Fairways Park

The site for the park is on the east side of Fairway Drive approximately centralised between Stephenson Crescent and Arlington Way/Teak Street. 

Community consultation will involve several stages including:

Phase 1 - Identifying and understanding community views, concerns and aspirations for the proposed parklands.

• This may include a community vision statement for the park. 
• Broad level focus on types of use, frequency of use, interactions between different features/zones/activities. 

Phase 2 - Test and review concept designs for the Master Plan. 

• The concept designs are based on a combination of the community's ideas from Phase 1 consultation, environmental factors and overall project costs. 
• This provides the community with an opportunity to see if Council has understood the overall community’s feedback including their concerns and aspirations, and addressed them appropriately. 

Phase 3 - Draft Master Plan presented for final comments. 

• This review will be the final opportunity for feedback prior to adoption of the Master Plan and is likely to include a confirmation process on preferences for the order of proposed stages, within budget constraints. 

Phase 4 - Periodic review of Master Plan. 

• As the development of the park will occur over a number of years and not all at once, Council plans to include the local community in reviewing aspects of the Master Plan prior to implementation of each stage.
• This will allow amendments to be made as the population around the park grows and as Council has budget to construct future stages.
• This process provides the ability for the Master Plan to be updated so as to reflect changes in local needs and aspiration

Construction will involve the following broad stages: 

Stage 1: a, b, c and d

• Commencing approximately October 2020 and open to public use approximately July 2021
• See the Document Library for more details

Stages 2 and beyond

• Includes further car-parking, extended picnic and barbecue areas, sports field, club house, walking trails, and mountain bike trails
• Will be constructed as funding allows over the following 10-15 years

Fairways Park (Stage 1) will be open to the public from Saturday 21 August 2021, subject to any COVID-restrictions in place at that time. 

For more information on what is in Stage 1 see the Concept Designs in the Document Library. 

Fairways Park is a large project which Council is undertaking over 10-15 years, Multiple funding sources will be utilised at various stages to ensure value-for-money for ratepayers and sustainability for Council. 

Stage 1 is jointly funded by the Queensland Government's Unite and Recover Community Stimulus program ($2.74M), the Australian Government's Building Better Regions Fund ($0.8M) and Council ($0.8M). This is additional to Council's purchase of the land. 

Council appreciates the generosity of the Queensland and Australian Governments. 

Park design will start with a relatively empty block providing an opportunity to take an innovative approach with layout and features. Designs will need to be managed within available budgets for both construction and maintenance and the choice of features and timing of installation of some features will be influenced by community consultation. 

Council has approached the park design with an open mind and considered all ideas put forward by the community. Choices will have to be made by both the local community and Council about which features can be managed within designated and realistic budgets, which will include ongoing maintenance and operational costs. 

One key guide for the community to consider is that Council is unlikely to install any features that would generally be a commercial venture such as an ice/roller-skating rink, bowling alley, cinema or water park. However, it may be possible for designs to facilitate some aspects of those ideas in a way which encourages commercial and community providers to run those activities. 

Following a fair and open tender process, the contract has been awarded to TLCC (The Landscape Construction Company). TLCC has been recognised for excellence in the field of landscape construction with more than 30 awards and more than 850 completed projects. 

TLCC will engage local contractors on the project where possible, subject to competitive tender processes, capability and availability within the project timelines. 

TLCC's previous projects include Queens Park Toowoomba, Walton Bridge Park Upgrade at The Gap and Underwood Park Nature Play in Logan. 

Council is very aware of the local wildlife in the area of the park including koalas, wallabies, geckoes, birds and more and will minimise impacts wherever possible.

As per the concept designs, large portions of the site will be maintained as bushland, particularly but not limited to the southern half of the site. Tree clearing in other areas will be selective to provide necessary space for infrastructure without unnecessarily removing the natural wildlife habitats.

A thorough environmental inspection has been undertaken by an independent consultant and Council will manage disruption to natural habitats in accordance with all government requirements. 

Council understands there is strong community interest in the development of a water park within this park or elsewhere in the region, and has considered various options. 

The concept designs allow for water play areas that are consistent with limited water supply and water conservation. It is unlikely Council would build a large water park on this site due to both capital and ongoing operational and maintenance costs, however it may be possible for a commercial water park to be included in the future. 

Reports on community consultation are published in the Documents Library section of this site. Concept designs based on community consultation are also available in the Document Library.