Dubbo Regional Council mayor Mathew Dickerson said he too was keen to see any future plans for Regand Park.
Speaking to Dubbo Photo News this week, Cr Dickerson said no plans had yet been lodged with council.
“The only plans I’ve ever seen for Regand Park was the original 2015 masterplan,” he said.
“That plan was revoked by the previous council in 2018 and was not replaced. I thought the original plan was fantastic, but for some reason that plan was revoked and not replaced.”
Cr Dickerson added St John’s ideas for the site were first raised in February last year.
“I assume that, at that time, St John’s had some basic plans for the site, but there was nothing official from council,” he said.
“Now this year, we have a new council, and we want to review the original masterplan and look at the whole river corridor.
“We have engaged consultants to meet with the community, but I want to emphasise there are no plans currently lodged with council.”
The mayor said he thought initial draft plans for Regand Park might be available by October this year.
“After that, council will have a workshop with the consultants – not at a council meeting, but in a workshop so that we can focus on that one issue and really drill down into it,” Cr Dickerson said.
“Then we would take that back to the November council meeting and any plans would then be on display for the community to comment on for at least two months.”
Cr Dickerson also emphasised that there had been no change in the zoning of Regand Park.
“The zoning for that area has always been the same – certainly it has been the same for the past 10 years – and that is zoned as RE1 for public recreation,” he said.
“There is a zoning – C3 – for environmental purposes, but Regand Park has never been zoned exclusively for that in my time.
“We do want to see people use the area; they use it now. There’s a cycleway that is incredibly popular,” Cr Dickerson said.