The Village Playground
A GREAT RIBBON CUTTING!
It all happened today at the Village Hall, with our local politicians in attendance.
Local kiddies enjoyed the new equipment, part of the process of the Village
Plan!
Speaking first was Village Hall President Chris Bawn, followed by speeches by Paul Hogan, Mayor Greater Taree City Council, State Member for Port Macquarie, Mr. Peter Besseling, and Federal Member for Lyne, Mr. Robert Oakeshott.
Check out all photos of the event now in the Johns River Village Gallery!
The existing playground was fully funded from two grants from the State and Federal Governments, with the Council providing the needed support for the grant process, as well as for the logistics of buying, storing, and assembling the playground equipment.
Shade sails are soon to follow, with the recent addition of soft-fall and installation of the swings this last week.
E-Mail Johns River Media Now for more info!
THE
MAYOR'S ADDRESS
On the Occasion of the Grand Opening of the Village Playground, 25 January 2010, 10am at the Village Hall Recreation Reserve.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to be here today to witness the official opening of this playground equipment and acknowledge all three tiers of government and the community who worked collaboratively on this project.
In 2008 the State government provided grant funding to a significant number of councils in New South Wales for the purpose of providing additional playground facilities.
Council lodged an application on behalf of the Johns River community and was successful in obtaining $20,000 to go towards establishing a new playground in the Johns River Reserve.
The $20,000 was enough for the equipment however to compliment these original grant monies Council applied for additional funding under the Federal government’s Community Infrastructure Program and that money enabled the project to be completed.
I would like to acknowledge the Johns River Hall Trust Committee and Johns River Community, most notably Mr Chris Bawn for the cooperative nature that enabled this project to get off the ground.
Chris and the Johns River community were heavily involved in the selection of the type and style of the equipment and I am pleased to add that with the pending installation of the shade structure the facility will be complete.
I also want to thank our Council staff in particular Wayne Hull - Council’s Supervisor of our Parks and Reserves who has facilitated this project on behalf of Council and the Parks and Reserves team. Wayne and his team work hard for this community and I know they must be very pleased with the outcome we can see here today.
This facility will be a well used resource for the local community and visitors alike and in turn a great thing for the community of Johns River. Thank you!
Check out all photos of the event now in the Johns River Village Gallery!
Below: The realigned intersection at Johns River
Your
2009-2010 Committee
ELECTED AT THE AUGUST 30 AGM
Thanks to all members who attended and sent their proxies for our Annual General Meeting at the hall on Sunday, the 30th of August at 1pm.
A history of progress was presented by outgoing President Glen Ferrero, followed by short presentations by each nominee for the Management Committee.
Financial members then voted on their favourites with the following results:
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Deena Lane, VP
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Joe Malvicino, Treasurer
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Shannon Davies, Ordinary Member
-
Rod Heath, Ordinary Member
-
Bruce Shaw, Ordinary Member
The position of Secretary is currently being appointed, with Walter van der Poll stepping down due to personal reasons
With the position of President remaining up to the assembled financial members, nominations were taken from the floor. Single nominations for the position of President were declined by Glen Ferrero, David Shepard and Chris Bawn.
Three rather enthusiastic nominations went to Richard Wilson, who after a rousing round of applause by the members, graciously accepted the post of JRCPA President for 2009-2010.
Feel free to check out the
JRCPA Rules
of the Association, which govern our AGM and all our affairs,
and the
Full Minutes of the 2009 AGM are here as well.
Public Community Forum
Following our AGM, all villagers enjoyed a Public Community
Forum where they met and got to know the incoming committee for 2009-2010
Villagers spoke up during a Question and Answer, session, and the community will be brought up-to-date on issues and plans
which have developed over the past year.
New Road Names
New Road Names for JR
Three new road names have been approved by Council for Johns River
village.
Council first advertised for road names in early 2007, and your
Progress Association, held a series of public community forums.
Then-Councillor Richard Wilson spoke at our October 2007 Forum, leading
up to the big February 2008 Forum, where 58 villagers voted on their
favourite road names. Council was presented with the community
choices in March 2008, as part of the Village Urban Design plan,
paid for by the RTA.
Johns River Road
The majority ruled! The main road going through Johns River village
from Wharf Road to the new roundabout, has been approved by Council
and cleared the Geographic Names board as "Johns River Road".
This was the top choice (by a margin of 7 votes) over the next most
popular, which was "Johns River Drive".
Koolyangarra Way
The road segment from the Koolyangarra Reserve south past Timberline to the new highway, will be "Koolyangarra Way". Koolyangarra means "a place for children", much like a crèche, a fitting name for the Koolyangarra Reserve used by our school. The elders of the Purfleet-Taree Aboriginal Lands Council have kindly given their assent to the use of this Birpai language name.
