COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE 18 MARCH 2015 NORTHERN BEACHES YOUTH SPACE RECOMMENDATION:

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1 43 COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE 18 MARCH NORTHERN BEACHES YOUTH SPACE Matt Smith 10/2/1-35 # v4 RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that Council: a) approves Coastwatchers Park, Trinity Beach as the preferred location for the Northern Beaches Youth Activity Space; b) commences design of the facility in consultation with residents, user groups and adjacent businesses; and c) delegates authority to the Chief Executive Officer in accordance with the Local Government Act 2009 to negotiate and finalise any and all matters associated with this recommendation. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This report follows the commitment made to Council at the 17 September 2014 Community Services Committee in the Northern Beaches Skate Park and Youth Space Options Report to consult with the local youth on the location and design of a new skate park and youth space within the Smithfield/Trinity Beach area. To facilitate this requirement, officers have engaged the services of Convic, a very experienced skate and youth activities consultant, to provide technical assistance on location and design of the facility. After a comprehensive site assessment and consultation process, officers are recommending Coastwatchers Park, Trinity Beach as the preferred location to deliver a new youth activity space with skate elements. Subject to Council s approval, officers will continue to work with Convic and the community towards the final design and construction of the news facility. BACKGROUND: The adopted Skate and BMX Strategy performed a two stage demographic analysis of the youth population (5-17 years) across the Cairns local government area. Stage one involved a snapshot analysis of the current population in the Priority Infrastructure Plan (PIP) catchment areas. Stage two involved plotting the future growth in general and youth population in those same PIP catchment areas. The resulting data for the Northern Beaches Catchment Area follows:

2 Overall Growth 2011 to 2031 Trinity Beach Palm Cove - Ellis Beach Clifton Beach Kewarra Beach Trinity Park TOTAL The strategy recommends that the Trinity Beach Skate Park be upgraded to not only cater for population expansion within the catchment but also address the following fundamental issues: a) The skate park itself is constrained: It is surrounded by internal roads and trafficable areas. This provides a risk to the users of the facility, particularly in times of peak sporting demand; There is no opportunity for the facility to grow or expand; It does not have any major road frontage and is hidden away from any frequent surveillance or supervision. These are essential criteria for contemporary skate park design; and Though structurally sound, the park was greatly affected by the lack of amenities such as shade, seating and rubbish bins. Attempts have been made to provide these embellishments but they have been vandalised. b) In addition to the above physical factors, there are significant behavioural issues occurring within the facility such as: Users of the skate park are continually at odds with surrounding stakeholders. Verbal abuse of junior participants at the Central s AFL Football Club, has been witnessed first-hand by Council officers; Residents are growing tired of antisocial behaviours occurring in and around the skate park such as underage drinking, vandalism of property, drug use, noise and violence; and Surrounding clubs report prolific amounts of highly offensive graffiti. Site selection The following sites were shortlisted by the project team within the Smithfield/Trinity Beach area: Rainy Mountain Park, Smithfield Tom Dooley Park, Smithfield Coastwatchers Park, Trinity Beach Marlin Coast Recreation Centre, Smithfield

3 45 Site assessment Council officers and a representative from Convic visited each location on 12 November 2014 and a report was prepared based on the identifiable strengths and weaknesses of each site. A copy of the report has been included in Attachment 2. In summary, each site was scored as follows: Rainy Mountain Park, Smithfield - 84% Tom Dooley Park, Smithfield - 64% Coastwatchers Park, Trinity Beach - 98% Marlin Coast Recreation Centre, Smithfield - 87% Coastwatchers Park was identified as having the highest score of the shortlisted sites due to the following: The existing park amenities and features offer a well-established base to develop a youth space; The parks proximity to other public facilities such as toilets, shops, informal and formal parking and bus stops is considered excellent; The parks wide frontage off Trinity Beach Road is advantageous; The parks existing popularity places it as a prime location on which to overlay a youth facility; Access to existing water, drainage and power allows for increased facility amenity; The park is within close proximity to Trinity Beach, local schools, kindergarten and is well connected by footpath and bike paths; and Existing trees and shelters will provide good shade. Upon receiving the Convic report, Council officers consulted with adjacent residents (mail out), businesses (face to face meetings) and user groups. User groups were represented by the FNQ Freestyle Rollersports Association. COMMENT: Cairns has many high quality skate parks, but by nature of their design they are used primarily by males. The creation of a youth activity space on the northern beaches will provide an area where youth of all genders, ages and abilities are able to constructively spend time and undertake a range of unstructured recreational pursuits. External consultant Convic believes that there is an important distinction between the proposed youth activity space and a skate park, both in terms of facilities and target demographics. While a skate park caters only to freestyle roller sports and will spend a lot of time unused, a youth activity space caters for a broader range of unstructured recreational activities such as: Parkour/obstacle course Ball sports

