While there is excitement in some quarters about progress on design of a Tolosa Park BMX Facility (tenders called on 11/2/2021) , the Tolosa Park Reservoir next door has been in an unacceptable state for years. Many Glenorchy residents and ratepayers would like to know something of its future.
I’ve shown below a history starting with the 2021 Council AGM.
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On March 9 at the Glenorchy City Council 2021 AGM (exchange starts at time 18:52 in Facebook recording) the then Mayor said the following in an answer to a question by a member of the public about the Tolosa Park Reservoir.
“As I’ve said on a number of occasions … Tolosa Park dam is an asset of Taswater.
It is their responsibility to decommission it.
While it sits on Council land Council will not accept the decommissioning process for anything less than a facility that is amenable to [the] public and that we can actually maintain that particular facility.
We’re not going to wear a liability due to Taswater’s decommissioning process.
We have been working very closely with Taswater to ensure that we get a good outcome for the community first and foremost, and part of that has been the commissioning of design work in conjunction with Taswater that has [?] commenced already. We have consultants who are working through that at the moment. I understand Inspiring Place have been engaged to do that particular work and we look forward to the outcome of that.
But our Council responsibility is to the ratepayers to ensure that when we get an asset returned to us it is in a condition that we can use it and will not be a future burden on our ratepayers. And we will hold and maintain that line with Taswater right throughout our negotiations.”
On April 10 I emailed questions to Council relating to the Mayor’s answer to the question at the AGM. The agenda for the April 26 open Council meting stated that answers to my April 10 questions were being finalised and will be provided ASAP. The following answers were finally included in the agenda for the May 2021 Open Council meeting.
Q1. Is a design project in fact currently under way?
A: Yes. Council and TasWater are currently working with consultants, Inspiring Place, to prepare a Master Plan for the former Tolosa Dam site. The Master Plan will outline a long-term vision of the area of the decommissioned reservoir and dam wall. However, further detailed designs work (e.g. engineering drawings) would need to be to develop the site in accordance with the Master Plan once it is agreed and adopted.
Q2. Was the company Inspiring Place in fact engaged as consultants to undertake the project? If not then who?
A: Inspiring Place has been engaged by TasWater to prepare the Master Plan for the Tolosa Reservoir site. Inspiring Place’s work is limited to the Master Plan preparation.
Q3. Was a public tender used to select the consultants?
A: This question would need to be referred to TasWater as TasWater was responsible for engaging Inspiring Place, under their procurement processes.
Q4. What was the brief given to the consultants?
A: TasWater ultimately briefed Inspiring Place, to prepare the Master Plan, meaning the question would need to be referred to them. However, Council participated in a workshop with TasWater and other stakeholders to develop the high-level outcomes that the brief instructed prospective consultants to achieve.
Q5. What are the key deliverables of the project and when does Council expect to receive them?
A: The key deliverable is the production of a Master Plan for the Tolosa Reservoir area, as well as a high-level cost estimate for its implementation. Council leadership received a preliminary draft of the Master Plan in early May, and that draft is being further developed to incorporate feedback. At this stage it is hoped that the draft Master Plan will be presented to Council for approval to release for feedback by July/August 2021.
Q6. What percentage of the project budget is Council committed to providing?
A: Council has agreed to contribute to a portion of the cost of the development of the Master Plan, however the exact percentage that Council will contribute has yet to be agreed.
Q7. The Mayor also made very clear that Tolosa Park Reservoir is an asset of Taswater, and it is therefore Taswater’s responsibility to “decommission” it. It is not clear to me what the Mayor means by “decommission”. Does she mean “remediate”? i.e. revert the land to pre-existing vegetation/landscape? Does she mean make the land “development-ready” (as Council has very generously committed to do for the ex-Berriedale Caravan Park for MONA)? Does she mean “make safe for public use”? If none of these then what did she mean by the term?
A: In using the term ‘decommissioning’, the Mayor was referring to:
- the process of remediating the site to enable public use in accordance with the Masterplan before it is handed back to Council (once it is finalised and agreed between the parties), which will also involve removing all or part of the dam wall, and
- the fact that the area will cease to be classified as ‘dam’ under Tasmanian legalisation at some point during the works but before it is handed back to Council.
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On March 19 I emailed a set of questions to Taswater and received the following answers on April 13.