Whitton Road
Several villagers at our big community forum showed strong support for naming a roadway after Doyle Whitton, a Johns River resident until the early 1960s. Doyle lived in a house near the old highway bridge which now services Boral, today home to Alan Bulley and family. Doyle was a keen geologist and identified a series of unique white clays in the area, in addition to some fairly rich seams of titanium dioxide (rutile) running through the forest between the village and Diamond Head. Whitton Road will now service three properties opposite The Lakes at Passionfruit Creek, south of Algona road and north of Middle Brother Road.
Three New Moorland Road Names
Running south from roughly opposite Camp Obadiah will be Howlett's Road, serving six properties, and in addition to the "existing" (gazetted) street south of Timberline (Kidd St on the maps), the Kidd family will be proud to additionally have Stan Kidd Way on the maps. The new service road will run from Hannam Vale Road north along the highway to serve the properties there. The main road through Moorland South will be Jericho Road, replacing the existing highway, from Forest Road to the southbound ingress onto the new highway.
More Bulley for Your Buck!
Bulley's Road will almost double it's length once the bypass is open, running all the way from the new Johns River roundabout, and then north to connect with where the road ends today, west of the new highway corridor.
20 New Addresses in Johns River
Over 100 residents will need renumbering and renaming of their addresses across the 32km project. In Johns River, sixteen residents & businesses will have a new Johns River Road address. One resident will have a Koolyangarra Way address, and the three residents at Passionfruit Creek will live on Whitton Road. Otherwise, all Johns River addresses will remain the same.
Names which lost out in the voting included "Lumberjack Way", "Old Pacific Highway" and "Sid Tiedman Road", the latter honouring the first Progress Association Secretary during the war years, and writer of "The Forge", on early Johns River life.
The community voted for “John Stewart” and “John Oxley” for bridge names. The RTA has yet to ask the community for it’s preferences on these.
Soon, we hope!
Overlay of an aerial photo of the construction work of
the new Johns River interchange. Background Photo Courtesy Skycam © 2009
Below: The Village Plan
He thanked the fine work of Council’s Planning staff, and that of the former Johns River Post-Bypass Committee.
Speaking second against key elements of the plan, was local Tavern owner Mr. Tony Galati, who noted that portions of the plan were on his property, and that the issue of Johns River as a highway service village had been, in his considered opinion, largely ignored by the Post-Bypass Committee.
Director of Planning Mr. Graham Gardner commented that as with all plans, the Johns River Village Plan in parts would require the consent and cooperation of property owners, the RTA and Council alike, with negotiations to be carried out in the upcoming implementation phase of the project.
Planners planning at the July "The Plan" Community Forum at
Johns River
Councillors Mave Richardson and David Keegan moved some important amendments to help define the role of the Implementation Group in staging the objectives of the Village Plan and to oversee funding negotiations. Councillor Richardson was key in promoting our playground and toilet facilities as a top priority in the new Group.
The Mayor and all Councillors present voted in favour of the plan, with the exception of Councillor Jennison and Deputy Mayor Mal Marks, who had expressed his concerns that the plan be deferred until issues such as property ownership as raised by Mr. Galati had been resolved.
Councillor Mave Richardson in her speech favouring the plan, dedicated the support and advice of Council staff to make the work of the new Johns River Implementation Group a great success!
Read more about The Village Plan here
Read More about the Bypass Here, including a report from the Community Interest Group
Signed Sealed and Delivered?
The New Implementation Group and Villager Expectations
What the newly-approved Village Plan does not show plainly, is how the staging will be done and the funding sourced by the Progress Association, Council, the RTA and even the Federal Government.
In some ways, the job of the Johns River Implementation Group to stage the Village Plan will be somewhat straightforward.
The Greater Taree City Council has mandated that top priority when dividing up the jobs will be the village facilities, namely the new toilets and change room facilities with showers, along with the playground area, complete with shade sails and seating.
In addition to these facilities, Villagers expressed high interest in developing the sports oval on the hall grounds, maps of the hinterland at the Eco Tourism Centre, as well as traffic calming and speed reduction measures.
Signing for the Village
Whilst some of the marketing funding applied for by the Association will be used for promotional signage, the vast majority of road signage in Johns River is in the hands of the RTA and Council planners.
The future success of our village businesses will very much depend on how effectively Council and the community can interface with the RTA and their signage policies.
Our preferences for road names, tourism signage, and gateway signage must meet current tourism signposting guidelines.
Sealing the Roadways
Council has already pledged it’s support for assisting in securing funding, and the RTA will continue to play an integral role in ensuring the village roadways are appropriately sealed, marked and prepared for handover to Council (in mid-2010 at this point).
Delivering the Plan
The Progress Association has already written grants for the playground equipment and fulfilling the Plan, and has received a total of $45,000 so far from State and Federal sources with the help of key Council staffers. Further grants are being written now by your JRCPA Management Committee, for everything from improving the road in front of the store and garage, to providing new equipment at the sub-exchange to get broadband for the village. In addition to infrastructure, regional development funds are available now for the Progress Association to promote Johns River to travellers, and to better serve villager needs. The Johns River Implementation Group has a big job ahead of it to make the Village Plan a reality. — It will indeed be a big delivery!
