Category: Topical Issues

Update on last Sunday’s Meeting with the Mayor

As mentioned in the last “Paluma in the Rain” update, we had a visit from the acting Mayor (Councillor Ann-Maree Greaney) and Zac Daws, Local Disaster Coordinator last Sunday. In preparation for the meeting, Peter Cooke wrote up a list of issues for discussion which included:

  1. lack of news on the state of the range road and the schedule for repairs
  2. lack of adequate backup power for the Telstra mobile phone tower
  3. need for a formal landing area near the village for helicopters
  4. need for rubbish collection as soon as possible
  5. need for road maintenance to Ewan and Hervey’s Range road
  6. request to increase bandwidth of the TCC wifi link at the Community Hall

The mayor noted that many of these items were outside their immediate responsibility but undertook to pass our concerns on to the relevant authority, and to respond in writing to those issues it was in a position to act on.

The following response was sent to Charlie Allen and Ross Hyne on Monday.

Mt Spec Road closures June til August

The department of Main Roads is planning maintenance work on the range road in June through to August. Works will be conducted in the night from 6pm to 6am Saturday – Thursday, and 7pm to 6am on Fridays. This is the same schedule that was used during the last maintenance program. Individuals who commute up and down the range for work should have been contacted individually already. I you fall this this category please contact TMR as soon as possible. There will be no maintenance work during the Paluma Push.

Here is the relevant notice from TMR.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) will soon commence stabilisation works on Mt Spec Road Slop between Fairy Falls and Maiden Hair Fern Creek.

These important works are required due to the deteriorating condition of the rock walls and will prevent failure of the rock walls along this important heritage listed road.

We are contacting you as a key local stakeholder to seek your feedback and understand any concerns you may have about the proposed timing or about these works from a local perspective.

Works will be occurring from:

Monday 17 June to Friday 30 August 2024
With a working roster of 10 days on 4 days off between 6pm – 6am
Friday night road closure will occur 7pm and reopen 6am Saturday.

The schedule is currently for a full road closure commencing at 6pm and reopening at 6am.  Work crews will commence prestart works an hour prior to the road closure.

Please note, Mount Spec Road in its entirety will be closed during the night works, with provision for Queensland Emergency Services and parents who will be required to retrieve sick students only.

The night works will take place based on 10 working days and 4 days-off (10:4) roster for the duration of the slope stabilisation project.  Each Friday night of the work schedule, the road will be closed at 7pm and reopen 6am Saturday morning.

Please find attached Notice of Works including a calendar with scheduled works specific to Mt Spec Road. Please note these may be subject to change due to weather conditions, contractor availability and construction progress.

We encourage you to please let us know of any community events that are occurring over the course of roadworks. Please find the current works calendar on page 2 of the attached document. Alternatively, you can call me on
1800 625 648 to discuss further.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Sarah

Communications Officer
Customer and Stakeholder Management Team – Northern District | North Queensland Region
Program Delivery and Operations Branch | Infrastructure Management and Delivery Division

Department of Transport and Main Roads
P: 1800 625 648| M: 0744218996
Floor 6 | 445 Flinders Street | Townsville Qld 4810
GPO Box 1089 | Townsville Qld 4810

engagement.northern@tmr.qld.gov.au
www.tmr.qld.gov.au

Reminder: Community Meeting with Councillor Margie Ryder – Sunday, August 20th

On Sunday, August 20th at 10 am the PDCA is hosting a community meeting with our Townsville City Council representative, Margie Ryder.  This will provide an opportunity for Margie to report on what the Council has been doing and to listen to any concerns that Paluma residents may have relating to council facilities and initiatives.  Items that we will be inviting Margie to comment on include:

  1. Plans for signage at the village entrance, and upgrade of other signs around the village
  2. Dog Poo bag dispensers and other issues on animal control (Cats, noisy dogs)
  3. Community security in the light of multiple recent events in and around the village
  4. Road Maintenance
  5. Vegetation control (weeds)

The meeting is open to all Paluma Residents.  Please come along to have your say.

Community Neighbourhood Watch meeting this Saturday

In the last month we have had an attempted break-in at the Inn, illegal squatting in one of the residential properties, vandalism at Little Crystal Creek picnic area and repeated episodes of cars hooning and speeding in the vicinity of the Village. This sudden increase in illegal and antisocial activity is a major concern. While the police have been notified of these occurrences, it would be useful for members of the Community to get together and discuss how we can ensure there is increased vigilance and early warnings of any potential incidents around the village as well as prompted and detailed reporting as soon of any actual incident.

I suggest that we hold a Community Neighbourhood Watch meeting this Saturday at 1 pm in the Community Hall so that we can review what is happened and what actions we, as a community, could take in order to reduce the risks and increase overall security and peace of mind in the Village.

The PDCA executive group will also be meeting earlier in the morning and will discuss this issue (as well as other matters) and will provide some thoughts on how the PDCA, local government and local police might be able to help with this spate of unfortunate incidents.

Jamie Oliver

Paluma Dam Spillway Concrete Works – Project Update:

From Councillor Margie Ryder:

Townsville City Council is committed to providing and maintaining $5.4B worth of community assets consisting of water and wastewater networks, bridges, drainage, roads, waste management and spillway maintenance.

Paluma Dam spillway infrastructure maintenance works are ongoing that will see the delivery of protection barrier installed to the foundations of the dams spillways bridge.

Works are now at the stage for the construction of the new protective concrete barrier ‘slab’ that will be poured onto the existing surface. These works will require a convey of concrete trucks that will be using the Paluma Dam access road which will cause traffic delays.

Council will have traffic management in place; however, dependable on weather conditions the unsealed access road to the Dam including the Paluma Dam campgrounds may have considerable delays on the day of concrete pouring.

The Paluma Dam, Concrete Pouring works are scheduled to commence on Thursday, 02 December 2021 and are expected to take one day to complete.

Please be advised that the concrete trucks will be operational 7am through to 2pm. Normal traffic conditions will return post 2pm.

Townsville City Council Update on their Website

Unofficial Notice of Paluma Dam Road Closure (Oct 5th-Nov 4th)

While the Townsville City Council does not have any official notification on their website I have received verbal advice from a council officer that major works to prepare the major potholes and ditches at specific spots on the dam road will commence and October 5th and be completed by November 4th – rain permitting.

Although it is disappointing that earlier advanced written notice of the closure directly from the Council to residents has not occurred, it is very good news that the chronic erosion of the road due to drain and culvert blockages will finally be fixed more permanently than just throwing some fill onto the road. Many thanks to Wilfred Karnoll whose persisentence during repeated phone calls and delayed meetings finally resulted in the recognition of the problem and a promise (soon to be fulfilled if it doesn’t rain) to fix it.