Tag » Waterways Residential Development

Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League – Minutes – 6th May 1998

Woodlands Industrial Estate

As stated above, consultants Offor Sharp & Associates have organised community consultation about Melbourne Waters plans to create a series of wetlands in the southern section of the industrial estate abutting Governor Road. The large holes created in this area, as fill was removed for the northern section of the estate, have left water filled craters. It is planned to use the holes for stormwater treatment before drainage water enters the creek and Bay. Environment groups want vacant land on the southeast corner of the estate be added to Braeside Park as a wild life corridor. MBCL has been invited to attend these meetings so please come along June 3rd at 7pm. Braeside Park Visitors Centre.

The Parks

Bradshaw Park tea-tree and coast wattle have been subjected to a clearance program by SERCO who didn’t consult with the Friends group prior to the work commencing. Is there a need for discussion with SERCO re their management plans for the Park? There has been some vandalism in the park with attacks on one particular species of plant.
Braeside Park is now on the Webb site thanks to Ron Pearson’s proficiency with the intricacy of the internet. Fortunately the proposal to convert the Visitor’s Centre into tea rooms is not going ahead. A rabbit fence has been built around purple orchids at a cost of $1100.00 The Friends group have planned a planting day for Arbour Week. They have also applied to Kingston Council for a grant. Braeside Park management has now been moved to another area which extends as far as Healesville. The Head Office of this region is Berwick instead of Dromana!. Friends Group member is prepared to monitor the Dingley Drain in Braeside Park each month as part of the Streamwatch program. It will involve five hours work to complete the tests.
Work is continuing at Karkarook Park to create a lake system in the sand quarry. The system is designed to treat stormwater before it enters Heatherton Drain and Mordialloc Creek.

Height Limits – City of Kingston

Mr Geoffrey Leigh, M.P. organised a meeting with MBCL members and Kingston Officers and Councillors to discuss height limits in the Mordialloc Activity Node and foreshore. Although the Kingston MSS stipulates a two storey height limit along the foreshore, a letter from Mr Maclellan states that “State Planning Policy does not generally support absolute height limits in planning schemes as desirable height and other urban elements should be expressed by way of planning policy.” This appears to leave the way open for a developer to appeal a council decision if a multi-storey development permit is refused.

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Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League – Minutes – 1st April 1998

The Parks

Bradshaw Park was the scene of a book launch in April when Alan Reid from the Gould League launched an audio kit and folio for students who visit the park to use. Friends of Bradshaw Park are to be congratulated on this initiative.
Karkarook Park Work on the front section of the park is almost finished and the Sandbelt Parklands Advisory Committee will be taken on a tour of the park.
Braeside Park Friends group were meeting to discuss Parks Victoria’s plans for Friends groups to be prepared to undertake volunteer work in any park!!. Friends groups have been offered a “rest” house at Dromana!!. Threats to Braeside Park are growing. See attachment. Consultants have been appointed to test water quality in the Dingley/Dunlop Drain which flows through Braeside Park and into Mordialloc Creek. Testing will involve Streamwatch.

Port Phillip Conservation Council

Stephen Calvert-Smith has kindly volunteered to once again be MBCL’s delegate to PPCC meetings. The PPCC have produced Draft Policies for Port Phillip Bay. These include:-

  • Bicycle paths
  • Height Limits for Medium Density Housing
  • Protection of No Commercial Development on the Foreshore
  • Foreshore Vegetation

Fortunately these draft policies support MBCL/KCEC policies and submissions to Kingston Council regarding the Kingston Foreshore Strategy.

Amendment L33. The Hains Property

35 submissions were sent to Kingston Council objecting to Amendment L33 which would permit re-zoning of the land to allow for a 700 house development on flood prone land in the Green Wedge. Kingston Council has proceeded with the Amendment L33 before the study of the Keysborough Green Wedge has been finalised. The City of Greater Dandenong has faxed a strongly worded objection to Amendment L33 to the Kingston Councillors claiming the SENUS study states that the Green Wedge must be retained and not built on.

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Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League – Minutes – 4th March 1998

Correspondence

Letter from SERCO inviting MBCL to meet with them for a briefing.

The Parks

Braeside Park Management plan to rotate rangers between Parks as far afield as the Peninsula. David Sewell, Head Ranger will be based at Rosebud. Mr Sewell claims to be a park developer rather than a conservationist!! Letters have been written. The River Red Gums are still unhealthy cause unknown.
Karkarook Park is going ahead with a ‘hole’ being dug which will eventually become a flood retarding basin. The hole will cope with stormwater from the Bentleigh/Oakleigh region. Before the water flows into the Heatherton Drain it will be diverted into reed filled settling ponds. The ponds adjacent to Warrigal Road will be ready in six months. Later water will flow into a filled sand quarry to become a ‘lake’ and part of the Chain of Parks.
Friends of Bradshaw Park will hold a book launch at the Park on Tuesday, 31-3-98 at 2.30pm. The book or kit is designed for school children visiting the Park.

