The Master Plan

Our new Facebook site confirms a strong demand for a community pool and conveys a general sense of frustration over the fact that after so many years we still don’t have one.  Perhaps this would be a good time to explain DACCI’s response to the latter: we too are frustrated at times but remain determined to see the adopted strategy through to a conclusion.

This strategy is founded on the observations that:-
•           virtually every public swimming pool is built by a Local Government Authority [LGA].
•           In most cases, the LGA also manages their day-to-day operations.
•           In WA, the State Government's Department of Sport and Recreation [DSR] is a key funding agency.

•           Applications for grants needed to originate with the LGA in question.

We (DACCI) therefore decided first to establish a cooperative working arrangement with the Denmark Shire and then follow the DSR guidelines for providing this major public facility as closely as possible.

These guidelines are summarised in the diagram below.  The first part, the Proposal, is further divided into two phases – the Needs Assessment [Phase 1] and the Feasibility Study [Phase 2]. 

It is important to note that the Proposal stage concludes with a decision to “Implement, Amend, Postpone, Stage the Development or Abandon the Proposal”.  The last of these five options – a decision to abandon the proposal – would obviously be fatal.  And although all four of the preceding options might appear to guarantee survival, they do not – they simply hold promise of moving to the second (and final stage) in which the Proposal becomes a Project.  I think of it as a transition from dreaming to reality.

Putting this another way ... although none of the first four possibilities kills the project, neither can any guarantee that it will come to a successful conclusion.  Clearly it is a critical point in the entire process.  Before it could make the leap from the Proposal stage to the Project stage, Council would need to make an in-principle decision to go ahead – it may be conditional on support from grant agencies – but the in-principle decision is essential before the agencies can entertain any request for assistance.   Grant applications have to come from the Shire – not DACCI.  Those grant applications would then have to be successful for the project to go ahead.

Where are we in this Master Plan?  Well – we have:

•           established the required working relationship with Council;

•           completed Phase 1 successfully (we’ve established the Need);

•           completed much (but not all) of Phase 2.

At the moment, we are nearing the end of the Feasibility Study i.e. Phase 2 of the Proposal stage.  However, the Project Team is not yet satisfied that the Proposal is ready to be presented to Council.  We believe that a quality decision must be based on the most robust and accurate case – we are therefore exploring as many of the loose ends as we can before seeking Council’s in-principle decision.

If the process should reach the Project stage there remains three identifiable phases – Design, Construction, and Evaluation.  Although these are largely technical, community input would certainly be desirable/required in the first of these phases (Phase 3 - Design).  There may also be areas where the community may contribute in Phase 4 (Construction).  It also makes sense to anticipate user surveys in the evaluation process (Phase 5).  DACCI may or may not be invited by Council to participate beyond the Proposal stage.