
• A public domain area extension along the foreshore 
• A shared pathway from the Greenway along the entire length of the park to wharf Rd-High priority 
• A park entry feature that connects the town centre to the park 
• Large open areas for festivals, markets, bands and civic events 
• Current car parks would be relocated back from the foreshore 
• Toronto Lions Park- Upgrade. Relocate boat ramp and car park. -High priority 
• Goffet Park upgrade -Medium priority

A bit of background…

To fund the delivery of public community infrastructure, local government is able to levy development contributions to fund new, or extend facilities that are required as a result of new development.

The development contributions plan for the Toronto area is now on public exhibition until Sept 11th.  As a community we are being invited to input into the plan, written submissions can be posted to General Manager , LMCC Box 1906, HRMC, NSW 2310  or emailed by 5pm Monday 12th Sept.

The Development Contributions Plan for the Toronto Catchment 2015-2030, covers 22 suburbs from Teralba to Wangi Wangi/Myuna Bay and out to Freemans Waterhole.

In 2015 it was estimated that there were 31,487 people (15% of the City’s population) in this area which is expected to reach 36,899 by 2030. Most of the projected growth of 5,412 people will be located in and around the Toronto area which extends to Ambrose St.

Some of the local demographics that are shaping the plan include

• Carey Bay, Coal Point and Toronto having a higher than the City average of people aged 65 and over,
• Coal Point has a higher proportion of couples without children than the city average.
• Carey Bay and Toronto areas have a higher proportion of single person households which is indicative of the large number of seniors living complexes.
• Coal Point has 99.2% of it’s dwellings as separate houses, whilst Carey Bay has a higher proportion (19.3%) of semi-detached house than the catchment average of 6.9%, and Toronto is the only suburb that has a higher proportion (10.5%) of apartments than the City average of 5.3%.
• New residents are expected to be concentrated in 6 suburbs with Toronto expecting a 24% increase in total population, an additional 1,398 people.

Estimated Residential population by suburb

Suburb	Existing dwellings	Existing persons	Projected extra  dwellings 2030	Projected extra persons	Total dwellings 2030	Total persons 2030	Growth %
Carey Bay	471	931	21	36	492	967	3.9
Coal Point	773	1736	44	91	817	1827	5.3
Kilaben Bay	551	1340	26	51	577	1391	3.8
Toronto	2764	5825	766	1398	3530	7223	24

The projected changing demographic will see the population age with people over 65 increasing from 20.7 to 23.7% and the population of people under 19 declining from 23.7 to 21.9%.

Each suburb is expected to follow these trends with  “The infill development in Toronto’s town centre likely to attract a range of different lifecycle groups including young couples, couples starting families, singles and older couples.

Progress Patter

News from Coal Point Progress Association

Do you like to walk with a purpose?

The Chronicle is hand delivered by local walkers into your letterbox each month and we’re looking for some additional walkers. If you’d like to lend a hand and a pair of feet for an hour a month please contact Tony on 4959 4533 to find out what routes are available.

Care to be on the Committee?

The CPPA activities are coordinated by a group of enthusiastic locals and we’d greatly welcome more enthusiastic types onto the Committee. If you have some energy to spare and would like to direct it to very local endeavours please feel free to come along to the Committee meetings to see what we get up to.

The CPPA committee meets on the 2nd Monday of the month between 3:30-5:30pm at Progress Hall.

We’ve joined the SunCrowd and we’re proud!

The CPPA has been able to join the SunCrowd and take advantage of their solar bulk buy leveraging capacity thanks to the funds from the Community Building Partnership grant Safe and sustainable solutions to ensure Progress Hall’s survival. In the near future 20 solar panels will grace the recently refurbished rooftop that is directing water into the ever-so-stylish rainwater tank that will flush the toilets, a truly sustainable solution which is also reducing the electricity bill. 

Naming of the ‘Pony Club’ to Puntei Park

In November last year a community call went out to find a name for the ‘Pony Club’ land at Hampton Street.

At the recent CPPA meeting it was decided to propose Puntei Park to the Geographical Names Board. Puntei is an Aboriginal name meaning narrow place or any narrow neck of land. It was also the early recorded name for Reverend Lancelot Edward Threlkeld’s land grant in the Coal Point area. The name is also referred to in George Whiting’s deed, dated 1882. Puntei Creek was named in 2005 by the CPPA and it seemed fitting that the reserve be recognised as well.

Pony Club Update

There have been a few comments on for a name for the ‘Pony Club’.