Kingston Conservation & Environment Coalition / Wetlands Hains Property

The Amendment which proposes to re-zone the Hains land from part General Farming, Stream and Floodway, Garden Industrial and Special Extractive Industry to Public Purposes 10 and 20, Reserves and Residential Zone 1, has been placed on Exhibition from 5 March -6 April. Approval for this change of zoning will permit the 700-800 residential development to proceed in the Green Wedge. The SENSUS Strategic Review of the Keysborough Wetlands Area recommended retention of the Green Wedge. There is still time to lodge an objection to this overdevelopment and loss of open space.

Mordialloc Foreshore / Coastal Action Plan / Height Limits

The third meeting of the enlarged Kingston Foreshore Strategy Committee met 24-3-98. KCEC/MBCL had one representative on this large Committee which is looking at ways to ‘develop Mordialloc as a tourist destination. Height limits have been lifted in the area from Centreway, Mordialloc, south towards the creek. There have been hints of a ‘hotel and conference centre’ in this constricted area. The public will eventually be given an opportunity to comment. Kingston Council has invited the DNRE, Parks Victoria, Tourism Victoria and others to work on this scheme. Is this a little like inviting a tiger to tea with Tom the cat?

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Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League – Minutes – 4th February 1998

Panel Hearings on the Kingston Municipal Strategic Statement

Panel hearings will be heard at the Kingston Council Chambers, Moorabbin, from March 16 to 22 April 1998. These hearings are open to the public and should prove a valuable insight to possible planning changes in the municipality.
MBCL will be presenting our submission to the panel on Wednesday 18 between 12noon – 12.30pm.
Submissions will include representations about the rezoning of Beach Road to RDZ1.

The Parks

Braeside Park is under extreme pressure as the number of rangers have been reduced by three. There are now only five rangers available, therefore a number of activities have been curtailed. For example guides are no longer provided for school groups. Instead kits are sent to schools so that teachers can conduct their own tours! There will be no more train rides. Water quality analysis of the Dingley Drain, formerly a major source of leachate pollution in the Park, will not be carried out by rangers. Therefore there will be no monitoring of this drain. Weeds from the non-urban areas south of Mordialloc Main Drain and on the Hains property, are invading the Park- The most serious noxious weed is Pattersons Curse.
There is concern about the health of the river red gums which may be affected by the rising water table, an excess of fertiliser, cattle compaction or a virus.
On the positive side a new car park has been installed, as well as rabbit proof fencing. The plant propagation program has been so successful that there are many plants for sale to councils if they are interested.
Karkarook Park was officially opened by Marie Tehan, Minister for Conservation. No expense was spared although the hard working committee wasn’t invited!! Thousands of small recently planted trees were burnt. An expensive post and rail fence has been moved to allow a car park to be built for Hardware House next door to the park. The Park will lose 30 metres of parkland to enable the car park to be built!

Acid Sulphate Soil at Braeside

It was discovered recently that acidic soil from the City Link tunnels and Coode Island has been dumped as fill for industrial development south of the Woodlands Industrial Estate adjacent to Settlement drain which flows into Mordialloc Creek. The EPA is carrying out tests on the soil.

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Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League – Minutes – 3rd December 1997

Correspondence

Reports Received:

  • Regulations for Personal Water Craft (Jet Skis)
  • Kingston Environmental Report
  • Transport of Industrial Waste. Prescribed Waste Transport Regulations Soon to be released: Marine & Coastal Study (Areas to be nominated for marine parks and aquaculture in Port Phillip Bay.)
  • ARUP Transport Study.

Wetlands Hain’s Property

John Phillips, Group Property Manager, Portland House, reports a slight modification to their plan for residential development of rural land in the Green Wedge, the so called Hains property. Housing will occupy 38% of the site. This will permit a slight increase in the buffer zone. The complete wetland will cost $7 million to construct before the 600-800 residential estate goes ahead. 2 million cubic metres of earth will have to be moved to provide fill for the residential section of the site. The resultant hole will become a”lake”with a clay lined bottom to prevent the upwell of saline groundwater. Some experts claim that a clay lining will not prevent the intrusion of saline groundwater. Such questions need to be addressed before Council gives approval for this controversial development.

Mordialloc Creek

As part of the Hains wetland development Melbourne Water announced that as of Xmas 1997, there would be 2:1 split in water flow between Patterson River and Mordialloc Creek. Patterson River will receive 2/3 of the flow: Mordialloc Creek 1/3. MW claims that because Mordialloc Creek is a tidal estuary boating will not be affected! Consultants reports also raises questions about the effectiveness of the proposed wetland system in treating both high and low flow stormwater run-off. The report goes on public exhibition in February.

Activity Node Mordialloc Foreshore

The Victorian Coastal Strategy was released in December. Mordialloc is one of the Bayside sites classified as an Activity Node. An Activity Node is designated to be the area where there will be a concentration of recreational, boating and commercial activities. Food outlets will be encouraged as will developments by private firms such as Mirvac! Kingston Council has engaged consultants to prepare a Foreshore Strategy for Mordialloc. This is another development to be watched lest we lose our limited public open space on the foreshore to commercial development.

