By Jolene Ogle
EMOTIONS ran high at the Cooroy Hall community meeting on Saturday (26 November), with council told to “get off their arses” and fix the hall.
Council called the meeting to discuss what will happen to the Cooroy Memorial Hall, which the Cooroy RSL closed a year ago due to safety concerns.
Council is currently in the process of taking on the trusteeship of the hall from the Cooroy RSL and despite council not yet having official responsibility of the hall, it was clear some residents wanted answers and action right now.
Angry residents slammed council for an apparent lack of action, accused them of fearmongering and scoffed when Mayor Tony Wellington said there were no pre-determined plans to tear down the memorial building.
Community member Fred Broomhall said council needed to take the issue “by the horns, do the right thing, open the hall, and stop all this waffling”.
“Shame on you, Noosa Council,” he said.
Community services director Alan “Fox” Rogers chaired the meeting and copped the brunt of the criticism but said council wanted to find out from the community what they wanted to happen with the hall.
In his presentation, Mr Rogers said the repair bill for the hall could be $1 million and listed asbestos removal, termite damage and an unsafe roof as some of the major safety and repair concerns for the historic building.
Mayor Tony Wellington responded to the angry residents’ calls for action from council.
“We can’t allocate ratepayer money for a building over which we have no control,” he said.
“We simply do not have the authority to do that. Up until now, the authority and control of the building has been with the (Cooroy) RSL and we have been working both the RSL and the State Government to try and get to this point.
“It has been a struggle. But staff have been working hard over the past 12 months to get to this point.”
Councillor Wellington said council had not been “sitting on their hands” and had been working with the RSL who had “changed their position a number of times throughout the process”.
“Council has now finally reached the point where we have an agreement with the RSL that both of us can live with which means that now, we can move forward and council is doing its best to work with you all,” he said.
From here, council will release an options paper in March outlining a range of potential uses for the hall and land that could include demolishing the building and replacing it with a memorial parkland or using a team of community volunteers to restore the hall along with local builders.
In April, council plans to call for further community input in response to the options paper and will hold another community meeting and in May, council staff expect to present to councillors a report on community feedback and a recommendation to council.
Currently, anyone who would like to have their say on the future of the Cooroy Memorial Hall can visit Council’s online Your Say portal via www.noosa.qld.gov.au.
Flexible approach needed
Following the Cooroy community meeting, Councillor Ingrid Jackson released a press statement calling for a flexible approach to determining the Cooroy Memorial Hall’s future.
“The community will need to take a flexible approach if Cooroy Memorial Hall is to be preserved as a valuable part of the shire’s heritage,” she said.
Cr Jackson said the cost to repair the building range from $400,000 up to $1 million and said annual operations and maintenance would add to the cost, with building insurance alone being $20,000 a year.
“This is a lot of money and we need creative solutions to save the hall, including taking a flexible approach to current restrictions on its use,” she said.
Cr Jackson said both the State Government trust deed governing the hall and the current Noosa Plan significantly restricted its potential commercial uses.
“There are severe limitations. Ironically, the same laws that aim to protect the hall could end up causing its demise. We need to explore possibilities for achieving a flexible solution to both maintain the hall’s heritage value while allowing commercial endeavour to generate funds,” she said.
“This will require changes to the trust deed.”
Cr Jackson said the goal must be to ensure heritage value and community use while making the repair and operations of the hall financially viable.
“I believe the council can play an important role in seeking to facilitate this,” she said.