1. Is it true that the reservoir is still the property of Taswater and that Taswater is still responsible for its maintenance?
TasWater owns the infrastructure (the Tolosa Dam) whilst Glenorchy City Council retain ownership of the land upon which the dam is constructed. TasWater is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the Tolosa Dam until such time that it is decommissioned and the site handed back to Glenorchy City Council.
2. Glenorchy City Council has discussed Tolosa Park Dam on a number of occasions. We got the impression that at the end of the day, the Council would take over ownership of the reservoir. Is that correct?
TasWater and Glenorchy City Council are currently working together to finalise the Master Plan for the handover of the decommissioned Tolosa Dam. There is agreement between both parties that the site will no longer be classified as a dam at the point at which this handover occurs.
3. Initially it seemed that before GCC took over the reservoir, Taswater would provide Council with a negotiated amount of money sufficient to remediate the reservoir? Is that your understanding?
TasWater and Glenorchy City Council are working to finalise agreements as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed to in 2013 that detailed the works to remove the Tolosa Dam from the Greater Hobart Water Supply Network. This MoU included the works necessary for the new Tolosa Reservoir tanks that now replace the function of the Tolosa Dam. The MoU includes allowances for the decommissioning of the dam. The works to decommission the dam will be conducted by TasWater in accordance with Master Planning outcomes agreed between TasWater and Glenorchy City Council.
4. More recently GCC seemed to indicate that it would not take over the reservoir until Taswater had remediated it sufficiently (whatever that means). Is that your understanding?
TasWater and Glenorchy City Council will agree outcomes for the site as part of the Master Planning process, inclusive of feedback received through public consultation undertaken by the Glenorchy City Council in 2018. As part of this process, a handover date will be agreed to. At the point of handover, the remaining site will no longer be classified as a dam under Tasmanian Legislation.
5. Very recently GCC gave the impression that a project was under way (Inspiring Places were mentioned as consultants) to produce a design for the remediated reservoir. Are you aware of such a project? If so, what can you tell me about it?
TasWater and Glenorchy City Council are conducting the Master Planning exercise that will address the integration of the decommissioned Tolosa Dam into the Tolosa Park precinct. TasWater and Council are working with a multi-disciplinary team lead by Inspiring Place. Under the current program, the Master Planning exercise should be completed by 30 June 2021.
6. What does Taswater believe to be the next step in the process of the transfer to GCC?
Following the completion of the Master Planning process, Council and TasWater will agree responsibilities and handover points for the decommissioned Tolosa Dam. The parties will then outline a program of works to progress the agreed outcomes.
We believe the above responses answer the questions you outlined and give the most current information regarding the process being undertaken.
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At the April 2021 Open Council meeting the GM had the following exchange with Alderman King (the exchange starts at time 5:23 in Facebook recording).
Agenda item 9. Rescission of Historical Committees and Working Groups
Alderman King referred to item 7 in the list of bodies to rescinded – “Tolosa Park Master Plan Steering Committee” shown with comment “No longer operational and superseded by master plan being developed by Taswater”.
Alderman King: “Should that be ‘developed by Taswater in conjunction with Council’ or is it just Taswater’s master plan?”
General Manager: “My understanding is that Taswater is developing a master plan – Council is contributing funding to that as well – and at the end of that process we’ll have both a master plan and some accurate costings. We are making a contribution to it, yes.
Alderman King: “It is kind of in conjunction with us then in that sense, or am I putting too much emphasis on it?”
General Manager: “The onus is really with Taswater so Taswater is really driving that. Formerly we had an earlier master plan process that involved Council being the driver and that process didn’t proceed. This is a new process with Taswater in the driving seat.”
Alderman King: “Do we have an end date on that?”
General Manager: “I don’t have it to hand.”
I emailed questions relating to this exchange and the following response appears in the agenda for the June 2021 Open Council.
Q1. What is Council contributing to the project?
A: Council’s financial contribution is half of the cost to form a Master Plan and high-level cost plan for the works, nominally $200,000. Council has been involved as a key stakeholder in the Master Planning process with TasWater and their consultant team led by Inspiring Place. Throughout the master planning process Council has ensured feedback from previous community engagement is captured in the final masterplan.
Q2. What are Council’s roles in the project?
