Pothole pressure

By Melissa Meehan
A GROUP of angry residents presented shire staff with a petition demanding the resurfacing of a school road last week.
They want Forest Street in Yarra Glen sealed and a group of residents and parents pressed their point in a heated discussion with Shire of Yarra Ranges staff outside the back entrance to Yarra Glen Primary School.
Les King and fellow residents spoke to Ryrie Ward councillor Jeanette McRae and shire manager for civil development Mark Varmalis about the need for a rural seal on the less than satisfactory road.
“The street is a dirt road full of potholes in winter and scattered with dust in the summer,” said Mr King.
Residents claim that Forest Street is used for both Yarra Glen Primary School and Yarra Glen Pre-school traffic with its busiest time being between 3.30pm and 5.30pm, causing an unsafe area for both residents and children attending the local school.
“A rural seal is cheap and it has no curves and no channels,” explained one resident.
“It’s for the safety of the kids. They run across the road and you can’t see them because you are so busy concentrating on the pot holes and once you do see them the pot holes make it impossible to stop quickly.”
Mr Varmalis said that from the council’s point of view, a rural seal would not be appropriate for Forest Street despite residents’ claims that it had stood the test of time on Mill Road, Yarra Glen, for more than 40 years.
“It is a short-term solution and we want something much more long term,” Mr Varmalis said.
Parents have been forced to pick up their children from the back of the school on Forest Street since the car park at the front of the school was made into the teachers’ car park. “The teachers’ car park has seen an increase in the amount of traffic on Forest Street,” a parent said.
Mr King said he found documentation from the Yarra Ranges Shire dated 1984 which stated that if it is in the community’s interest to bitumen a road then the council was obliged to do so.
“We have a community primary school and a community pre-school in Forest Street,” Mr King said.
“I don’t think you can get more community then that.”
Principal of Yarra Glen Primary School Joe Pacquola said the school had spoken about the issue with the education department and they had agreed to have a discussion about moving the school’s boundary to accommodate for more parking in Forest Street.
Cr McRae said she agreed work needed to be done on the road and now that the council had received the petition it would follow through the residents’ claims.
“I agree that the street is in diabolical condition,” Cr McRae said.
“It is difficult not to focus on the pot holes rather then looking out for kids when driving on it.”
Mr King said that it has been very frustrating dealing with the council.
“I want to know why the council can’t spend interest accumulated from the Yarra Glen Bypass on putting a rural seal on Forest Street as opposed to using it on other roads that already have a seal,” Mr King said.
“We simply can’t afford $13,000 per home in a special charge scheme.”
Mr Varmalis said that the shire had already allocated its budget and work on the street could not commence for up to three years.
He also said that interest from the Yarra Glen Bypass had already been allocated to other local projects.