As Sharks grand final fever swept through Cronulla Mall this week, around the corner a meeting was taking of the pulse of the Cronulla business community.
Business-owners got to bear their heart when the chamber of commerce met at the 1908Cronulla restaurant in Surf Road to discuss the next step in the development of a future master plan for the suburb.
Issued raised included parking, degraded public domain and lack of facilities for youth.
But the chamber seems to have caught the ear of Sutherland Shire Council on the issue of the Cronulla special rate levy.
A decision by the council to change the way Cronulla’s special rate levy is distributed away from promotions and towards infrastructure improvements has angered chamber members.
The chamber has resolved not pay the levy if it is not to be spent on promotions.
There are also concerns amongst chamber members that the spring fair will not go ahead in the future.
There should be a consensus on whether or not the fair continues, and not just a decision handed down by the council, one chamber member said.
Sutherland Shire Council’s director shire services Manjeet Grewal asked the chamber members what promotions they would like to see.
The council wants to hear that there is a consensus that there are some key events that are held in the CBD.
The council has also engaged consultants Gallagher Studio Urban and Landscape Projects to get the views of businesses and incorporate them into the Cronulla Master Plan.
“Our scope is not to look only at the mall but all the streets in the town centre,” Gallagher Studio head Dr Libby Gallagher said.
“We are charged with developing a master plan for the whole town centre.”
The first stage is gathering information and asking businesses for feedback from which the consultants will develop a series of “collaborative design options” for the mall and the wider central business district.
There will be community workshops and information stalls in the mall where residents will have a chance to have a say in what they would like to see in the master plan.
They will then develop a draft master plan on the short, medium and long-term issues of CBD.
It will be looking at traffic flow, public domain improvements and new public facilities.
Other issues raised at the meeting included replacement of the degraded children’s play area in Ocean Grove which is being moved to accommodate the old Commonwealth Bank redevelopment.
“We need to know exactly what is going to replace it,” Jenny Leonard said. “It’s really important for Cronulla for parents to have a place for children to play that is safe.
We need to know where it will be, what it will be, and when it will happen.”
Annette Hogan said the women’s rest centre needs in the mall must stay.
“It’s very safe and really needs to stay,” she said. “It’s very important for safety. Girls can go and get changed and there is an attendant. It is a really great feature that no other destination has.”
Julia Spiteri sat the stage area in the mall should stay but it needs to be improved altought chamber president Mark Aprilovic said the toilet block should go.
Ms Spiteri said there should be more and better lighting in the mall and more shelter.
The issue of paid parking was raised.
“If you charge for parking, people won’t come,” a chamber member said.
Businesses have heard rumours there are plans to take away awnings in the mall and move the seating undercover which one business-owner said this would be a disaster.
“Diners can sit in the mall undercover. Other malls at The Corso at Manly and at Bondi don’t have that feature,” a business-owner said.
The aesthetics of the mall need to go to another level and not be left in the 1980s, one member said.
“One thing Cronulla has that other beaches don’t is the rail line, but people still go to Manly and Bondi,” he said.
“We need to make Cronulla a destination. Noosa is an example of what has been done right and need to incorporate some of that design.”
One element that is not looked after is our youth, said Melissa Hatheier of Cronulla Real Estate.
“Recently I saw two kids aged 10 or 11 hitch-hiking along Captain Cook Drive to the skate park. I fear something sad could happen.
“It’s not a safe environment. It’s out in the middle of nowhere.
We should have a skate facility like Bondi, closer to the CBD.”
She said another idea would be to have a large screen in the mall to show surf comps from around the world, night time movies for kids and other events.
“We need to look after the teenage age bracket. They have money to spend, the love to eat out, they are part of the community that consumes, but they are being shooed away.
“We have alienated that age group and they are our future customers,” Ms Hatheier said.