By Callum Ludwig
Property owners on six roads in Wandin North are set to face special charges to seal the roads while three Seville roads have had a contractor approved for their road improvement works as discussed at the Tuesday 25 October Yarra Ranges Council meeting.
The 86.25 landowner units on Park Street, Nicholas Road, Mary Road, Elsie Street, Royal Avenue and Imperial Avenue, Wandin North will cover $603,750 between themselves and Council will cover the remaining $1,996,415.
Landowner contributions for the road improvements on Victoria Road, Railway Road and English Street in Seville are fixed at $7,000 per development unit.
Chandler Ward Councillor David Eastham forwarded the Wandin North motion and said after driving through some of the dirt roads in Chandler Ward to get to the meeting, the sealing of the roads could not come at a more appropriate time.
“I know these roads quite well, I grew up near there and I wholeheartedly support this recommendation. I’d like to move the recommendation as it reads on pages 633 and 634 of tonight’s papers,” he said.
81 (84 per cent) of landowners responded to the survey. Of those, 70 (87 per cent) supported the proposed Special Charge Scheme, 10 (12 per cent) opposed the proposed Special Charge Scheme, and one (one per cent) was undecided.
The motion was seconded by Councillor Tim Heenan and was carried unanimously.
Cr Eastham also forwarded the Seville motion and said usually Council do fly through the special charge schemes, but with this one there are a few trees getting removed.
“A number of them are exotic and there are also a few natives as well, which I guess is a necessary evil in a way to ensure the safety of the residents in that area. I know that the safety element had a high weighting when it came to looking at what roads got on this list,” he said.
“If anyone’s driven around Victoria Road and English Street in Seville they’ll know that the roads definitely are in significant need of this work. It is unfortunate that the trees will be removed, but I did just want to say that that is a consideration that Council does make and I appreciate the residents who did contact me about that and their concerns about it.”
Councillor Andrew Fullagar seconded the motion and said he echoed Cr Eastham’s comments but was concerned about the weight given to sustainability elements in awarding sealing contracts.
“I note too, that there are slightly different allocations of input for how the decisions are made, this one has got a quality and sustainability element but it was a little bit disappointing that it was only five per cent. But at least it was acknowledged whereas the other two didn’t have it at all,” he said.
“It does throw up the question as to how these percentages are allocated And you know, we obviously trust the officers but in this case, I thought it might it might have been a bit higher than the five per cent that it was considered in awarding the contract.”
The motion was carried unanimously.
