THE BYRON SHIRE ECHO Advertising & news enquiries: Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au http://www.echo.net.au VOLUME 20 #49 TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2006 22,300 copies every week $1 at newsagents only
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Governments put $885,000 in the refurbishment kitty for dilapidated icon
New life for Mullumbimby’s civic hall Alex McAuley Byron Shire Council has pledged $500,000 its special rate increase for 2005/2006 to the refurbishment of the Mullumbimby Civic Hall. In addition, Councillors Peter Westheimer and Ray Kestle have applied for a number of grants and been successful to the tune of $335,473 from the federal government and $50,000 from the NSW state government. NSW Nationals senator Sandy Macdonald announced that the Regional Partnerships federal funding was to ‘help the Byron Shire Council to purchase material and retain labour to improve the facility.’ He went on to say, ‘The hall was closed in 2003 and immediately sealed for safety reasons due to the failure of an aged sprung flooring system, the age of the timber and poor ventilation.’ Cr Westheimer took the
refurbishment of the hall on as his pet project on election to Council, describing the grant application process as his ‘initiation into the vagaries of funding bureaucracy’. ‘I am thrilled, it it like the baby has been born. I still want to stay involved with the project, but it has legs of its own now,’ said Cr Westheimer. ‘The refurbishment will include new seating, lighting, sound/visual equipment, kitchen, toilet repairs and disabled access. The inside and outside need repainting, and there will need to be a new awning, however the overall look of the building will remain unchanged.There will also be a new sprung floor put in, for which the Ministry of Arts has given us a $50,000 grant.’ Cr Westheimer’s vision for the hall is a ‘flexible space suitable for all kinds of users. It could be used for
school functions, dances, yoga, drama, conferencing, really as many different uses as possible. In our business plan we forecast a $30,000 per year income to cover the cost of maintenance, something which didn’t happen before resulting in the collapse of the facility.’ And it doesn’t stop there. Cr Westheimer hopes the refurbishment of the hall will be stage one of the Civic Centre precinct upgrade including the old council chambers and the garden areas. ‘This is so important for the Mullumbimby community,’ said Cr Westheimer. ‘In the long term, I have a vision for a week long Byron Shire Festival comprising music, drama, and artistic activities to be held across the shire. ‘With the Civic Hall in Mullumbimby being refurbished and the existing facilities in Bangalow and Byron Bay, if we can establish a cul-
Councillors Ray Kestle and Peter Westheimer celebrate the good news. Photo Jeff Dawson
tural centre in Ocean Shores we could spread the festival across a broad section of the community.With the number of creative people living in this area it could be great. I
see it as the future for tourism in the shire.’ The working group will meet this week to confirm a project management plan and view the engineer’s report,
which shows that the building is in good condition. Barring any unforeseen stumbling blocks, Cr Westheimer is confident that the project could be completed within a year.
Dogs protest against shortened walkies under marine park plan
Hannah Goodchild and Wiggles Gooddog at Saturday’s protest. Photo Jeff ‘Scruffy’ Dawson
Nearly 100 dogs turned up at the beach near Brunswick Heads Surf Club last Saturday to protest against the new restrictions on the off leash dog exercise area being imposed on the area. The 100 or so human escorts were outraged that the previous off leash area of one kilometre has been shortened to 500 metres as a result of the new Marine Park zoning plan which was gazetted in Byron Bay on Monday. Member of Brunswick Area Responsible Canine
Owners (BARCO) Jill Ball claims that despite persistent lobbying of state government ministers in both primary industries and environment departments, they have not received any response to date. ‘When we heard that it was likely that the off leash area was to be reduced, we sent a petition with over 800 signatures on it to Bob Debus, Minister for the Environment,’ said Ms Ball. ‘That was at the end of 2004 and we have still not received a reply.’
Ms Ball pointed out that although the off leash area was officially being reduced to 500 metres, because there is a 100 metre buffer zone south of the surf club, the actual area will only be 400 metres, which doesn’t really leave a lot of room for a dog to stretch its legs. Primary industries minister Ian Macdonald announced the opening of the park at Cape Byron. ‘We worked closely with the local community to develop a comprehensive continued on page 2