By MEGAN OGLE
THE fate of the Cooroy Memorial Hall is in limbo but local groups and businesses are rallying together to reopen the iconic building.
The Cooroy Memorial Hall Action chairperson Harry Kirk said the group was collaborating with the Cooroy RSL and Noosa Council to reopen the hall and positive steps had been taken towards this goal.
“Although not visible to the naked eye, matters have still been progressing behind the scenes,” Mr Kirk said.
“An application was made by the Cooroy RSL to Noosa Council for a subdivision of the existing Lot, encompassing part of the RSL and hall buildings, thus enabling release of the hall portion only. This application was unsuccessful for a number of reasons.”
Noosa Council community services director Alan ‘Fox’ Rogers said the application had not been formally rejected.
“Council officers have requested further information from the applicant before a final assessment is made, which means the process is ongoing. The application will be reported to a future council meeting for a decision,” Mr Rogers said.
“Separate to the subdivision application, council officers are working through a number of options with the RSL to try and resolve the land tenure issues on the site where the hall and the club buildings encroach onto council freehold land.”
A Cooroy RSL spokesperson confirmed a structural engineer had been engaged to assess the hall and report on its condition.
“We can confirm the report from the engineer noted there were no major structural defects visible at the time of inspection,” they said.
“However, there are essential repairs needed such as removal of damaged rafters, removal of damaged external cladding, removal of asbestos and complete removal of the kitchen which need to be carried out in order to facilitate reopening the hall.
“The Cooroy RSL is very keen to reopen the hall as soon as required funds can be raised to do the above repairs and these essential repairs are carried out.
“In the meantime, the RSL, council and Cooroy Memorial Hall Action Group continue to work together with the same aim that we can all see the reopening of the hall in the near future for the benefit of the whole community.”