A: Council, while not being directly contracted with the Master Planning team, is heavily involved and contributing to the Master Planning process in conjunction with TasWater to ensure the proposals achieve the best possible outcomes for the Glenorchy community. The aim of the Master Plan is to provide a usable reserve area immediately on the completion of the works and upon the hand over to the Council, allowing the remediated reservoir and former dam wall area to be used by the community as soon as possible. Some further works, including upgrades to the greater Tolosa Park area would then be carried under Council’s capital works program.
Q3. Why didn’t the original project driven by Council proceed?
A: Council has been working closely with TasWater on this project to ensure that the Master Plan reflects the feedback received from the community, while also achieving TasWater’s primary aim of decommissioning the dam wall. Several options have been investigated to determine the most efficient use of both Council and TasWater resources. The past versions were not considered to be suitable in that they did not adequately meet the needs of all key stakeholders (TasWater, Council and the Glenorchy community). The draft Master Plan will present the preferred option but is still being finalised.
Q4. When does Council expect to receive the results of the project?
A: A preliminary draft masterplan has been presented to Council leadership and is being further developed to incorporate feedback that was received. At this stage it is hoped that the draft Master Plan will be presented to Council for approval to release for feedback by July/August 2021.
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7. 1/5/2021 – Email to Taswater re 26/4/4021 open council
Council was deciding to disband its “Tolosa Park Master Plan Steering Committee” on the basis that it is “No longer operational and superseded by master plan being developed by Taswater”.
The General Manager said that the “onus is really with Taswater so Taswater is really driving that. Formerly we had an earlier master plan process that involved Council being the driver and that process didn’t proceed. This is a new process with Taswater in the driving seat.”
I’m a little confused because all your previous answers referred to “TasWater and Council”. Can you please clarify the situation for me? For example, what role is GCC now playing in the project? And when did the “new process” begin? And is it still scheduled for completion on June 30?
No response received from Taswater by May 31. Still waiting.
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8. 21/6/2021 – Exchange at special Council Budget meeting
Agenda item 10 related to the Glenorchy City Council Annual Plan.
As soon as discussion was opened, the following exchange took place. I’ve transcribed all comments with only tiny edits for readability. Times refer to the livestream of the meeting via the Council’s official Facebook page.
1:13:42 Alderman Richardson – There’s one item that sits in the Annual Plan that really grates on me. And that is “3.1.2.08 Delivering the Tolosa Park Master Plan with Taswater”.
And I went through the annual plans … this has been sitting in the Annual Plan every year and I went back as far as 2012. So next year will be the tenth year anniversary of this item sitting on our annual plan.
I think Council really does need to make this a priority and delivering this – I know that working with Taswater and getting a solution is problematic but I really do think this should be a priority for Council to sort … and not see “developing a master plan” sit on the annual plan again next year.
1:14:56 General Manager – Yes I agree with Alderman Richardson. It has been a very protracted process in respect of the Tolosa Reservoir.
The situation here is that the … Council … we have certainly seen some recent very good progress.
But a potted summary of this would be that this has been a holding pattern for quite some time because of the uncertainty of about whether or not we were getting any fill associated with the development of the MONA Hotel.
Once that MONA Hotel project was deferred we had clear guidance in terms of where we were heading so officers have negotiated with Taswater and have entered into a jointly funded master plan process.
That master plan process is intended to deliver base level open space to Council so – essentially provide water bodies, move earth within the contours of the former dam site, and create base level open space that Council can inherit moving forward as a viable base open space product to the option of further work down the track.
So where we’ve got to is essentially that Inspiring Place have carried out that work with Taswater and Glenorchy City Council.
And an internal working group from Council has looked at that very recently in the last couple of weeks in relation to the evolving larger context around this site in terms of works that are being undertaken around the Mountain Bike Park and also the more general work around the relocation of the BMX track to Tolosa Park.
And as a result of that officers have provided guidance to Taswater and consultants.
And where we’re at now is that the consultants will finalise that work and then undertake detailed costings and that will then be brought back to Council for consideration.
So I absolutely agree with Alderman Richardson. It’s been a frustrating stop and go process but we’ve made good recent progress and we believe that we’ll have a product to come back to Council within the near future.
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9. 20/12/2021 – Agenda item “Tolosa Dam Reintegration Project” for Closed Session of Council meeting
Council has released no information about this agenda item or the result of discussion.
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Glenorchy City Observer 