Sunshine Coast Council and the state government have outlined why a council depot site and seven other locations were shunned in favour of a rugby league complex for an Olympic venue.
The Kawana Sports Precinct was chosen as the area for an 11-court Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre that will host Olympic basketball fixtures in 2032 and accommodate local sports groups for years to come.
The Kawana Dolphins will reluctantly make way for the $142 million centre, which is set to be built by 2027.
The site was preferred over: a council depot site at Wises Road at Maroochydore; the Elizabeth Daniels Reserve multi-sport venue at Buderim; the Maroochydore Football Club grounds at Kunda Park; undeveloped council-owned land at Diddilibah Road at Woombye; the Western Fields at Bokarina; the Nambour Showgrounds; the Maroochydore Multi Sports Complex at Kuluin; and council-owned land in north Maroochydore.
The chair of community group Sunshine Coast Region 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Taskforce, Shane Truscott, said the depot site represented the best option.
“It is the perfect location, close to the planned Olympic Athletes Village, and is accessible from all directions,” he said.
He said growing sports groups in the central and northern Sunshine Coast would be inhibited by a lack of courts in their area.
“(It’s) a long commute from their traditional homes along the congested Nicklin Way to Bokarina, if they are to continue growing,” he said.
“The northern reaches of the Sunshine Coast are home to almost double the population of the southern reaches, with 14,000 students within 10 minutes commute to the Wises Road site.
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“The central and northern catchments have (just) three indoor sports courts at Buderim. Caloundra and Sippy Downs have seven, with four more planned for Aura. Another 11 at Bokarina makes 22 courts for a third of the population. It’s not really equitable.”
Council investigated eight alternative locations for the indoor sports centre in 2021.
A council spokesperson said the Kawana Sports Precinct was recommended and endorsed in early 2023 because it ticked a lot of the boxes that the others did not.
“The planned location maximises community sporting legacy and meets competition venue requirements set by the International Olympic Committee,” they said.
“It supports surrounding sporting infrastructure, falls within budget allocation, offers suitable connectivity and public transport options, and meets space, site conditions and land ownership requirements.”
“None of the alternative sites investigated meet competition venue and overlay requirements set by the IOC.
“Put simply, if we could not identify a suitable site that would meet these requirements, the Sunshine Coast would not get an indoor sports centre and the associated funding. And that would be a real shame for our community.”
The site could be accessible via the Direct Rail Sunshine Coast, which will go to Beerwah and possibly to Kawana by 2032, and an enhanced bus network.
The council spokesperson said investigations for three approved Olympic facilities – including the indoor sports centre, an upgraded Sunshine Coast Stadium and a Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Centre – were comprehensive.
“The project validation process for our Olympic venues was extensive and demonstrated the importance of these venues for our region, as well as lasting economic and social benefits they will deliver before, during and long after hosting the Games,” they said, before adding that the new centre would provide sports groups with much-needed space.
“Our region has a major shortfall of indoor courts due to the growth in popularity of indoor sports.
“By 2032, the Sunshine Coast will need an additional 18 courts to meet the needs of our community. The centre will provide 11 accessible courts for the community to use and participate in a range of sports. As well as basketball, the centre will support and benefit a range of local clubs and national levels of competition in sports such as netball, volleyball, pickleball, futsal and badminton.”
They said the facility would be “leading edge in accessibility and servicing the many para-sports and athletes in our region”.
The spokesperson said the Wises Road site was examined twice.
“Following recent community feedback, council again investigated the suitability of an 11-court indoor sports centre at the Maroochydore depot site on Wises Road,” they said.
“Again, the site was deemed too small, did not meet transport or accessibility requirements.
“The site is also an important, fully operational council depot. This depot would need to be demolished and rebuilt at another location which would require an additional budget of more than $50 million and delay construction of an indoor sports centre by at least four years.”
But Mr Truscott said those hurdles could be overcome.
“The major constraint was that this site was not big enough because of the wetlands: a man-made stormwater detention basin,” he said.
“This could be repositioned closer to the source of the runoff or captured in detention tanks underground, allowing more than a hectare in area to be used for car parking, motorway exit lanes and green space for athlete marshalling.
“The total 5.4-hectare site is larger than the site proposed for the indoor centre at Kawana.
“The works depot is also claimed to be too expensive to relocate (but) we ask: what is the cost of thousands of club members, who currently play in Maroochydore and surrounds, having to spend another 50 minutes return trip to get to their fixture?
“Many just won’t. And those who do will create traffic chaos and struggle to find parks as potentially 500 participants come and go every hour, if the 11 courts are fully utilised.
“In addition, the Kawana Dolphins are pushed to Meridan Plains.
“A new council chambers in the Maroochy CBD could not house the office workers at Wises Road? And the mulch and maintenance gear could not move to the Buderim resource centre and a warehouse facility nearby?
“That cost does not stack up against displacing thousands of junior and senior sportspeople and duplicating the infrastructure they already have.
“We have a huge mess. It’s hardly the way to restore community trust in our local government, nor the legacy the IOC would expect from the Games.”
Mr Truscott said the depot site could be easily accessible.
“The construction of a roundabout at Wises Road and Maroochy Boulevard would open three ins and three outs,” he said.
A Department of State Development and Infrastructure spokesperson said the location was not suitable, but Kawana was.
“The analysis (from Sunshine Coast Council investigations) concluded the site was insufficient in size and would cause significant traffic issues during Games operations,” they said.
“The chosen site at the Kawana Sports Precinct has an area of about 5.3 hectares and the new facility will enhance the existing hub of community and high-performance sport at the precinct, and on the Sunshine Coast more broadly.
“The Kawana site was endorsed by the Queensland Government, Australian Government and Sunshine Coast Council through the Project Validation Report process.
“The recent independent Sport Venue Review also recommended the Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre proceed at Kawana, noting the lack of indoor courts to service the current population, and the shortfall continuing to increase without new facilities.
“Building a newly constructed indoor sports centre there, in conjunction with the expansion of the adjacent Sunshine Coast Stadium, will not only support the Games, but create a regional and national sporting and entertainment venue to provide long-lasting legacy benefits for the community.”
The aerial imagery in this story is from Australian location intelligence company Nearmap. The company provides government organisations, architectural, construction and engineering firms, and other companies with easy, instant access to high-resolution aerial imagery, city-scale 3D content, artificial intelligence data sets, and geospatial tools to assist with urban planning, monitoring and development projects in Australia, New Zealand and North America.
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