Lyneham residents want the ACT government to adopt community-led management for the suburb, which could be a role model for the rest of Canberra.
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The proposal comes from the Lyneham Community Association which is involved in a dispute with the Brindabella Christian College which wants to build a community sports facility on the neighbourhood oval.
Association spokesman Trevor Vickers said under the model, the views of local residents, businesses and users of open space would be gathered to determine what improvements are wanted.
The idea to implement a community-led approach to managing the area's urban open space developed when local residents realised their open land could be subject to development proposals from private entities under the planning system, he said.
"This may well be the first of its kind in Canberra", he said on Monday.
"It's an ideal way for the local community to shape the future of its open space for the benefit of residents and visitors."
The college is letter boxing residents to hit back at what it calls a "deceptive and misleading" campaign and to explain "misinformation" about its plan, which was withdrawn late last year following anger aired at a community meeting.
The school leases a section of the oval from the government and wants control of an additional piece of land to facilitate the construction of the community facility.
Residents were appalled by the college's claims against the community in which it resides, the association's deputy chair Rob Wilson said last Friday.
Mr Vickers said community-led models of management had been used in Australia for weed and pest control, and for water management.
A Gold Coast council recently introduced the model for the ongoing development and management of a local park for the benefit of the community, he said.
"We don't know yet what the community will request, it may be a playground, more tree plantings, more paths, or park benches," he said.
A key element of the proposal was to ensure the continued free availability of the area to the three adjacent schools and to recreational users for a full range of social, informal and passive activities.
The school said it had developed a plan with the ACT government to reinstate Lyneham Oval as a watered oval to re-green the "current bindi-laden dust-bowl that has existed ever since the site became unmaintained".
College board deputy chairman Greg Zwajgenberg rejected claims the school was trying to take over one quarter of the oval.
The issue is expected to create more heated debate on September 15 at a meeting of the North Canberra Community Council.
A development application was lodged by the school at the end of October last year to build a two-storey sports pavilion and 120-space car park on land next to its site on Brigalow Street.
