Architect plans new motel for Goulburn

Mechanics Institute gets a makeover

Building owners ‘do right thing’

Mayor Bob Kirk hopes to succeed where others haven’t when it comes to sprucing up Goulburn’s CBD buildings.

The art of gentle persuasion is possibly not going to work but incentives may do the trick.

Cr Kirk said he agreed wholeheartedly with Crookwell architect Doug McIntyre’s comments to the Goulburn Post last week. Mr McIntyre has encouraged Auburn Street landlords to not only invest in shop-top housing but also to paint their buildings, saying it made all the difference.

“My plan is to directly approach property owners,” Cr Kirk said.

“It’s been tried before and probably by the mayors before them but I’m hoping for a better result. It’s very difficult to see what it will take to get these people to put in more effort.”

The Mayor said the council was a “toothless tiger” on the issue because it couldn’t force owners to paint their shops. Instead, it required a “community effort.”

In recent time the Roses Cafe, NAB building, Phil Murray optometrist and the Park Newsagency buildings have been repainted. Two of these and several other Auburn Street structures had a fresh coat of paint thanks to heritage grants in the lead-up to Goulburn’s 150^th birthday celebrations.

Cr Kirk said he’d again highlight the council grant program.

“I’ll be pointing out how important the buildings are in the streetscape and how much emphasis we place on heritage. Those two things don’t add up to what we have at the moment,” he said.

“People come to Goulburn especially for its heritage and I don’t want to see the standard drop.”

He believed the CBD was generally looking as good as could. Although people “bemoaned” the loss of trees he felt their replacements were less invasive. The council is paving the Verner to Clinton Street block of Auburn Street this year, the final section in its beautification program.