NELSON Bay is ready for a vast makeover that members of a new advocacy group say they want to help drive.
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Tomaree Business Chamber, Destination Port Stephens, d’Albora Marinas and the Tomaree Ratepayers and Residents Association are among the members of the group formed last month.
Nelson Bay NOW aims to bring more business into the CBD, including services, and improve traffic management – for tourists and residents alike.
“We want to make Nelson Bay a great place to do business, to visit and to live,” Chamber president Ryan Palmer said.
"There is a belief out there that not enough is happening around Nelson Bay from an investment point of view or a vision for the CBD.”
Nelson Bay NOW has already approached Port Stephens Council in the first month since formation, eager to collaborate on solutions.
The Yacaaba Street extension is high on its agenda to link the CBD with the waterfront. The council recently acquired the land.
“The land is sitting here ready and waiting. I have people ask me all the time how to get to the waterfront,” CBD business owner Allan Cassano said.
But this was only one aspect for the CBD’s revitalisation, Mr Cassano said, as he pointed to vacant shops.
“We’d like to attract some great business to the Bay,” he said.
“We can act as a real benefit to council, whether it’s stand-alone or merged with Newcastle.”
Acting chamber president Rob Reeves said car parking was vitally important. The two Donald Street car parks are the subject of council discussions with developers.
“We don’t need to simply maintain it, we have to expand it,” he said.
“There are people who simply won’t shop here for that reason.”
TRRA president Geoff Washington said some beautification would go a long way too.
“Apex Park is a project ready to go,” he said.
The park is a pedestrian link between the CBD and the marina foreshore.
“It’s really in need of some landscape treatment. It’s a project ripe for action,” Mr Washington said.
Nelson Bay NOW had hoped that the parking revenue from the foreshore area might be the CBD’s savior with project funds. But a council spokesman said a good chunk of that revenue had already been spent of foreshore improvement.
"The majority of funds raised from meters in Nelson Bay is collected on Crown Land and therefore must be reinvested into Crown Land. In recent years, a number of projects have been funded using this income including Shoal Bay foreshore improvements as well as foreshore management works."