REDEVELOPING the site, rebuilding the sailing club building, a coffee shop, bar, marina and even a location for a regional art gallery were among the suggestions for what should happen at the Nowra Sailing Club site.
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The South Coast Register posed the question of what should happen at the location, after the historic building was destroyed by fire on June 21.
The damage to the building was so extensive it will have to be demolished.
Since the fire, which destroyed the building on the southern banks of the Shoalhaven River, there has been a lot of debate and suggestions as to what should happen at the site.
One hundred and ten people took part in the Register poll, with redeveloping the site or rebuilding the Nowra Sailing Club the two most popular responses.
Of those who took part in the poll, 42 or 38.18 per cent, said they would like to see the whole site redeveloped.
It was closely followed by 39 votes or 35.45 per cent who called on the building to be rebuilt.
Thirteen people said a historical monument, including history and recorded flood heights, should be constructed and eight said the area should be made into public reserve.
Another eight people voted for other options and provided some of their own suggestions including a nice pathway and public area like Huskisson foreshore, a quality bar, coffee shops, restaurants and parks, a marina and a pontoon.
There was also a suggestion of building a new sailing club with the addition of cafes, public and barbecue areas.
Even a possible location for a regional art gallery was suggested.
One voter suggested keeping the sailing club wall with the sign on it and rebuilding the building for community use.
Shoalhaven City Council is still to decide the future of the former sailing club building and location with director Corporate and Community Craig Milburn saying council was waiting to hear back from the insurance assessors.
The insured value of the building was $1 million.
The issue was also popular on the Register’s Facebook page with 57 comments and again a number of suggestions.
Rebuilding the sailing club as a modern facility to include cafes, restaurant and public areas proved popular, as did the construction of a marina or somewhere to host live music by the river.
Even a five star hotel was a suggestion.
There were thoughts of a large grassed area that could be used for events like Carols by Candlelight, while on a more practical front Charlie N Brooke Hillen suggested salvaging some of the timber from the structure to make furniture etc out of it.
Jasminka Sinanovic suggested building a modern building with new sailing club, cafes/restaurant, public toilets, public barbecue area, smart benches with free WiFi, free tablets/mobile charging run on solar.
“This area should not be sold to property developers in waiting. We can not allow Nowra's history to be destroyed... we can combine historical site and natural environment with modern,” she said.
Robert Allen suggested something that could incorporate the river and Nowra’s history, particularly its racing heritage.
“I saw a pretty picture of a long ago engineered river channel in St Petersburg. Most of Europe is full of them. Rick Stein floating through France on SBS. Or our own local flavour - Braidwood born Terara trained racehorse - Archer.
“Winner of first two Melbourne Cups from 1861. Call the floating walkway the home straight and the cafe the finishing post with a statue of Archer in the enclosure. If it cost $10M or more we would all get that winning feeling,” he said.
Katie Bohn-mans suggested a floating marina and water recreation park.
“Have hire paddle boats, canoes, jet skis etc or something designed for water as it will flood - putting a restaurant/cafe/shop/pub etc would be silly as it'll keep getting damaged due to floods,” she said.
Simon Ball said taking a section of the old bridge when it's removed and placed there to make a boardwalk, using it as a feature, as well as cafes, shops etc.
Robert Chewying said a marina was “a no brainer.”
“Just put the pontoons back and turn the area into an attraction with a sailing club building etc. Why can't we as the City of Shoalhaven have a decent marina showing off our river?” he said.
“Go for a drive and look at other rivers, our river and how we show it off is quite embarrassing.”