In what one council insider has labelled an “unprecedented” moment in the history of South Gippsland Shire, the motion addressing the second community petition seeking to preserve parking around the Fish Creek memorial has lapsed for want of a seconder, with silence descending on the council chambers during last week’s meeting.
But what happens now? Well, according to the council, “lapsed motions do occasionally occur across the local government sector. If a Motion lapses it is deemed to not be supported. The works are intended to proceed as planned.”
The first petition, submitted by Mr Brad Anderson, also requested alterations
to the Fish Creek Streetscape project currently under construction, in particular relocating a pedestrian crossing. In this case, the council voted to advise Mr Anderson as the Lead Petitioner that Council would not be making alterations to the design of the streetscape, with three councillors voting against the motion.
Councillor Beach supported the council’s position, stating: “We’re having lots of conversations in the room about this, and sometimes redevelopments can be tricky and complex and I think that we’ve understood that safety and compliance with legislation and legal requirements all help guide us in our practice and decision making.”
However, Councillor Hersey raised concerns about the impact on local businesses, stating: “I think everyone knows I have expressed concern in the past through our economic development team of our council for support for businesses. I think we could have gone further in this to see how we could better support businesses in the town of Fish Creek. I think that’s been glossed over, unfortunately.”
Councillor Gilligan acknowledged the complexities of streetscape projects, saying: “Streetscapes are a vexing thing and I’ve been through a few now with this council... However, you often have fifty percent of the community saying one thing, and fifty per cent saying another, and we somehow have to let everyone down a bit.”
Gilligan also noted timing issues with community consultation: “This streetscape has been a long time in the planning, and there have been opportunities for people to engage. However I do think that we perhaps need to acknowledge that council projects move a lot slower than communities and that when we’re getting ready to roll out a project that might have been years in the design, that we do need to check in with what community needs may have changed.”
Brad Anderson, petition owner and manager of Fish Creek Hardware Store, attended the meeting and expressed disappointment with the outcome. “The councillors’ apparent lack of enthusiasm and support for the community petitions was disheartening,” he said.
He noted the petition had significant community support despite circulating for only two and a half weeks due to submission delays.
Anderson has calculated that the township will lose “between 16 and 18 parking spaces – approximately one-third of the parking near the main commercial strip” due to the streetscape changes.
He questioned the council’s reasoning: “If proximity to the playground was the issue, would it not have been more cost-effective and safer to relocate the playground? If the problem lay with
the parking not being sealed or not meeting Australian Standards, then while expensive, addressing this would have yielded a long-term benefit for the town’s ability to accommodate visitors and host community events.”
Anderson continued to raise concerns about semi-trailer access to his store, stating he’s still awaiting council response to proposals for safe vehicle movement. “This is a commercial precinct, not a residential area, and the infrastructure should reflect the needs of the businesses that operate here,” he said. Cara Schultz
