Community & Business
13 March, 2025
Phantom parks, phantom housing estates....and real reservoirs
Developments in motion
Would you like to have an 8 ML reservoir and distribution centre in your backyard? If you live on Willi Street in Warwick, you soon will. The SDRC approved the use of council land at 26-28 Willi Street, Warwick, for the location of a large reservoir and water distribution centre as part of the ongoing effort to shore up water infrastructure in the region. The site is opposite the Warwick Water Treatment Plant, making it ideal for future growth “without incurring significant additional costs” according to the tabled report.
This was one subject that raised the ire of various councillors, for widely differing reasons, during the latest meeting of council.
Cr Ross Bartley didn’t like the implications of the plan presented in the report and Cr Joel Richters wants to save the nearby “park”. Deputy Mayor Sheryl Windle declared a conflict – she lives on the road – but still had plenty to say and staff had to think quickly to stay on top of questions.
Cr Bartley had “concerns” that the report shows a proposed subdivision of the Wood Street site. “I have never put my hand up to support a subdivision there yet but I assume this whole report is predicated on the fact that it will be subdivided,” he addressed staff. “You talked about distances from the chlorine drums and what have you and that’s why we’re relocating the reservoir and I accept that. But I think we might be putting the cart before the horse, or maybe we shouldn’t be approving, as a council, the subdivision, before we go ahead with this project.”
The Mayor suggested that Cr Bartley had it backwards “because I read it perhaps the other way around where anything else with the site would only happen having regard to this infrastructure on it. And, in fact, it may mean that nothing else comes to us…but if we could get some clarity from the staff on that?”
Staff replied that the images were merely a representation of “potential concepts” and the reason why it was illustrated as a development was to indicate “that by putting the water reservoir there it does not preclude any future subdivision.”
“We didn’t want [the report] to say ‘here’s where the reservoir is going, no comment’, and later someone says ‘you never told us’. But they are only concepts, we want to be really clear and open in this process,” continued the hapless staff member.
Cr Bartley also questioned the role of Triangle Park in the plan.
“[The report] also shows the subdivision of a park area known as the triangle, commonly referred to in Warwick as the triangle park, it’s got remnant vegetation in that park. It’s been proved that it is natural vegetation too."
Cr Bartley’s description of Triangle Park roused Cr Richters to contradict him.
“First of all, my understanding is that the triangle that Cr Bartley is talking about, is not actually a park and is zoned residential. Could I have confirmation of that? It does a disservice by us continuing to call it a park when it’s not a park,” said he.
Cr Richters expressed that he would not support the motion because there wasn’t enough, or any, public consultation.
“I don’t think the community had in mind that when we got rid of the old Rosenthal Shire Council depot shed and relocated Rose City FM and got rid of the old Rosenthal Shire office that we were going to build a tank there. So, I think that more community consultation needs to happen.”
Cr Richters then asked for the motion to lay on the table and “for us to go away and actually do the due diligence of consultation, otherwise I won’t be supporting it .”
Mayor Hamilton asked if he was proposing a procedural motion to table the decision and Cr Richters replied that he wasn’t doing that but “if one were moved I’d support that.”
Cr Bartley asked whether councillors could approve the reservoir without “approving those concepts because by voting for this basically you’re in favour of those concepts.”
Staff were quick to disagree and say that the concept drawings may have been misleading but they were not up for any sort of formal approval.
“I can accept the water reservoir where it’s going, I think it’s perfect because it’s an old site, possibly contaminated in some respects…”, Cr Bartley mused.
“It is,” confirmed the staff.
“It’s a contaminated site; it’s an ideal site to put this piece of infrastructure…but to put the rest of this other stuff…”
Mayor Hamilton jumped in saying that she thought “the recommendation is clear that all we are approving is the location of the reservoir and water distribution centre.”
“I’m not speaking either way,” added the deputy mayor, who had earlier declared a conflict of interest in the matter. Cr Windle explained, however, that she was on the previous council when the men shed and woodcrafters and radio station were moved “and the idea of that was because that land was earmarked for residential land for future development of housing”.
No development has yet happened on that site but Cr Windle concluded “that’s why I have concerns about the tank going in there.”
Again, the mayor spoke to the motion with a note of frustration, reminding the room that water infrastructure across the shire is “well past the infrastructure cliff” and that the SDRC has “enormous amounts of spending facing this council in this terms”.
“To me, doing that in a way that is the least costly is something that I think we need to keep in mind for ratepayers because we are going to have to go looking for money for these infrastructure upgrades where we can find it. There’s no certainty that we will find it” and council may have to borrow money to make improvements. “So, it’s incredibly important to save some money on upgrading our water assets.”
With this, the motion came to a vote, with everyone barring Cr Joel Richters voting in favour of the measure.
Either way, Willi Street, Triangle not-a-park Park and conceptual developments will be joined by a water station soon.
