Former FFMVic facilities handed over to Forrest community: Article by Casey Tomkins

Forest Fire Management Victoria’s former depot at Forrest has found a new lease on life, with the facilities officially handed over to the Forrest community in early April.

The opportunity arose from the construction of a new office and depot at nearby Barwon Downs. The pending departure of staff to the new depot allowed the community and FFMVic to jointly investigate options for future uses for the Forrest site, which included a main office, carpark and large storage area.

An open house in January 2017 was the start of an extensive community engagement process to hear all the different ideas that existed in the community for the buildings. These coalesced into being 12 significantly different ideas, which the community were invited to consider in more detail at a ‘dialogue’ workshop. At this workshop, it was agreed that there should be:

• a community hub to host a range of services and groups at the depot
  
• public carparking at the carpark
  
• a mountain bike riding centre at the old camp depot.

A final ‘deliberation’ workshop fleshed out in more detail how the various groups might use particular spaces and explored governance arrangements. 

A working group, comprising representatives from local community groups, was formed in September 2017 to further develop the ‘community hub’ concept. The group was tasked with considering the community’s priorities and finalising the governance structures using the existing Public Hall Committee as a starting point. DELWP ensured that land reservation and committee of management arrangements were in place to enable the site handover to the community.

All the planning, negotiations and preparation culminated on 4 April with an open house marking the official handover of the facilities. Several key community groups will use the facilities to deliver a range of community activities and services, including the Forrest Neighbourhood House, Forrest Rural Fire Brigade CFA and the Forrest and Districts Historical Society.

As well as a structured engagement process being conducted, a lot of the success was due to key people carrying out specific roles. In the role of project owner, Regional Manager Forest and Fire Planning David Rourke ‘held the space’. He kept out of the community’s decision-making while making sure the ‘not-negotiables’ were met.

Senior Community Partnerships Support Officer George O’Dwyer built relationships in the community, encouraging those in the community to get involved in the process. Program Manager Engagement Dr Martin Butcher designed the decision-making process. 

Regional Manager Land and Built Environment Greg Leece ensured the back-end land administration processes occurred. There were also all those who helped keep the workshops running smoothly.

This is a great example of DELWP truly placing community at the centre. We came with no fixed agenda, other than to facilitate a good community outcome for the Forrest community. 

It is wonderful to see the various user groups come together and use buildings – it’s leading to strengthened connectivity within the community. 

Our staff continue to play an important role in the evolving ‘story’ of Forrest, and its future.