Mayor George Greiss says the $30 million Campbelltown Billabong project won’t be ready for next summer.
“I wish I could say it would be open by summer, but unfortunately that’s unrealistic,’’ Mayor Greiss told the South West Voice during a wide ranging interview just before Easter.
“We have finished the earthworks, but we have had a variety of setbacks, from Covid to the weather,’’ he said.
“As you know it’s quite a large project and there’s a lot of moving parts.
“We are in the process of re-evaluating the timeline, looking closely at what’s happening post Covid and we will come up with a new timeline soon.
“We might be able to open it for winter 2023,’’ Mayor Greiss said.
The Billabong, which was originally scheduled for a 2020 opening, is one of several challenges the new mayor has inherited from his predecessor.
The other is the sports centre of excellence, originally set down for a site inside the Campbelltown campus of Western Sydney University.
This also had a scheduled completion date of 2020.
There is now a new plan to build it on the northern end of Campbelltown Sports Stadium, and council has gone to the state government for funding.
“We haven’t heard back yet, so it’s wait and see,’’ says Mayor Greiss.
One challenge where the mayor has been quickly able to make some progress is devising a new maintenance program in a bid to get Campbelltown back to looking its best once again.
He will announce in a few days how much more money has been found in the budget, but won’t reveal it during the interview.
But we can tell you it’s a substantial amount of money, and residents will see the difference it will make over the next few weeks and months.
Mayor Greiss said it will include an allocation for the main streets in Ingleburn and Campbelltown as well as replacing furniture, including barbecues, and installing shade covers in local parks and reserves.
“I am concentrating on small things because that’s what affects people closest to where they live, in parks and reserves near their homes,’’ he says.
“As for the main street areas, it will include a program of cleaning and maintenance so they will look their best,’’ he said.
Mayor Greiss said this maintenance program was separate from the council trying to catch up on mowing nature strips, parks and reserves across Campbelltown.
“I am working on that too,’’ he said.
“I agree we need to do more, I want us to have a beautiful city, it’s very important – when people come here and see how beautiful it looks they will want to live here.’’
Campbelltown Council will receive around $26.5 million from Westinvest, the state government splurge on West and South Western Sydney to help the region recover from the pandemic.
“We are going through the process now to decide how to spend the money,’’ says Mayor Greiss.
“I hope to present a whole lot of projects to council in the next couple of weeks.
“My philosophy is we want to try to do smaller projects that are closer to where people live.’’
George Greiss, who was elected mayor on January 11 this year, says he is enjoying the role so far after 100 days or so in charge.
“I am trying to do the best I can for Campbelltown, for the community,’’ he says.
“It’s a lot harder than I thought; there’s a lot going on, and it’s quite fast paced.’’
