Streamlined planning thanks to streetscape design

It can take an outside eye to see the potential through the heartbreak.

With much of Mogo devastated by bushfire on New Year’s Eve, two specialist firms have offered the town support with a rebuilding project that goes beyond re-establishing the village’s original charm.

Planners Ethos Urban and traffic experts Complete Streets will provide Eurobodalla Council with pro bono assistance to support Mogo’s commercial property owners who lost buildings.

Eurobodalla Council’s strategic land use coordinator Nathan Farnell said Council had met with the owners of the seven commercial buildings destroyed in the New Year’s Eve bushfire, and heard that onsite parking, bushfire protection measures and street-front setbacks were important concerns.

“Ethos Urban and Complete Streets saw the difficulties as their opportunity to contribute to our recovery and generously volunteered to help,” Mr Farnell said.

“They will conduct a review of both the village and the regulations, looking at avenues to reduce the time and cost of rebuilding, and streamline Council’s development assessment process,” Mr Farnell said.

“Then they’ll demonstrate how building constraints can be handled, providing property owners and Council with streetscape designs that maximise Mogo’s economic and social opportunities.”

Principal planner Brendan Hoskins said Ethos Urban would draw on its integrated design and planning services – economic, social and urban – to help frame the village rebuild.

“That means redeveloping the bushfire affected parts of Mogo to retain its unique charm but capitalise on opportunities that benefit this special village,” Mr Hoskins said.

Mr Farnell described the project as exciting, expecting a “quick turnaround, just three months to deliver”.

Shop owner and Mogo Business Chamber president Richard Adams described the project as “instrumental in rebuilding shops and providing the community with hope”.

“This will allow us to get back to some kind of normal”.