PLANS for a long-term redevelopment of Berri’s Coombe Street reserve have stalled after local councillors called for costings before the plan goes for public consultation.
At April’s ordinary council meeting, Berri Barmera Council elected members praised the project’s draft master plan, but questioned the financial viability of the upgrades, particularly with other redevelopments planned for Glassey Park and Colin Jennings Apex Park.
The master plan presents a 20 to 25-year vision for the reserve, with a range of both short-term and long-term projects.
At the meeting, councillor Andrew Kassebaum expressed concern over the ongoing costs of maintaining all three parks once they were upgraded.
Berri Barmera CEO Karyn Burton said public consultation sessions would be put on hold until provisional costings were determined.
“There’s no point having a pseudo-consultation when we want to do a thorough job,” she said.
“We’re thinking about moving along to the Glassey Park master planning project and then planning the Apex Park development that we have submitted grant applications for.
“Once all that’s done we will have more of a holistic idea of where things are going to be
best placed.”
The draft master plan calls for the Coombe Street Reserve to be turned into “Berri’s new, beautiful, green oasis that reflects a sustainable and innovative experience for everyone, from local residents to visitors”.
Among the proposed additions are an RV pull-in area along Worman Street with barbecue facilities and visitor information, a “Livvi’s Place” inclusive playspace, and passive recreation spaces including a loop pathway, open green spaces and native planting gardens.
The plan also recommends a number of “quick wins” that could be easily introduced and have an instant effect, including the installation of power bollards to facilitate events and social gatherings and a path network with green arbour.
“We have in the next budget about $100,000 to do some of those quick wins to keep momentum going, but I think it’s a good idea to wait for plans for Apex Park and Glassey Park to be done before that,” Ms Burton said.
“There are some things in the Coombe Street plan that would be a duplication of the Apex Park project, which is less than a kilometre down the road.”
Ms Burton said the length of the project would depend on the availability of funds.
“Even if we weren’t looking at anything else, the upgrades at Coombe Street would probably still need to be staged over five to 10 years,” she said.
“It would be good if we could pull it off over the years.”