STRONG community opposition to the Julian Terrace toilet block’s looming demolition has sparked a petition to save the facility – led by a group of Gawler councillors.

As part of the $2.2 million upgrade of the Walker Place/Julian Terrace precinct development, the existing toilet block will be demolished at a $94,000 cost, with another facility to be built closer to the Apex Park playground.

Following a Bunyip online ‘loo debate’ poll, Cr Nathan Shanks said he and several fellow elected members had heard the “strong voices” opposing council’s direction – calling for two blocks to remain instead of one.

“The feedback to the article cemented half the elected members’ arguments,” he said.

“Unfortunately, a motion I tried to move, that if successful would have resulted in redirecting the money from demolishing the facility to refurbishing it instead, was knocked back as it was deemed too similar to one of the points of Cr Vallelonga’s previous motion (to refurbish the block in lieu of a new Apex Park facility).

“For me, knocking back my motion doesn’t change how the community feels, so we started this petition to show those who have the power to do something, that if we advance as planned, we are going to have a lot of (unhappy) ratepayers.”

The Bunyip understands a new motion on notice to deal with concerns raised though the petition will be discussed later this month at council’s general meeting.

When questioned about the petition, Gawler Mayor Karen Redman said it was difficult to determine whether the petition was too little, too late.

“However, the beauty of local government is it allows for change even at the last minute,” she said.

“With this particular project, a public tender for the construction of the new Apex Park toilets, demolition of the existing Julian Terrace toilets and landscaping the local area (was) released to the market earlier this week.

“It is anticipated in the next four to six weeks that works would commence on ground in accordance with the current council position on this matter, which align with our associated State Government Places for People grant funding obligations.”

While councillors Shanks, Paul Little, Ian Tooley and Jim Vallelonga have publically supported having two facilities, a motion to that effect is yet to come to council, with other elected members voting against cancelling the Apex Park toilet development as per Cr Vallelonga’s previous motion.

Ms Redman said consideration of the new motion, which proposes:

1. 1.That the demolition of the toilets on Julian Terrace be deferred for a period of 12 months from the completion of the new toilet block at Apex Park, so that this council can revisit the idea of retaining those toilets.
2. That an investigation re: the cost associated with the refurbishing of those existing toilet’s on Julian Terrace be instigated, so that those existing toilets may possibly be retained to enhance the Walker Place development, would be considered at the November 24 meeting.

“Appropriate consideration will occur at that time,” she said.

“This would include having regard for the financial consequences of any change to the current approved works, for example, whether we would need to give grant money back to the State Government.

“The council has undertaken public consultation on the current proposal to build a new toilet block alongside Apex Park, demolish the existing Julian Terrace toilets, preserve the mural artwork and create a pocket landscaped park in September 2019.

“Council then considered the results of that consultation and approved the current works at its meeting held on October 22, 2019.

“The current project is aligned with this approved strategic direction for the Town Centre.”

Cr Shanks said, regardless of the block’s outcome, the project demonstrated the importance of ratepayers taking part in council’s public consultation process.

“I do personally believe council has room to improve its processes in calling for its ratepayers opinions,” he said.

“Nine out 10 ratepayers don’t have the time to digest pages of information to then be able to provide constructive feedback, nor do they have the want to do a survey that may not be in a language they are used to.

“However, this is a problem and we need to overcome it collectively, otherwise we will keep finding ourselves repeating history of delivering projects that have a lot of community members unhappy with the results.

“If nothing else, this petition shows that our community can be engaged…

“The pressure is on us as elected members to tap into that voice any way we can and accept that our views in the chamber aren’t the be-all and end-all of community want and need.”

Almost 800 people have signed the ‘Don't flush $94K demolishing a toilet block, refurbish it instead!!’ petition via change.org.

A number two is better than one

A LOCAL business owner has urged Gawler Council to reverse its decision to demolish the toilet block at the end of Walker Place.

Owner/manager of Gawler’s Kingsford Hotel Tony Harnett spoke at last Tuesday night’s general meeting to emphasise the need for the existing block from a business perspective.

“I am pleased council is moving on the Apex Park situation which is well-used...” he said.

“But my point is, in addition to that, the town needs more easy to find, centrally located and easy to walk to facilities and I feel we have a fabulous location at Walker Place right in the middle of town, easily visible for people and it seems to me an amazing proposal to think to demolish that.

“…I would love to sell a beer to everyone who comes in looking to use toilet facilities and after just walks straight out.

“The publicans and I talk all the time about it and we don’t have a problem with that, but my point is there is a considerable demand for public toilet facilities that are not being met by the existing situation in town. I do understand there are toilet facilities here, but they are not obvious, and people don’t seem to be able to find them.

“I am urging councillors to have a think about it, and whether we could consider upgrading that Julian Terrace block – it certainly needs an upgrade – so that we could have two facilities.”

Cr Paul Koch questioned whether Gawler’s public toilet facilities should be better advertised.

“Toilets in Gawler are a well-kept secret,” Mr Harnett said.

“People don’t want to walk into a building. I think these buildings for many people act as a barrier.

“And it’s inaccessible for a lot of people at the VIC. You’ve got to climb a hill.”