Interest in Windang boat hire facility

Louisa Rust

Lake Illawarra may have a boat hire facility on its shores once again, with at least one operator interested in setting up a facility at Windang.

The draft Plan of Management for Judbooley Parade at Windang, recently released by Wollongong City Council, designates the area of foreshore land at 17 Judbooley Parade as a site for a future boat hire and café or restaurant facility.

The plan covers an area including Edith Lacey Park and the Lake Illawarra foreshore along Judbooley Parade, where the Windang boat shed once stood.

There are two buildings on the area of land concerned, at 7 and 17 Judbooley Parade, currently leased out by the Lake Illawarra Authority for residential purposes, which the plan indicates will be knocked down, with the residents moved.

Private business Boab Boat Hire has already expressed an interest in having a permanent premises for its Lake Illawarra service at 17 Judbooley Parade.

The company currently operates its Lake Illawarra service using trailers to load and unload its vessels into the lake.

Jodi Doyle from Boab Boat Hire Wollongong/Lake Illawarra said while the company would have to wait until the council called for expressions of interest to formally apply to use the land, it is “extremely interested” in establishing a boat hire facility and kiosk at the site.

“There is a definite need for something like that on the lake,” Ms Doyle said.

“We’ve just got two new boats and we would like to have smaller boats like tinnies, and maybe even canoes.

“Then we would have everything from canoes up to boats that can go out to sea available.

“We’d like to have our own premises on the lake so you can walk up and away you go.”

Ms Doyle said the company looked forward to working with the council, the Lake Illawarra Authority and local residents to provide a facility that would fulfill the needs of the community.

If the council did give Boab approval to use 17 Judbooley Parade for its permanent premises, Ms Doyle said the company would also be interested in setting up an interim facility at no. 7 until the permanent facility was completed.

However, manager of commercial projects and property for Wollongong Council, Peter Coyle, said the council had not yet considered whether this site could be used for a temporary facility, and the rights of the currently tenants would have to be considered.

Save Lake Illawarra Action Group (SLIAG) member Bob Parsons said the group was behind Boab Boat Hire’s plans to set up the facility.

Chairman of the Lake Illawarra Authority (LIA) Doug Prosser said the organisation supported the establishment of a boat hire facility on the lake foreshore, “whether at that site or somewhere else”.

The foreshore land covered by the plan is owned by Wollongong City Council and the LIA.