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UPDATE 2:  10 May 2007

Andrew Pearce and Anthony Burton from CORC and I met TAMS Urban Parks Senior Planner Max Hunter today on-site where CORC are proposing to have the off-road cycling track.

We got a good hearing and Max acknowledged that a lot of damage is happening in nature reserves from illegal cycle tracks and jump construction. He also agreed that this site would be a very good one for such a track. I also talked about a vision for the whole site:-

A few weeks ago I was standing up on top of the hill on the site, and couldn't help but picture what the whole site could be like as an environmental park - right next to a major town centre. This site channels the stormwater flows off all of the Gungahlin town centre. There are already a couple of dams on the site, and a resident black swan (known where I come from by the Gubi Gubi people as 'Maroochy' meaning 'red beak').

I pictured a chain of constructed wetlands down through the site - some open water to encourage waterbirds, some reedy for frogs, etc. Intertwined would be a network of wheelchair-friendly walking and cycling trails and boardwalks. The off-road cycling tracks up on the hill would be separated from the wetlands by the rocky ridge and run-off from them would be filtered through bunds, swales and bushes before reaching the last of the wetland chain below. Careful vegetation planning will keep the tracks clearly visible from Valley Way to provide casual surveillance of the users.

The wetlands would serve an important role 'polishing' the stormwater before it gets downstream to Gungahlin Pond and ultimately Lake Ginninderra. But even more important, the park would provide an environmental 'learnscape' for the students
of Burgman School and the soon-to-be-built Gungahlin College. Perhaps they could play a role as custodians of the wetlands, although the park would be accessible for all, and a wonderful lunch-time retreat for all those office workers when we finally get some serious employment in Gungahlin. So very different from the cultured lakes that typify many of the other town centres in Canberra...

I guess you can tell I've done a lot of work in Landcare - building and restoring wetlands was always a 'labour of love' for the wonderful National award-winning community of enlightened farmers over at Holbrook, but who says you can't have that sort of thing in the middle of town? 

I'll have to talk to Burgman and see what they think of the idea...

What do you think? Please register on the website and leave your thoughts below.

Meanwhile the ball's in CORC's court now, with a concept plan for the off-road cycle tracks and jumps to prepare for the government to consider. I'll keep you posted on progress. 

UPDATE 1 May 2007

Andrew has had a reply from the ACT Government saying the proposed site is not suitable for that location, which is designated as "Semi-natural Open Space". We will attempt to arrange a meeting on-site with representatives from TaMS, as the reasons quoted for the refusal are I think not valid.

18 February 2007 

Andrew Pearce, the Gungahlin Trails Coordinator for the Canberra Off-Road Cyclists recently put a proposal to the Gungahlin Community Council to build a dirt push-bike track at Gungahlin, which you can read here (1.2MB).

The site they are proposing for this is a small section of the hill between the Burgman school, Gundaroo Drive and the vet clinic/carwash area. CORC have a good track record (excuse the pun) with this sort of proposal, being the group being the recently opened track at Mt Stromlo.

After a lot of consideration of their proposal, the site, the Territory Plan provisions for that site, and the cost of not doing anything, the GCC agreed to provide a letter of support for the project, which you can read here.

 

 

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