A report to Council next Tuesday March 9th 2021 recommends the allocation of residual bushfire grant funding money for the construction of a reinforced concrete footpath along Church Street and Park Street in Mogo to connect the Mogo Village and Mogo Public School with the Boomerang Place, Mogo oval and playground and residents within Church Street, Park Street and Ison Street.
The path has been long sought by the community requesting that Council connects key parts of the residential community and provides accessibility for community members to walk into the Mogo CBD and also visit the Mogo oval, playground and picnic/BBQ facilities comfortably.
The allocation of the funding is however only an afterthought when it was realised that there was $115,000 of savings remaining from the $1,416,667 ‘Disaster Recovery Funding – Commonwealth Government, Councils Affected by Bushfires’ funding provided by the Australian Government through the National Bushfire Recovery Agency.
An existing formal pathway already extends from the lights into the Mogo Village along the Princes Highway.
The construction of the footpath from the Princes Highway west along Church Street and Park Street will enable safe access and serve to connect the community from the village and school to Boomerang Place, the Mogo oval and playground and residents in the broader village. A short length of pathway will also extend across the Veitch Street culvert crossing to allow a new railing to be added to improve safety and address a concern recently raised by the Mogo community.
Above: proposed pathway works in yellow and its connection between the Mogo Village and Mogo Oval.
This announcement comes on the heels of the recent visit to Mogo by the Premier to see what recovery works had been made to the township since the fires.
It was more than evident to the Premier and entourage, as she toured the bushfire ravaged business precinct, that the township had a long way to go by way of recovery and the anecdotes of complaints, hurdles and lack of action added weight that there was still distinct disquiet in the township as to how recovery funding had been spent and how timelines had been met.
Above: the pop-up Mogo Mall is to be dismantled in early 2022. The Business Council of Australia organised 10 demountable buildings to be delivered from Sydney to Mogo to support business owners whose shops burnt down.
Photo: Mogo Village Council will also soon commence rebuilding Queen Street, west of Park Street and construct a new carpark near the oval under the 2020-21 Urban Roads Reconstruction Program. This work will commence in April 2021.