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Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League – Minutes – 5th November 1997

Correspondence

Letter received re a Community Farm Project from Bayside Permaculture Group. Submissions have been sent re Kingston Bicycle Integration Strategy, Options for the Management of Personal Water Craft (Jet Skis) on Port Phillip Bay and Westernport (Parks Victoria), Marine & Coastal Final Report outlining Marine Parks location and areas suitable for aquaculture.

Bradshaw Park

Friends of Bradshaw Park have sent a letter to Serco stating that the Friends groups should not necessarily be expected to undertake work that Serco hasn’t completed or that has not been written into Serco’s contract. At present Serco does some weeding or spraying of weeds and planting according to the Management Plan.

Beach Road

The City of Kingston has continued to insist that they have no alternative to classifying Beach Road as RDZ1 following a Ministerial Directive. The officers claim that this is purely a planning issue and won’t necessarily mean an increase in freight traffic when Webb Dock extensions are completed. However if a planned widening of Governor Road to four lanes to complete an East/West link to Nepean Highway goes ahead, it will encourage HCV’s to continue to use Beach Road.

Bicycle Path Beach Road

Thank you to all those who have made submissions re the proposed bicycle path extension from Charman Road to Mordialloc creek. No decision has been made as yet but we hope that common sense prevails and that no attempt will be made to site the bike path through the sensitive foreshore area on the cliff top.

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Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League – Minutes – 1st October 1997

Attenborough Park Trees

M.Hayler donated a sum of money to Kingston Council to be used for the purchase of 3 Monterey Cypress trees to be planted in Attenborough Park. The Cypresses were planted by the first settlers 150 years ago and can be regarded as having historical significance just as the Canary Island palms in Main Street, Mordialloc have significance as a WW1 memorial avenue. Whilst MBCL is a committed supporter of planting native species in the city, we feel that trees of historical significance also have a place. J. Cuthbertson volunteered to speak to Council Staff about this proposal and/or the return of the donation.

Wetlands

The Hains Draft plan for wetlands is causing concern because the size of the proposed residential development (600-700 houses). This leaves no room for an adequate buffer zone for the wetlands along the Mordialloc Main Drain. The “lake” in the centre of the development is also a questionable feature. There needs to be an overall view of the flood plain with the aim of restoring the hydrology with riparian vegetation.
Clean Up Australia is interested in this wetland project and may offer assistance at the appropriate time. A Wetland Committee is to be formed with representatives from Latrobe University.

Dandenong Catchment Implementation Committee (CIC)

The CIC Committee met 15-10-97 at the Melbourne Water depot, Coleman’s Road, Dandenong. A comprehensive report was given on MW’s Drainage scheme for Dandenong Catchment, including the cost of providing drainage for each development (approx $20,000 per development) with dual occupancy requiring additional charges to cater for increased run-off. 100 metres wide wetland system is being constructed at Brown’s Reserve, Mordialloc.

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Mordialloc Beaumaris Conservation League – Minutes – 2nd July 1997

The Parks

Bradshaw Park Friends of Bradshaw Park were pleased to have 10 people participating in a working bee last month. David Bainbridge has re-located to the Grange Heathland.

Braeside Park will be holding an open day Sunday 10th August from 12 noon to 4pm. September 13th, 27th & October 11th 8am-11am with Robert Berry “Birds for Beginners”

Karkarook Park was finally officially opened 27-6-97 with a full complement of important people from councils, Melbourne Water and local politicians. Marie Tehan, Conservation Minister, said that the huge hole left after CSR completed sand mining would become a 14 hectare lake for non-powered boating. 8 hectares would become an artificial wetland to filter stormwater from the urban areas.

Kingston Conservation & Environment Coalition / Wetlands

Negotiations with the Haines family are continuing in an attempt to reach a satisfactory outcome for a series of wetlands along the north bank of Mordialloc Creek Haines wants residential development with a “lake” on the site.
A KCEC meeting was held at the Braeside Visitors centre to plan a promotional brochure for the wetlands project.

Mordialloc Creek / Dandenong Valley Catchment Action Committee

The next meeting of the DVCAC will be with a new committee under new management (CALP?) It is hoped to have MBCL/KCEC reps on the new committee in order that we are kept informed about continuing problems with water quality in Mordialloc Creek. Tip leachate and sewage overflows are of concern. At the 23-7-97 meeting, Graham Rooney Melbourne Water, gave a comprehensive report on water quality in the Catchment. Monitoring points will remain at Pillars Crossing and Wells Road below the bridge. Sampling will be on a monthly basis but it will take five years of sampling to determine a trend! At present nitrogen samples are still high in the creek. Solids are worse because of diversion of the DSWB. Phosphorous, copper, lead still high at Wells

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