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Over the past few months we have seen some significant changes in Orion Drive between Yamba Road and the Palm Lakes Resort.
Perhaps the one that we are happiest about - and for which we have been waiting over three years - was the construction of a new, double-width, footpath.
For far too long those residents of Palm Lake who find it necessary to use mobility scooters have been placed at risk by having to use the road to go to and from the Yamba Fair shopping centre. In fact, it was about three years ago that a man was involved in a serious accident which left him with multiple injuries and urgent admittance to Lismore hospital. In addition to that, the need for pedestrians to negotiate tree roots, rocks, potholes, rough road edges and puddles has long been a veritable pain in the backside.......in some cases, quite literally!
So the new footpath was commenced in November 2022 and the works were completed this week. A temporary guard-railing is in place where the footpath crosses the culvert on the bend and it is expected that this will be replaced with a permanent fixture later in the year.
In addition to the footpath, there has been significant site preparation work ongoing for the past six-to-nine months on the other side of Orion Drive.
This is the site for the new "prestige" Palm Lakes Resort, a development which has been in the wind for many years and which is now taking shape.
It has been an eye-opener for those of us completely unfamiliar with the amount of work required on a site before construction of buildings can commence. Thousands of tonnes of soil have been moved about, the whole area has been raised above any anticipated future flood level and vast quantities of sewer, water and drainage pipes have been laid, along with pipes and ducts for communications cabling.
The most recent work - still underway today - is the construction of what will be the entry into the complex.
Once buildings start to appear I will update this information. It may be some time yet because internal roadworks would have to be done first.
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