An ACT government executive has proposed a resolution to the controversial Hall bike track project, suggesting a trail could be included as part of a refresh of existing assets.
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But an Aboriginal elder has suggested the ACT Heritage Council's decision to reject construction of the proposed track in its original location at Halls Creek could be disputed.
Transport Canberra and City Services director of city presentation Stephen Alegria and Ngunnawal elder Dean Bell addressed the Village of Hall and District Progress Association before the association's monthly meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Alegria told the association it was time to move on from the original plan for the bike track, which was knocked back by the Heritage Council last year because it would have been located within the Aboriginal sites zone at Halls Creek.
"The council considers the preference to locate the recreational bike track wholly in the 'Aboriginal Sites Zone' as a convenience based choice and does not consider that to be adequate justification to permanently damage a heritage place," ACT Heritage Council chairman David Flannery said in a letter to the directorate in December.
Mr Alegria said a compromise could involve including a bike trail as part of a refresh of the existing children's playground on Gladstone Street, which includes play equipment, barbecues and other amenities.
"Ultimately, it probably will come down to a heritage decision again because it's still in that [Aboriginal sites] zone," Mr Alegria said.
"What I hope is that we will have a united community rather than a divided community."
Mr Alegria said the territory government's role was not to advocate for the bike track, for which $24,000 has been raised, but to facilitate a way to improve infrastructure.
He said existing assets had been upgraded successfully across Canberra as part of the ACT government's Nature Play grants program, which could provide a blueprint for the Hall community to follow.
Association president Peter Toet said the group would take Mr Alegria's idea to the Hall community and gauge their support.
But when Mr Bell, a Ngunnawal elder, addressed the association, he suggested all hope for the original proposal to build a bike track for children at Halls Creek was not lost.
"That can be disputed," he said of the ACT Heritage Council's decision to reject the initial statement of heritage effect.
"Those little areas that they're saying [should be avoided because of Aboriginal heritage implications] are not worth worrying about, honestly."
Mr Bell said any Aboriginal artefacts found in that area could be sensitively relocated so as not to be destroyed.
His advice follows a statement of heritage effect, commissioned by Transport Canberra and City Services as part of the initial proposal, assessing the heritage impacts of the proposed bike track at Halls Creek as minimal.
The statement, prepared by Navin Officer Heritage Consultants, included input from representative Aboriginal organisations, with King Brown Tribal Group expressing support for the findings of the statement of heritage effect and the recommendations for mitigating cultural harm.
The heritage consultancy also had contact with the Buru Ngunawal Aboriginal Corporation, and used its feedback to develop the recommended protocol for relocating any Aboriginal artefacts found during the scraping back of surface vegetation, which would have preceded construction of the track.
