Hervey Bay Gossip

What a beautiful day it has been today. Warm sunshine, a gentle breeze and that was the perfect excuse to sneak away from the home-office and grab a coffee at our favourite cafe. With at least 17 cafes and coffee shops along The Esplanade you simply have no excuse for not getting out and enjoying some of the great cafe atmosphere in this beautiful city.

And if you haven’t found the coffee that best suits your taste then take a tip from us and try the Bayaroma. The coffee and cake, and meals are the best in town and the staff are wonderful.

Now all I have to do is explain to the boss why I wasn’t at my desk this morning.

Oh wait … she was there at the cafe too.

Whew that had me worried for a moment - she-who-must-be-obeyed is not one to argue with

This weekend was just too beautiful to spend shut inside in front of the computer so the siren song of the beach and the bay soon lured us away and this time we wandered down to Urangan.

One one side of the shared path was a view like this:

It’s beautiful and idyllic and undoubtedly one of the reasons why so many people have moved to this great city.

Turning around we’re confronted with this view:

It’s ugly and grubby and even when it’s built it’s not going to improve the streetscape.

So Ted and every other elected representative on the Hervey Bay Council use the comments section of this piece to explain why on God’s green earth Hervey Bay needs a mess like this.

And tell us why you’re giving our heritage away to people who don’t live here.

Ever since the days of the villages, strung out along the beach, what has now become The Esplanade has belonged to the people who live here. The Esplanade was the core of each village (perhaps with the exception of Pialba).

As the villages grew into what we have now the importance of The Esplanade grew until today it is the heart of the city. We go there to relax, to celebrate, to have fun, to show our family and friends from other places just how beautiful this place is and now we are giving it away.

The character of The Esplanade is disappearing behind a facade of ugly glass fronted Lego building blocks. The beauty of the beach is being overshadowed by the greed of others and it’s all being given away to people who don’t even live here.

Who gave permission for this to happen? Where we even asked if we wanted to give away our treasures?

We elect people to council to protect us from this and they rubber stamp one development after another. Why are they not listening to us? Why are they giving The Esplanade away to others when we don’t want that to happen?

What will this place be when the beauty and the character of The Esplanade is no more?

Ted will you be proud to stand there and say “I led the council who did this?”

It’s not too late to start listening to what we - the residents of this beautiful town - are saying. Stop the rot! Save The Esplanade and be a true leader and hero of the people.

Ted do you really want to be remembered as the person who turned Hervey Bay into a blight on the coast of Australia?

How much worse can it get when one of the finest houses on The Esplanade

is now up for sale as a development property?

Imported from 8 August 2005

A little birdie has told the Gossip that three blocks of land on the corner of Elizabeth Street and the Esplanade all changed hands last week when they were purchased for an undisclosed sum.

What new development may soon be moving in to replace a well known landmark in that locality?

Imported from 28 May 2005

This week the Council took out full page ads in a number of the local papers in an effort to inform people in this city of the facts regarding the draft planning scheme and the building heights that will be allowed once the scheme is passed.

A copy of the plan, including a number of maps,could be found on the Council’s Website at the time this piece was first written but they now seem to have been removed (edit on 20 Sept 2005)

The draft plan and the maps make for interesting reading and you really should take the time to read the information the Council has provided.

However, in short, an area along The Esplanade between Scarness and Torquay, and for several blocks back from the beach front will be available for developments up to a maximum height of 20 metres.

There are also several blocks in the Scarness and Torquay business districts where the maximum height for buildings can be up to 26 metres under certain conditions.

All other areas along The Esplanade are restricted and the allowable height for buildings is 8.5 metres.