4 46 General fitness equipment Shaded seating nodes to encourage positive social interaction Increased activation from the abovementioned activities will discourage the type of behaviours that can be witnessed in areas that are underutilised and tucked away from sight. The Trinity Beach project aims to provide an inclusive, flexible and dynamic space where youth can express themselves safely in an area that caters to their specific needs. OPTIONS: Option 1 (Recommended) a) approves Coastwatchers Park, Trinity Beach as the preferred location for the Northern Beaches Youth Activity Space; b) commences design of the facility in consultation with residents, user groups and adjacent business; and c) delegates authority to the Chief Executive Officer in accordance with the Local Government Act 2009 to negotiate and finalise any and all matters associated with this recommendation. Option 2 That Council does not support the recommendation and adopts an alternate course of action. CONSIDERATIONS: Risk Management: There may be issues raised by the community due to misconceptions about the nature of the facility. This will be managed by involving the community in the design process and maintaining communication with surrounding businesses and residents. A technical consultant has been engaged to ensure all site, location and design factors are considered so as to avoid picking an inappropriate area and to ensure community expectations are met with regards to the function and use of the proposed facility. Financial: Funding for the construction of a Youth Skate and Activity Space has been notionally allowed in the 2015/16 Capital Budget. The design process will provide an estimate of quantities prior to calling tenders for construction. Corporate and Operational Plans: This recommendation supports Council s Corporate Plan particularly strategic goals 1 (Community) and 3 (Environment).

5 47 Policy: Cairns Regional Council Skate and BMX Strategic Plan. CONSULTATION: A comprehensive consultation plan was developed and is available for Councillors to review. The plan recommends one on one interviews with adjoining businesses as well as a letterbox drop for the adjoining residents, asking them for comment. The interviews were undertaken on an individual basis with Council officers visiting each of the businesses located close to Coastwatchers Park. Some of businesses did express concern about youth behaviour but were reassured by the prospect of CCTV, no lighting and new fencing being installed to block access to the adjoining shopping centre from the park. There were no direct objections to the project once the security measures had been outlined. Adjacent residents both to the rear and front of the park were sent letters advising them of the proposal and were offered the opportunity to comment on the project. At the close of consultation there had been two respondents, one who objected to the precinct and one who offered qualified support provided that measures were taken to protect resident s lifestyles. The resident who objected believed that the precinct would increase anti-social behaviour citing the removal of the old red-cross donation bins as justification which reduced people in the park at night. The second resident who responded gave qualified support to the project and sought assurances that the precinct would not be located too close to the fence line. The resident has in the past had issues with delinquency in the park including the use of illegal fireworks. The resident suggested that CCTV was a good start and could perhaps be extended for the whole park. Officers have found engaging with skate and BMX user groups to be difficult to organise in the past. This has led to issues with effectively understanding the opinions of skaters and freestyle riders. As a reaction to the initial publicity concerning the possible removal of the Trinity Beach Skate Park, a group of concerned users created an incorporated association who aim to represent the freestyle disciplines associated with BMX and roller sports. The group is known as the FNQ Freestyle Rollersports Association and is made up of users and parents from within the freestyle sport community. The Association will act as the peak advocacy group for the region as well as creating a central point of contact for Council. Council officers have been heavily involved in the formation of the Association. From a Council perspective the Association will: provide a direct link to the leaders within the freestyle sports community; act as an on the ground advocate for improving certain behaviours that occur in skate parks; and be eligible to apply for funding to improve skate and BMX infrastructure across the region.

6 48 The FNQ Freestyle Rollersports Association supports the concept of a youth activity space with skate elements and has provided a letter of support for the project (refer Attachment 1) ATTACHMENTS: 1. Letter of Support from FNQ Roller Sports 2. Convic report on the location for the proposed Northern Beaches Skate Park 3. Letter to Residents of Trinity Beach 4. from Trinity Beach Resident. Matt Smith Leisure Planner and Club Development Officer Tim Dendle Coordinator Leisure Services Brett Spencer Manager Parks and Leisure Linda Kirchner General Manager Corporate and Community Services