Conjola Improvements

A community event will be held at Hoylake Grove Reserve on Saturday, 25 February 2023.

Shoalhaven City Council and the Conjola Community Association (CCA) invites the Conjola Park community to come together to enjoy good food, great company, conversations, and to provide input and ideas about upgrades to open spaces, to support the Conjola Park community.

Key event details

Date: Saturday, 25 February 2023

Time: 12pm to 3pm

Location: Hoylake Grove Reserve

Bookings are essential for catering.

Activities include:

• Lunch (BBQ and dessert table).
• Fun activities for the younger crew.
• Opportunities to provide feedback about potential open space improvements in Conjola Park.
  • Council staff and Conjola Community Association representatives will be available on-site on the day to hear your ideas.
• Survey launch: community members will be able to provide feedback on how funds donated to the CCRA after the 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires should be utilised.
  • Hard copies of the survey will be available to complete on the day.
  • An Online Survey will remain open until Sunday 26 March 2023.

Book your place here

Background

The Conjola Community Recovery Association (CCRA) was formed immediately following the 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires. The CCRA received donations for the purpose of supporting the Conjola Park community by upgrading open space facilities.

The CCRA members resolved that the donated funds should be distributed and to wind up. The Conjola Community Association worked with the CCRA to make this happen.

$370,000 is now held in trust by Shoalhaven City Council on behalf of the Conjola community.

• The Conjola Community Association formed a Sub-Committee in early 2023, which is made up of 5 CCA members. The Sub-Committee will work with the community and Council to ensure the donated funds are utilised well and supported by the community.
• Council and the Conjola Community Association would like to hear from you about how the donated funds should be spent.
• Come along to the community event to have a chat with Council staff and the Conjola Community Association about your ideas for the donated funds.

A new two-lane boat ramp and pontoon at Havilland Street, Conjola Park has been launched, providing a deep water boat launching facility on the western reaches of the lake.

The brand new pontoon and car-trailer parking spaces will provide the local community and visitors with a much needed recreational facility where boats of all sizes can be launched and retrieved safely.

The new facility provides safe and easy access to the water with plenty of room to launch and a large area for parking cars and trailers.

The project was made possible through the support of the NSW Government’s Boating Now Grant Program which contributed $661,000 towards the project, in addition to Bushfire Local Economic Recovery funding (BLER) of $775,000.

The grant funding works carried out:

• A two-lane boat ramp with an intermediate floating pontoon
• 26 sealed car-trailer spaces
• Access road and boat launching manoeuvring area
• Two accessible car spaces with a concrete path down to the boat ramp.

The boat ramp is now ready for summer, with additional landscape planting to be completed soon.

Stage two of the project will see additional car-trailer spaces and an amenities block.

For more information, visit Lake Conjola Boat Launching Ramp | Shoalhaven City Council (nsw.gov.au)

Due to the recent periods of wet weather and unforeseen circumstances, the construction of the new shelter and installation of the barbeque in Valley Drive Reserve at Hoylake Grove, Conjola Park has been delayed until the new year. Council apologise for any inconvenience.

Council wishes to advise the residents of Conjola Park of the following update for infrastructure works currently underway at Hoylake Grove Reserve, Conjola Park.

The shade sail was completed in November by a local contractor. Families can now enjoy the play equipment in the midday hours in full shade over the upcoming summer holidays.

The BBQ shelter and picnic facilities are currently under construction and are planned to be completed and available for use prior to Christmas.

Unfortunately due to the persistent wet weather experienced in November and early December, construction of the pathway network will now be completed in January 2022.

Council is pleased to advise Conjola Park residents of some exciting park upgrades coming soon to Hoylake Grove Reserve (located on Hoylake Grove, Conjola Park).

The upgrades seek to improve access to existing infrastructure and enhance the useability of the open space. The upgrades include:

• A new pathway network from Hoylake Grove to and around the playground
• A 6x4m shelter with wheelchair accessible BBQ picnic facilities
• A new shade sail to improve sun safety of the existing play equipment

The shade sail will be installed first, followed by construction of the pathway linking the playground, seating, BBQ and adjacent reserve.

These works for Hoylake Grove have been enabled via grant funding from the Federal Government and Council’s capital budget.

Works are expected to be completed by December 2021.

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Drawing for shelter:

Shade projections:
Please note the colours shown in the drawings are for illustrative purposes only. The shade sail will be coloured ‘Brunswick Green’ with ‘Riversand’ coloured posts and be positioned over the playground.

Shade projections at various times of day during mid-summer:

Plan for pathway network:

At the Strategy and Assets Committee Meeting on Tuesday 9 February 2021, Council resolved not to adopt the Draft Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan and Yooralla Bay Concept Plan, however, supported providing some infrastructure improvements in the Conjola Park and Lake Conjola area, aiming to improve the amenity of the area for the community.

