By JESSE GRAHAM
YARRA Ranges residents are now allowed to landscape their nature strips, within reason, with the council accepting a new Nature Strip and Roadside Guideline on Tuesday 9 August.
Councillors unanimously voted to adopt the new guideline at the meeting, after Chirnside Ward councillor Andy Witlox put forward a slight amendment to the document.
The guideline, he said, would give residents certainty about how they were able to landscape their nature strip with plants and rocks, with community feedback helping to shape the document.
“There’s a lot of good stuff in here around, basically, being able to plant on the nature strip – we’ve had a lot of feedback from the community saying this will be a great idea, so this will allow that,” he said.
But his amendment was to remove words from one of the clauses that would have made any letterbox not fitting Australia Post standards illegal.
Over laughter from other councillors, Cr Witlox presented photographs of unconventional letterboxes he had spotted on his drive home, which would have been illegal under the change.
Under the guidelines, rocks and pebbles greater than 7mm in diameter will not be allowed on nature strips, neither will sleepers, artificial turf or sculptures.
Excavation is allowed under the guideline, through the document reminds residents to call Dial Before You Dig on 1100 to ensure they do not damage underground infrastructure.
Yarra Ranges would still be responsible for the land, mayor Jason Callanan said.
“We wanted people to have a bit of, say, ownership over what they could have outside of their place, understanding that the nature strip is still council’s land,” he said.
“However, those residents have to live there every day and see that patch – this guideline strikes a good balance.
“Yes, we’ve had some issues around letterboxes, wanting to not be the middle-man and dictate what a letterbox should look like – as long as it doesn’t pose a risk to pedestrians, cars coming in or out of driveways or coming down the street.”
The review to the guideline took place last year, after a Kalorama resident was forced to remove very large rocks from his nature strip in 2014.
The resident spoke to the Mail and said there was “no consistency” in how nature strip by-laws were enforced.
Under the new guidelines, the rocks would still not be permitted.
The full guideline will be published online at www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au
