Mordialloc Creek
Well! After all the sturm and drang over over the Pompeii Landing on the bank of the creek is seems that the current occupant will be offered a nine year lease by Council so that work can continue providing a launching ramp for small boat owners. The land is dispute is a small area of Crown Land. The Mordialloc Fishing & Boating Club will also use this site.
Commercial Developments
Two developments are being planned for Main Street – partial demolition of Mordialloc Hotel and 26 units for the car park went to mediation last month. As did the Grocery Store, a shop with goods too expensive to succeed in Main Street. This shop is to become an up-market cocktail bar. Parking, already a problem in the shopping centre was a concern for objectors.
Mordialloc Bypass
A meeting was held at Waterways cafe 24 February to learn how migratory birds may be affected when the four lane elevated freeway was built across, not only the Waterways wetlands but also Woodlands and Braeside wetlands. According to the Parsons Brinckerhoff report to VicRoads Lathams Snipe, a migratory bird will be affected. A meeting 6th February heard speakers from RMIT, Dr Ian Woodcock and Crystal Legacy, Traffic Planners describe how freeways are consuming the suburbs, rather than building more public transport. The VicRoads team also spoke at this RAMPF meeting at Dingley as did two speakers from Environment Victoria.
Bay Trail
The Bay Trail was finally passed at a February Council Meeting despite the usual disruption from the ill-informed rabble. The Major gave repeated warnings and finally some of the more sensible people seemed to have realised that it was not a good look to cause so much disruption. It is hoped now that the Council can begin work on the trail before too long so that it can be finally completed.
Beaumaris Fossil Sites and Sea Ledges
Another piece of good news for a change was the fact that Bayside Council in February unanimously supported the request that the Beaumaris Cliffs be re-placed on the National Heritage List. It seems that many sites were regrettably removed from the list during Julia Gillard’s term as PM for some reason.
Dent’s Paddock
A from of protection has been placed over the vegetation on the reserve until a decision is made about the future of this valuable property. An article in The Age by Ross Gittins and Dr Moore’s lectures stress the importance of trees and green space especially as development keeps devouring our suburbs. The health benefit, as well as cost benefit, of having trees around a house or playground should be widely publicised. At theFebruary meeeting of the Public Spaces and Envrioment Committee meeting the Role of trees in the urban environment was discussed by Tony Collins and Dr Moore and figures were produced for five metropolitan councils and how many trees each has. Interestingly Dandenong and Kingston with the greatest population had less trees. Greater Dandenong with a population of 132,000 and 15,552 trees. Kingston with a population of 135,251 and 28,003 trees. Bayside with a population of 90,205 and 43,678 trees. Frankston does quite well with a population of 112,062 and 43,544 trees. According to Dr Moore each Council should have a least 30% tree cover. He quotes interesting figures which show that the newly settled Western suburbs which don’t have trees or space for trees on house blocks have a high number of deaths from heat during days of high temperatures.
Web Site
Travis has volunteered to try to place some of MBCL’s historical documents on the web site. This could be of interest to students possibly.
Coast and Creek Booklet
Copies were offered and enthusiastically received by a Beaumaris primary school who is going to incorporate them as part of a course. The Treasurer has manged to acquire a donation as part of that deal!
Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League Inc.