It was resolved that Council:

1. Acknowledge and commend the efforts of the Conjola Community Recovery Association and the hard work and commitment in developing the Draft Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan and Draft Yooralla Bay Concept Plan. In doing so, Council writes to the Conjola Park residents thanking them for their input into the community consultation, and confirming the extent of the Council’s commitment to the infrastructure improvements adopted in the recommendation.

2. Do not adopt the Draft Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan and Draft Yooralla Bay Concept Plan prepared by TAKT Studio for Architecture and instead endorse the following infrastructure improvements:

a. Hoylake Grove Park, Conjola Park:

i. Memorial Garden and seating elements

ii. Footpaths from Hoylake Grove to and around Playground, Shade/Shelter near playground, Accessible BBQ and picnic facilities in accordance with grant funding

b. Lake Conjola:

i. Lake Conjola Entrance Road Bikeway through to the boat ramp elements identified in the Draft Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan, without the deviation at Aney Street.

3. Continue to advocate and seek funding for any of the identified infrastructure improvements that cannot be met by the existing grant monies with Council contribution of $200,000 and any additional embellishments and infrastructure as identified by the community.

4. Continue to liaise with the Conjola Community Recovery Association regarding any donated funds which have been raised that could be used towards the delivery of these elements.

Council staff have written to the community to inform them of the outcome of the Council meeting. We received many submissions and really appreciate the level of engagement during the process.

The first step for Council staff is to now progress with delivering the improvements at Hoylake Grove Park including footpaths, shade / shelter, and accessible BBQ and picnic facility.

Integral to this, is working with the Conjola Park residents to ensure we are able to deliver what the community wants. To this end, we will continue to consult further and provide updates in relation to the delivery of these works via the Get Involved project page.

In addition to the two surveys, we have created a Quick Poll to give our community the opportunity to have your say about what you would like to see improved in the parks and open spaces of Conjola Park and Lake Conjola.

Thank you for your input, this Quick Poll has now closed.

As part of the reopening of the community consultation period on the draft Conjola Connected Communities Master Plan and Yooralla Bay Concept Plan, Council staff will be out in Conjola Park and Lake Conjola to meet with the community members who are interested in finding out more about the draft Plans.

The on-site consultation sessions will be held across three separate days at the following sites:

• Wednesday 11 November, 12pm to 2pm at Hoylake Park
• Wednesday 18 November, 12pm to 2pm at Lake Conjola Community Hall
• Thursday 19 November, 3pm to 6pm at the Bushfire Hub, Lake Conjola Community Hall

You can download a copy of the Community Consultation Flyer via this link.

Consultation on the Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan and Yooralla Bay Concept Plan will reopen after the community raised some concerns that Council have not reached everyone during the consultation period that ran from 3 August and 30 September 2020 (inclusive).

The community consultation period will reopen from Friday 30 October to Friday 27 November (inclusive). The reopening will involve the same surveys as the initial consultation period, as well as an opportunity to provide written submissions.

The surveys will be available via the following links:

• Survey on Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan
• Survey on Yooralla Bay Concept Plan

If you require a hard copy of the survey, please contact Jessica Volkanovski on (02) 4429 3152. Should you wish to provide a written submission, these will also be accepted. Written submissions are to be sent to council@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au or P.O. Box 42 Nowra NSW 2541 by the consultation close date.

Keep an eye out for flyers in your mail box.

Shoalhaven City Council would like to take this opportunity to confirm that Council has not endorsed or adopted the Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan and Yooralla Bay Concept Plan.

Further, Council would like to clarify that TAKT Studio for Architecture are not Council’s architects and were not engaged by Council. The engagement of TAKT Studio for Architecture who Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan and Yooralla Bay Concept Plan was wholly the responsibility of the Conjola Community Recovery Association who also funded these services.

Council’s aim throughout the Community Engagement and Consultation period, which has been run and managed by Council staff, has been to work with the residents of Conjola Park so that we understand what you do or do not want to see in the park and foreshore areas of Yooralla Bay and Hoylake Park, and the Lake Conjola area. This is why the feedback through the consultation period is important to us as it will help inform and guide any future works in your community.

During the consultation period from 3 August and 28 September 2020 (inclusive), Council saw significant engagement from interested community members with:

• 1900 Get Involved page visits.
• Over 140 surveys were received for the Draft Conjola Connected Communities Masterplan and the Draft Yooralla Bay Concept Plan.
• Over 40 written submissions were received during the consultation period and after.
• Webinar was attended by 39 participants, with over 50 questions received.

Council will continue to work with the community in bushfire recovery efforts and improving the infrastructure provision in the Conjola Park and Lake Conjola areas, with a recent announcement made by the Federal Government awarding $165,000 towards pathways, BBQ and picnic facilities at Hoylakle Grove Reserve under the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program.

More information on the community consultation will be available soon.