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A0034887B VICTORIA ABN 82 104 322 096 |
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Beaumaris Conservation Society
Inc. |
P.O. Box 7016 BEAUMARIS VIC 3193 |
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Tel 0395891802, 0429176725 Fax 0395895194 |
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Reject 4 metre swathe for Bicycle Road in foreshore bushland from Cromer to Charman Road! Instead extend, to Cromer Road, Beach Road’s 2-lane safety section from Charman Road, using the 1 m verge and 3 m of road surface. MORE |
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CLICK ON YOUR SUBJECT OF INTEREST, OR A PHOTO FOR ENLARGEMENT AND DETAILED CAPTION, BELOW |
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View from Cromer Road towards Charman Road |
Safety Section of 2 motor lanes between Charman Rd and Deauville St |
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EXTEND SAFETY SECTION: SAVE BUSH & RESERVE Use part of Beach Rd Reserve: A 2007 report (Item 4.5 p.22) to Council gave options
for a route on the road reserve to spare Bayside's
longest section of coast without any concrete, car parks or buildings. Council
again unsuccessfully contacted VicRoads, and its Minister, seeking room on the road reserve
for the bicycle road. See VicRoads ‘sharing’ page. In June 2008, Greens MLC,
Sue Pennicuik, addressed Parliament
on that. Next month,
Liberal MLC, Andrea Coote, presented a
599-signature petition to Parliament seeking its support. Extending to Cromer Road
the Beach Road Safety Section (850 m from Mundy Street, Mentone,
to Deauville Street, Beaumaris) - where car lanes
were reduced from 4 to 3, over 15 years ago - by 40% (350 m) would give that room. Damage to Beach Park Will Result
Otherwise: Council
has 3 options - if the road reserve is not used - for the Beach Park
foreshore land, a key part of the 30 hectare Beaumaris Bay Fossil Site (ID is 18053) on the Register of
the National Estate since 1999. All 3 are very damaging. The last two are by
far the worst: ·
using the 1 m grass verge and the next 3 metres
in, as
Council’s 2000 Master Plan (11H)
envisages, would condemn 90 indigenous trees (BCS Inc. survey lists 8 very difficult sites for
tree loss) and consume 2,550 mē of foreshore land, or ·
veering seawards into the heart of the reserve to avoid certain trees,
which would permanently fragment the reserve and gut its central spine,
intrude too close to the cliff brink, consume 4 m of reserve rather than 3 m,
and more than double the edge effect on vegetation (litter, runoff, wind tunnels, sight line problems, lights on poles,
and root growth damage to the concrete path), or ·
surfacing most of the sandy walking track
(as above but even closer to cliff). |
LAST UNCONCRETED 850 METRES: AN ERRATIC HISTORY Kennett Era: The Conservation Minister, Mark Birrell,
decided to build a bicycle road around the Port Phillip coast, with no
planning for the most environmentally difficult
sections, such as this 850 metre length.
That led to that era’s unelected municipal commissioners dutifully and
enthusiastically building the easy parts elsewhere first, thus creating a
momentum to force damaging outcomes on sections like this. 2000: Bayside City Council’s
Black Rock/Beaumaris Foreshore Master Plan Map 4
(11H)
declared a Priority 2 for
“missing link” of bicycle road to be on Beach Road reservation
or, failing that, alongside the kerb. It knew that
meant trees would be lost. 2002: Bayside Council removed the improperly sited end
of its concrete bicycle road at Cromer Road, as it intruded near the cliff
brink. 2003: Bayside City Council published
its Bayside Bicycle Strategy
2003. 2005: 16 pink survey markers appeared along the present unpaved
cliff-top walking track, which is not a route on which the link to Charman Road should be even considered, as bisecting the
vegetated reserve would add 2 extra
edges to it, and lead to pressure for great disturbance by widening,
and by lighting on light poles. The alternatives would not so greatly
increase the number of edges to vegetated areas. The closer to the cliff brink the more important is Beach Park’s
vegetation and ambience. 2006: The bitumen on Beach Road east of
Cromer Road is about 1 metre wider than it is to the west. That
legacy of former councils whose boundary was Cromer Road should enable
release of the surplus 1 metre to reduce impact on
Beach Park. 2008: Bayside Council staff proposed a
bicycle road to bisect this unconcreted strip
either by a “meandering” route cutting through bushland, or - to make the inevitable damage less
publicly conspicuous - by surfacing most of the sandy walking path.
The staff’s alternative option was an impracticable “granitic
sand” road that would eventually be replaced by concrete, and just
distracts from the concern about bisecting the reserve. 2009: Bayside Council rejected the 2008 staff options, and unanimously resolved (minutes P. 11) to favour a “back-of-kerb” option (as called for by the 2000 Master Plan) and renew its approach to VicRoads in that regard. |
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