In the last Chronicle the site was referred to as Hale’s Dairy, but evidently it was Moss’ Farm and on checking the history lake Mac site an image refers to Haling’s Dairy (was active 1930’s). Does anyone have any details about the history of the area they can share? The suggestion of an aboriginal name Puntei Reserve has appealed to some. Do you have any naming ideas? Please let the CPPA committee know. 

In November LMCC advised it had started the long promised Recreational Land Plan for the Toronto Area and the uses for Pony Club land will be up for discussion. 

Correspondence from LMCC has stated that “Council has plans to establish some recreation facilities on the area categorised as sportsground, which will be determined with the preparation of the Toronto Recreation & Land Plan”.

The Pony Club land currently has two classifications to it, a ‘Natural Area’(Green) category and a ‘Sportsground’ (Yellow) category. 

Looking for a new name in the neighbourhood.

There’s a 4ha parcel of land without an official name in Carey Bay. 

At some point in its history it was Hale’s dairy and The Pony Club. It is currently a leash free area for neighbourhood fidos, carries stormwater from the surrounding hillsides into Puntei Creek and some parts of it have regenerated into the Endangered Ecological Communities, Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest, Swamp Schlerophyll Forest on Coastal Floodplain and Coastal Saltmarsh.

The map on the sign at the gate says Hampton Street Reserve but the Council does not have an official name. Some locals are keen to give it a moniker, so what are your suggestions? 

The Geographical Names Board prefers names of an Aboriginal origin or historical background. Names associated with people are normally only given posthumously.

Lake Mac libraries has some great local history pages where you can search suburbs and get ideas. There’s also a webpage called Forgotten place names of Lake Macquarie .There are several names mentioned associated with the Toronto-Coal Point peninsula including 

• Bundee, Bondee: Shown on early maps, Bundee is the Toronto-Coal Point peninsula. Bundee means a narrow place, any narrow point of land. It is a corruption of the Awabakal word punte or puntei.
• Dereh-bambah: The Aboriginal name given to the Toronto Coal Point Peninsula. Also called Punte.
• Ebenezer: The name of Lancelot Threlkeld's second mission at Toronto.

You can post, email or hand deliver any suggestions to any of the committee contacts, we’ll then compile the list of suggestions for community comment and put the preferred recommendation to LMCC next year.

Community Gardeners Gathering

The Toronto Area Community Gardeners gathered in March to progress this group’s ambitions of supporting local vegetable growing. Some Office bearers were nominated; Secretary: Tricia Hunt, Pubicity Officers: Irina Rantanen and Michelle Teear, TASG Representative: Suzanne Pritchard
In light of the success of our last local get-together, our next growers gathering will be held at the Carey Bay Pony Club grounds off Hampton St, on Saturday 14th April from 4 - 6pm.
Bring some snags to put on the BBQ, a picnic rug and plants and produce to swap.
We will hold an initial brainstorming session of what you would like our community garden to be, so get thinking!
And to make it all a reality, we still have one committee position to fill of Chair Person: Duties will include chairing regular meetings as a per nominated agenda, liaison with council, and other general duties as negotiated by the committee. If you think you may be the ideal candidate (no previous experience required), then please consider nominating yourself for the roll.
Friends, family and children all welcome!
BYO Frisbee or boules
If you know anyone else who may be interested in a local community garden, please bring them along
Further enquiries to Michelle  0402 924 819

Two Loos to Lose?

LMCC has been reviewing their Public Toilet Strategy of late.

The recommendations for our local facilities include:

close and demolish the toilet located at the Pony Club, Carey Bay-no evidence of usage and not on the cleaning schedule,

close and demolish the the brick toilet at Wombal Reserve, Rofe Street-limited use and cleaned three times a week.

A full Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) assessment will be done on the facilities at Gurranba and Birriban Reserves and then the facilities reviewed. The strategy states that these toilets have low usage and are cleaned three times a week.

The CPPA lodged a submission for reconsideration of the close and demolish recommendations and a reprieve on the Pony Club decision was granted to allow for community feedback.

The Pony Club facility was of particular interest to the CPPA. The VegeTTable group had considered the toilet an asset if a community garden was to go ahead, as the only flat land this side of Toronto, the Pony Club site may develop potential as an outdoor exercise area as the population ages and housing density increases. The removal of a public toilet in this area was considered a retrograde step.

The CPPA has given an undertaking to LMCC to promote the proposed closures and collate community feedback by mid July. If you have some thoughts about the locations, usage and future of the public toilet facilities in our community please forward your comments to CPPA by 13/7/11 either by email coalpointprogress@gmail.com.au, the blog, a short postal note or phone call.