IDEAS as diverse as food markets, bicycle parking, free WiFi, increased police presence and a multi-storey car park have been included in the top 50 bright ideas to revive Dubbo’s Central Business District (CBD).
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The ideas were generated in the Dubbo City Council’s Ignite the CBD campaign aimed at reinvigorating the city centre into a vibrant drawcard for businesses and residents.
One suggestion to lift the image of the area was to rebadge it with a new name.
The council is drafting its CBD precinct plan for presentation in October and public exhibition in November.
The 50 ideas consisted of lighter, quicker and cheaper (LQC) projects and heavier, slower and dearer (HSD) projects, including pop-up eateries, concerts at the Church Street Rotunda and the appointment of a CBD place manager.
More than 450 submissions and 1000 ideas were put forward to the DCC for ways to improve the CBD.
Dubbo councillor Allan Smith said not only did Macquarie Street need more entertainment and dining experiences, but a new name and residential areas would help bring vibrancy back into the Dubbo CBD.
Some of the ideas Cr Smith had for the residential areas included living areas above shops, offices and cafe’s, as well as housing along the Macquarie River.
“If there was housing overlooking the Macquarie River it would sell like hot cakes,” he said.
“People have got to get it out of their mind that we can’t live in the CBD, because we can.”
Cr Smith said the CBD needed to be more than just a destination for shopping.
“If the CBD is a vibrant destination where people can dine, meet friends and shop, you will get more investment,” he said.
“But we must be careful we don’t develop places which destroy the fabric of the city by developing too much shopping centres.”
Cr Smith said strong competition between Orana Mall and a vibrant CBD would be good for Dubbo.
“If Dubbo doesn’t have a vibrant heart (the CBD) it won’t last,” he said.
“Orana Mall is vibrant, so we’ve got to make the CBD vibrant as well, and not just by having more shops.”
Earlier last month at a Planning and Development Committee meeting Cr Smith said the CBD needed a new bright and lively name to continue the spark that the Ignite initiative had started.
“We shouldn’t call it just the CBD because it’s too bland,” Cr Smith said.
“It illuminates in people’s mind what it is. It’s a place to go and shop, but it’s also a place to buy coffee, you can go to the movies, you can see a doctor. It’s a lot more than just shopping.”
Cr Smith suggested the CBD name be changed to ‘Macquarie Central’ to fit in with the Macquarie River and Macquarie Street.
Dubbo Rate Payers Association president Merrilyn Mulchay said although she hadn’t personally thought of a different name for the CBD, she was supportive of the idea.
“A name change would be good. It needs something that will liven it up,” she said.
Ms Mulchay suggested the idea of joining the empty the Sam’s Warehouse building with Charter Square to create a vibrant, busier shopping complex.
“Dubbo attracts a lot of people from many different regions. It’s a big centre and we have everything but it just needs a little bit more,” she said.
Ms Mulchay said a shop such as K-Mart would be welcome.
“We don’t want to take away from the other shops already in the CBD,” she said.
“It (the CBD) has a great drawcard of people, it just needs to be made a bit more attractive.”