The draft Wesburn Park Masterplan, which is set to dictate what the 10-year future of the park will look like, was a key point of discussion at the Tuesday 13 December Council meeting.
Yarra Junction resident and President of the Wesburn/Yarra Ranges Dogs group Nicole Marie spoke at the meeting, representing over 110 members of the group who utilise the space and particularly the off-lead dog area.
Ms Marie said she believes the masterplan is neither equitable nor responsive to the diverse needs of the municipal community, referencing the Local Government Act 2020.
“A lot of the people in the Upper Yarra region that are a part of the do park’ area, this is the only one we really have, in Wesburn. We have been offered other sites but they are in flood zones and a large percentage of the year, they are underwater,” she said.
“The dog area is getting $10,000 for improvements, which includes the dog agility equipment and about 900 metres of fencing. I’m in landscape design construction, that’s what I do when I’m not working for Council, and 900 metres of fencing you are not going to get for 10 grand, you are not going to get any good improvements.”
After initial community consultation, Council included a new potential option which realigned the off-lead dog area to maintain this space for current users, including some car parking and fencing for dog off lead users at Wesburn Park and to redistribute 60 car spaces from the original plan around the oval.
Ms Marie was asked by Councillor Andrew Fullagar if the dogs’ group was consulted on the use of the park and she said the group’s presence was recognised back in 2021.
“We’re a local group that should be there just as much as the pony club, or the cricket club, or anyone else. We’ve got a bigger number of team members, we pay annual fees for our dogs, and yet we get nothing for it,” she said.
“We’ve got some sand that stuffs up our lawn, we’ve got a seat that’s too far away and we’ve got an agility space that gets burnt every other Friday night.”
As well as Cr Fullagar, Chandler Ward Councillor David Eastham, Ryrie Ward Councillor Fiona McAllister and Lyster Ward Councillor Johanna Skelton were all actively involved in the discussion, asking questions to both Ms Marie and the Manager of Recreation, Projects and Parks at Yarra Ranges Council Phil Murton.
Questions posed by Councillors to Mr Murton regarded issues around the highly-publicised hoon activity in Wesburn Park, what the rollout of different aspects of the plan will look like, the shifting of costs since quantifying was last done and agreement with the concerns about how $10,000 could achieve 900 metres of fencing.
Mr Murton said the master plan certainly sets a high level of the direction of what they want to see occur within the park, but as features are being delivered they will look to engage further with Yarra Ranges Dogs and other groups in the community.
“There are measures that we can look at, obviously as Nicole mentioned, the placement of rocks and other things,” he said, in regards to preventing hoon activity.
“The phasing of the implementation is largely driven by when funding is available, with a number already funded through the Warburton Mountain bike Destination or the Wesburn Park Masterplan.”
“Through the Master Plan process, all of the items that have been outlined go through a quantity surveyor review. As each of these moves into the delivery phase, further assessment gets done and budgets will be looked at, this is what we hope is an accurate guide. Below $10,000 can deliver a significant amount of fencing depending on what kind of fence it is. But as you said, from when this was made, there may be some changes based on market fluctuations.”
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor and O’Shanassy Ward Councillor Jim Child forward the motion.
Cr Child said he passionately supports this recommendation with no reluctance whatsoever.
Without this particular master plan, we’d be sitting in no man’s land with the Wesburn Recreation Reserve, it would still be the barren space that it is now,” he said.
“I think it puts this land to great use, both for the community and also our visitors.”
Cr Fullagar was the only councillor who voted against the motion, having commented before the vote about his reluctant support for the project.
“This is a huge change for Wesburn Park, a $15 million commitment over 10 years and I know that’s not all going to come from Council and we rely on state and government grants, but it just concerns me that we’ve got a group such as these who have submitted tonight, who feel that there hasn’t been sufficient consultation.”
“I just want to flag that we must have ongoing consultation to make sure that we remain on track. I’m just concerned that we have such a huge project that will totally change Wesburn Park, I just hope that we’ve got this one right.”
