Broken boardwalk

By MARA PATTISON-SOWDEN
A WARBURTON boardwalk is still sitting broken on the side of the Yarra River after more than two years, because of constant finger pointing.
The community is fed up and calling for answers after the five groups with different responsibilities for the track have been pointing fingers on who is responsible and when the area will be cleaned up.
The boardwalk also happens to back on to land that Edgewater developers The Crockett Group are working on.
The developers say they are still sorting out a licence renewal with the Department of Sustainability to conduct soil remediation testing for the site.
They say the difficulty lies in whether the testing requires digging, which means if the boardwalk was fixed it might need to be dug up again during soil testing.
Upper Yarra River Reserves Committee of Management volunteer Jess Baillie said they were continuing to work with Melbourne Water and the Department of Sustainability and Environment to achieve a longer term solution for access at the site.
They closed the site for public safety and are liaising with The Crockett Group to determine the extent of the works that will occur as part of remediation of the mill site.
“Relocation and reconstruction of the pathway must take into account remediation of the former sawmill site that adjoins this section of the reserve,” she said.
“Remediation of the mill site will occur as part of the Edgewater Resort and Spa development.”
The Crockett Group Chief Executive Eric Sward said although he was told the path would be relocated, if works went ahead a new path would be subject to the soil remediation tests.
“Our position is that it’s not on our land and we can’t do anything about it, but we have been in talks with the DSE about the soil remediation, we’ve been trying to get that resolved for two and a half years now,” he said.
Mr Sward said once the licence was resolved there was a chance they would have to dig around that area.
The committee of management signed a memorandum of understanding last year with the Yarra Ranges Council.
Environment and Engineering Director Mark Varmalis said through the MoU the council looked after maintenance and works on council land in and around the Warburton township and the committee of management looked after managing, maintaining and improving the reserve along the Warburton River Walk.
He said the damaged boardwalk was not the council’s responsibility but other areas recently highlighted in an audit have either been renewed or are scheduled for works.