Community input essential to shared vision for Wollongong's green heart
There are many chapters in the story of MacCabe Park.
Today, it's a prized green space in the heart of the CBD, home to Wollongong's War Memorial and annual Anzac Day service, Wollongong Youth Services, and the much-loved Christmas Carols in the Park.
Through earlier phases of its existence, it housed tennis courts, a velodrome, a cricket pitch and football field, and was once considered a potential home for an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Through all its different eras, MacCabe Park has remained the green heart of a changing Wollongong City Centre. That evolution will continue through an exciting new phase with the development of a MacCabe Park Masterplan.
To be developed in consultation with the community over the coming 12 months, the long-awaited Masterplan will guide future planning and provide a shared vision for an expanded green park that offers a range of experiences for people of all ages.
Realising that vision has been a long-held ambition for Council, which first resolved in 1979 to progressively acquire privately owned Keira Street properties on the western side of the park as they came onto the market. We recently completed the purchase of the last remaining property, bringing all land identified for the expansion of green space within the park into public hands.
Lord Mayor of Wollongong Councillor Tania Brown says the looming new chapter for the park shapes as the most exciting one yet.
"Plans for MacCabe Park have evolved and shifted over time, but it has remained steadfast in the heart of Wollongong and the community over many years," Cr Brown said.
"There's never been a shortage of opinions or ideas as to what it should look like, but there have been consistent unifying principles over the journey. Our community needs and deserves a modern contemporary park that is well connected, is open and accessible, and provides a mix of recreation opportunities and community connection for people of all ages.
"We're taking immediate and long-term steps toward those goals. The now complete acquisition of all the adjoining properties in Keira Street will allow staff, consultants and the community to consider the entire park footprint from the outset of the Masterplanning process and ensure it aligns with broader goals to increase green space and urban canopy cover in our city centre.
"While we're taking a long-term view, there are some exciting things happening right now, including an increase in open space through the demolition of Pioneer Hall, and construction of a long-called-for City Centre Skatepark on the eastern side of the park.
"Progressing these projects alongside the longer-term opportunities offered through development of the Masterplan ensures Council makes best use of a prized community asset to meet the immediate and future needs of our community."
The proposal to build the City Centre skatepark in MacCabe Park received overwhelming support from the community, with feedback identifying the location as convenient and family friendly, with the potential to activate a currently under-utilised section of the park.
We anticipate awarding the tender for the design and construction of an approximately 1500m2 skate park (less than three per cent of the park footprint) by the end of October, with the design phase to include further community consultation.
We look forward to working with the community through the design phase for the skatepark, and the development of the MacCabe Park Masterplan, to continue shaping the long-term future of this much-loved community space.
You can sign up and stay up to date with the Masterplan development via Council's engagement page:
