november progress update!

Echunga Community,
 
It’s been a while since we shared an update with you, and acknowledging that Covid has put a halt on many things, we wanted to assure you that... this is certainly not the case for the ECA. We’ve been throwing efforts into a range of projects around the township and wanted to share some of our progress with you.
 
Echunga Community Park  
Our work ‘behind the scenes’ on the Community Park has by far taken the lion’s share of our attention. We have been working hard to scope and define the work required in the short term, to get the ball rolling and commence with the clean-up of the 2.2ha area that has been so poorly maintained and completely overgrown. This has taken many meetings; internal, onsite, with council and contractors... and a lot of planning and process to work through.
 
The good news is, that some of our recent grant applications have been recognised towards this effort:

• $7,300 'Grass Roots Grant' from SA Hills & Fleurieu Peninsula Board, which is largely being put towards cleaning up and revegetating, ie contractors to help with weeding, spraying, removing pine and ash trees, planting of native trees and shrubs, slashing... the list goes on. It’s worth acknowledging that this $7000 was awarded on the basis that we (ECA generally but also DCMB to some extent) will make an ‘in-kind’ contribution of circa $23,000, in the form of ‘rolling up the sleeves’; brushcutting, slashing, weeding, fence removal, meeting, documenting, scoping and planning.
• $25,000 Grant from DCMB, which will go towards laying meandering walking paths throughout in the Community Park.
• ...and there is more in the ‘grants’ pipeline for later in 2021 that ECA are lobbying for, including BBQ/picnic facilities and a bike track.

We have held a number of onsite meetings with DCMB Arborists, Landscape Architects, biodiversity experts, Councellor Greg Morrison and Tess Minnett, all with a view to scoping and defining what’s to come in this park, and to lobby Council for support and approvals.
We have secured tremendous support from several local businesses eager to 'support the community' by either heavily discounting or donating their services to help progress the Community Park space:

• Adelaide Hills Trees Services - have removed and mulched 10 enormous radiata pine trees (with help from the Echunga Cricket Club).
• Steve Rowe (contractor) - has assisted with spraying noxious weeds/plants throughout the entire Community Park space.
• Jeff Smith Earthmoving - will be assisting for a day with his bobcat to remove 200 odd tree stumps.

In recent weeks, DCMB have sent contractors to work, removing ash trees along the old fenceline (along the length of the park) as well as trimming up pine trees around school. And, in coming weeks, DCMB will be planting a few hundred blackwood trees over the eastern fenceline. They have recognised that the ECA ‘are serious’ about progressing the park and after some initial delays, are working with us to ensure the project is delivered.
It is worth mentioning again (as has been mentioned before), that the community park was approved in the Strategic Township Plan, and that ECA ‘put up a hand’ to get the ball rolling – but this does not exclude community input and we encourage everyone in the community to come to our meetings if you want to get involved and hear about the progress of the Park. 

The Woodgate Park Playground Upgrade
Since our initial working bee in February where ECA, with the help of willing local volunteers, cleaned up the planted area of the park and laid a new nature path, Mount Barker Council have supplied mulch and plants for around the new path and, with the assistance of the north neighbour, installed two new fences.
Although Covid delayed much of our planned works for 2020, Macclesfield Mens Shed are in the midst of constructing our new wood picnic table to be installed by ECA in mid December, along with the plants and mulch and play equipment has been decided on, however install has been delayed until early 2021.

Township Plan
There are of course, many projects outlined in the Township Plan. Be aware; ECA is not responsible for delivering these projects – ECA has elected to help drive some, with our attention focussed primarily on a select few. At present, the Community Park (as above) and advocating for the undergrounding of the Powerlines are a key focus (the undergrounding of the power being a precursor to the Main Street Upgrade).
ECA sought to ‘get the ball rolling’ on the powerlines, by approaching DCMB for advice on the appropriate process and lodging a written letter of request to support. Phil Burton, Head of Infrastructure at DCMB, attended our last meeting and has since confirmed to ECA that the project has been included in DCMB’s 10 Year Budget, however this is still subject to PLEC commitment. ECA will continue to seek details about the process and progress of the application to PLEC.

Community Events
Finally, we are regretful that this year we will not be running our usual Christmas ‘Mingle & Jingle’ event due to the ongoing uncertainties arising from Covid. We have missed some opportunities through the year to fundraise towards some of the projects we are driving, but more importantly, we are mindful that our community has missed some of the events that would usually bring us together and we are hopeful that horizon shifts in this direction in 2021.

Watch this space for further progress updates to come across the projects and plans for the coming year, and progress updates on what’s been happening – and please reach out via the Contact Us page, if you have any questions, suggestions or feedback for us.