Sippy Down’s infrastructure offer stays open

Sunshine Coast Council’s offer to deliver vital infrastructure to trigger development of the Sippy Downs Town Centre and Business and Technology Precinct will remain open until more land owners can commit to the project.

In the mean time, council will upgrade the Sippy Downs Drive and Stringybark Road intersection and continue to work with UnityWater to deliver the trunk sewer main to the area.

The recommendation to keep the offer open and move forward with other infrastructure was endorsed at the today’s Ordinary Meeting of Council.

Council’s Economic Development portfolio holder Councillor Lew Brennan said the plan to provide vital infrastructure is key to stimulating the growth of the town centre and will kick start knowledge-based employment opportunities in the Sippy Downs area.

“In August last year, council endorsed an Infrastructure Implementation Strategy for the centre to fund and construct non-trunk sewer connections plus be the financier for the construction the town centre’s main street,” Cr Brennan said.

“However, the success of the strategy relied upon the land owner’s entering into a voluntary infrastructure agreement, which would see council invest $14.6M to build the infrastructure and be reimbursed by the land owners over time.”

Cr Brennan said the objective was to get the vital infrastructure in the ground early to drive the growth of the town centre.

“Unfortunately, there were not enough positive responses from the land owners to justify moving forward at this time—most likely due to the current economic climate,” Cr Brennan said.

“This is a good offer from council because it would be very difficult to deliver this type of infrastructure if you’re just one party in an area like this.

“So council will stand by its offer and keep it open until more land owners can commit to the project.

“And in the interim, council will move forward with delivering the other necessary infrastructure.”