CBD renewal will come via multiple layers: urban planner

Urban Planning consultant Grant Palethorpe of Place360.

by Janine Hill

A PLAN to revamp the centre of Nambour has been described by a town planner as one of many layers of solutions needed to bring the CBD to life.

Grant Palethorpe, founder of urban planning consultancy Place 360, said a vibrant, healthy place was a mixture of many things.

Mr Palethorpe, a long-time local, is heavily involved in the local community. He is on a steering group for the Nambour Special Entertainment Precinct, as well as vice president of the Woombye Community & Business Association. He said the proposed streetscaping aimed to provide convenient ‘legible connections’ for pedestrians, inviting them to walk through the CBD and hopefully linger and ultimately support the town’s businesses. He said shade and seating were  important considerations in hot climates. "Cafes offering street dining draws people to a place," he said. "A variety of businesses with open shop fronts also play a role in drawing people into an area." 

The Sunshine Coast Council has put forward a draft Nambour Place Plan aimed at reinvigorating the town’s business centre.

The plan focuses on the Currie Street and the Howard Street, Mill Street, Bury Street and Ann Street areas. It proposes more street trees, as well as planter boxes, water features, and bench seating at certain locations.

It includes improved and raised crossings on Currie Street and at the junction of Low Street with Ann Street, conversion of Mill Street to one way from Currie Street to the current roundabout, and turning Bury Street into a one way shared zone from Mill Street to Currie Street.

Some business operators crying out for more foot traffic past and through their doors have been disappointed that the plan ignores on-going pleas for more parking in the area.

High streets & 'dead' shop fronts

Mr Palethorpe is experienced in the dynamics of main or “high” streets, and what he describes as “movement and purpose”.

He said most successful ‘high streets’ traditionally had 5m wide shop fronts with clear glass window frontages so people could see what was going on inside. “In addition to the many vacant shops on Currie Street there are multiple dead shop fronts,” he said. “Where the whole glass frontage is tinted”, this forms an uninviting environment, especially at night when there is little ambient light.

“By contrast the new Small Change Espresso is the opposite. Walking and even driving past you can see into the premises. It feels inviting because there are other people there.  

“Unfortunately there was a period when development got away from this notion, probably due to the birth of the shopping mall. Essentially these malls purposely  captured the shopper, with absolutely no regard to neighbouring businesses external to the mall.

“There was a growing awareness of these poor outcomes and I assume this may have been why on Mill Street, the relatively-new Coles building has each business fronting directly onto the street. You walk into a shop, do your business, exit onto the footpath and go into another shop etc. Walking or driving past you get the feeling the street is active, there’s movement and, importantly, the more people the safer the place is too.

“If you see a queue of people waiting for food, outside places like the kebab or sushi shop, Good Bean or Nambour Social, you think 'that must be good' and you’re likely to want to give that a try yourself,” he said.

Mr Palethorpe said an active high street needed a variety of business types including cafes, services and retailers. “A reason to come and a reason to return. It’s about creating an experience.”

“In Nambour the supermarkets moved away from Currie St in the 1980s, before then the main supermarkets were BCC (Lowe St), Cut Price Stores and Coles. Then Coles expanded and moved next to the creek. Car parking was likely to have driven the shift, but in many respects moving away from the traditional High Street location was a double-edged sword. Focus moved to Ann St (Woolworths/Big W) and many shops along Currie Street either moved or closed. The banks followed. There was then little reason to go to Currie Street.”

Shift towards big box & online shopping

Mr Palethorpe said the shift toward online shopping and big box outlets like Harvey Norman, Officeworks, Bunnings & Spotlight also impacted all high streets to varying degrees. “Part of the objective is to find a good blend of businesses that support each other, so that coming to Nambour’s High street is an experience, and one that people willingly to do over and over again. Creating a conscious effort to support Nambour first before travelling to the coast.”

He said there was a fine line to be trod between the number of carparks and the types of businesses they served. “Understandably if you have people carrying bulky items, as you would have, say, from a rural supplies store or a supermarket, you want car parking close by,” he said.

Mr Palethorpe pointed out that people visiting large shopping malls like Sunshine Plaza need to park, walk through the car park a fair distance before they even get through the doors of the mall. "They have likely walked further than if they were in Nambour," he said. "Obviously, these places are able to attract people with more variety and air-conditioning."

As a follower of the internationally renowned Project for Public Spaces, which offers conferences and training to raise the standards of placemaking in the world, Mr Palethorpe said having a reason to go to a place and a reason to come back made a big difference.

“In PPS, they suggest a great place has 10 reasons to go there and 10 reasons to come back,” he said.

“With Nambour, it’s about having a reason for people to go there, and it’s got to be authentic, and a reason to keep returning. It must be unique, attracting visitors while also appealing to the locals. It gets down to if people don’t feel safe, and if they don’t relate to a place, they just won’t go there.” 

He advocated for placemaking, and Council’s approach. “Council respects the uniqueness of each town and village, these projects are never a “copy and paste”. This Plan is aimed at Nambour and strives to create a positive environment, the proposal isn’t a clone of past projects from somewhere else.

He said Nambour had the 'bones' that should be emphasised as a point of difference.

But there was only so much the Council could do to try and draw people into Nambour. "Council have initiated simplified permits for street dining and recently provided funding for tidying up the street façades," he said. 

"The right mix of businesses are needed to support each other, and landlords need to be on board and willing to invest in their properties."  

Referring to the PPS concept “Power of 10” He said Nambour’s resurgence would not come from one direction. The Nambour Plan was not a golden ticket, nor is the tram, or the Special Entertainment Precinct. But each of these are vital and build layers of interest to help get the town there.

One of Council’s artist’s impression of the Place Plan for Currie Street. Red symbol indicates future art installation.