World’s Best Beach deserves World’s Best Services

And, as we know, the World’s Best Venue for a marriage is Palm Cove.

The universe is telling us that our profile, our brand is about Romance Health and Vitality. It’s a growing, sustainable and profitable market sector. We need to listen to that voice and plan accordingly.

Parking is an issue now and will be more so when our Cairns population increases from 165,000 to 265,000 in a couple of decades from now. Putting aside land values for the moment, most of us acknowledge that the most sensible location for a car park is on part of Lot 100 (the land where the melaleuca forest used to be).

The current Development Application (DA) by Palm Cove Nominees Pty Ltd for Lot 100 provides for no public car parking, no recognition of services for the Wangetti Trail, no access to Caryota Close and French St. It is just another dense agglutinate of apartments and shops. Although the DA attracted 3,500 objections it is still a live document and is still being considered by Council.

One of our Palm Cove Visionaries (who is skilled in civic drafting and design) has identified space for up to 320 car parks on the northern side of the site.  Also, the Wangetti Trail can be the World’s Best Tropical Wilderness Trail. But it needs more than just the Trail itself and the accommodation along the way.

As Palm Cove is the start of the Trail we need the full suite of relevant products and services to support it. The best place to do that is on Lot 100.

Among other things, it could include the following:

• Vehicle parking with associated eCharging capabilities
• Vehicle access for Caryota Close and French St to facilitate traffic management for Palm Cove Village existing refuse services, deliveries and access to undercover parking for the Village, Villa Paradiso, Paradise on the Beach, Shopping Centre Traders and Reef House
• Public Transport Hub (inclusive of buses, taxis, rideshare, shuttle and autonomous vehicles)
• Wangetti Trail facilities inclusive of toilets/showers/bike/scooter storage/lockers
• Bike/scooter hire services
• Indigenous business opportunities leveraging this location as the Wangetti Trail hub
• Wangetti Trail Tourism information hub
• Wangetti Trail and associated merchandise retail
• Food, beverage and entertainment services
• Business/Corporate event and team building services using the bike riding on the Trail as part of the product
• Services for Wangetti Trail maintenance
• … and more … much more

In our view, this is what should happen.

Who are the stakeholders?

• Palm Cove Nominees Pty Ltd owns the land. They are stakeholders.
• 3,500 objectors to the current DA have an opinion. They are stakeholders.
• Residents and investors in Palm Cove care about development. They are stakeholders.
• Federal and State Governments are already engaged through the Wangetti Trail funding. They are stakeholders.
• Local Government is already engaged through the approval processes. They are stakeholders.
• The Indigenous partners along the Wangetti Trail have a voice. They are stakeholders.
• Every resident of our region visits Palm Cove at some time or another. They are stakeholders.
• All Palm Cove businesses benefit from thoughtful planning that attracts our target markets. They are stakeholders.
• All tour operators and suppliers that source business from Palm Cove want to see us succeed long term. They are stakeholders.

About locating car parking on valuable land

All levels of government frequently spend public funds in the interests of the communities that they serve.  Our member for Barron River is currently encouraging his government to purchase Taylors Point at Trinity Beach for public use for example.  At Holloways Beach, Council estimates that at least $25m is required for a bridge to provide access to the 28 homes that were isolated in the flood after Jasper.  With money already spent providing temporary access, that’s going to work out at about $1m per home.

In the case of Lot 100, Council has many options under the Queensland Integrated Planning Act to negotiate an agreed way forward for this critical and strategically important asset.