Background

In January and February 2020, we asked for your thoughts on some potential enhancements for Powell Reserve in Coogee. The enhancements were proposed as a result of $100,000 in funding for the site under the City's Public Open Space Cash in Lieu Expenditure Plan, which has specific rules around how this funding can be used. A concept design that meets the expenditure regulations was developed for the community's review and input.

What You Said

The City received 77 submissions during the comment period. Here is a snapshot of what you said.

• Concept design: Most were very happy or happy (46) or neutral (17). Four respondents were unhappy and seven said they were very unhappy.
• Inclusion of exercise nodes: Most were very happy or happy (47) or neutral (12). Eight respondents were unhappy, while nine were very unhappy.
• Choice between 5 exercise node options: All exercise nodes were popular with (55) indicating a preference for one of the five options. The most popular choice was Option 5 (16 votes) followed by Option 1 (15 votes).
• Which three features are most beneficial: Exercise equipment nodes were considered the most beneficial addition (39 votes), followed by shelter (38) and BBQ (35). Eight respondents believe that none of the proposed additions would be beneficial.
• Comments: Whilst there was lots of support for the proposed enhancements, there was a trend in different comments about dogs (17), from the perspective of dog-owners and non dog-owners. We also heard a number of comments about the seating locations, basketball ring height and a desire for more future inclusions such as sculptures and garden enhancements.

What Will Happen Next

Based on your feedback, we've confirmed the inclusion of your most preferred features and made some minor tweaks to the concept design (within the parameters of the funding regulations). Works are expected to commence in second quarter of 2020. The final design includes:

• Your preferred exercise equipment node option: Option 5
• Your preferred park features: BBQ, shelter and picnic setting, with a revised location further away from the road and houses
• Replacement of the bench seat identified for removal
• Adjustments to the park fencing
• Replacement of the basketball backboard and ring and adjust the height to NBA standard
• Should there be leftover funding, additional limestone blocks will be added to the sand pit
• We hear that dogs and dog exercise areas are important to our community and we all have different thoughts and opinions on how they should look, where they should go and what the rules should be. That's why we're developing our Animal Management and Exercise Plan which will review on and off lead dog parks, coastline access for dogs and development of clear criteria for fenced dog exercise areas. We asked for community input into this in 2019, and the first draft will be open for comment in mid 2020.