Park Push for Mt Pleasant
Published: Melville Times, 17/Aug/2010
ABOUT 200 residents turned out to a community barbecue in Mt Pleasant on Sunday to appeal to the City of Melville to buy and turn a demolished water treatment station into open parkland.
Melville Action Group members, schoolchildren, seniors, Tangney MHR Dennis Jensen and candidates David Doepel (Labor) and Pete Best (Greens) and Liberal Senator Chris Back spent the afternoon discussing why the land should be turned into parkland and how it could be done.
In July, the Water Corporation demolished the water treatment station on Clive Street and community members now want the site turned into a park.
Mt Pleasant resident Rhonda Kerr said the 3200sqm vacant block presented a “rare opportunity” to provide vital public open space to the suburb.
“The state standard for open space is 10 per cent, City of Melville’s average access to open space is 18 per cent, but the access to open space in Mt Pleasant is just 6 per cent and this includes the Rowing Club and the car park,” she said.
MAG member Graham James said the aim of the barbecue was to influence local and State government representatives to ensure that development throughout the City satisfied the needs and wishes of the Melville community.
“The residents want the space to be turned into park, not into a three-storey housing development,” he said.
“The city’s policy is that every resident should have access to public open space within 400 metres of their homes, but most people in this area have to walk for 800 metres or more.”
But Melville chief executive Shayne Silcox said the pumping station land was freehold and not owned by the city, so “as long as it met the requirements of the Community Planning Scheme, it was up to the owners on how they developed or sold the land”.
“The land is in three parcels owned by the Water Corporation, Landgate and the Crown Land Department,” he said.
“The land has a multi-million dollar market value and hypothetically the owners may decide to develop the land for residential purposes.”
Mr James said the community group would hold a meeting every Sunday afternoon at the open space bordered by Clive Street, Baldwin Avenue and Ogilvie Road until their message was made clear.
Comments:
Alan Diggin, 31/08/2010
The City is already protecting old road reserves in the precinct in the review of the Town Planning Scheme. These were previously identified for a sell of by the Crown for housing . The same should be done here . The land should be zoned for open space under the Scheme review. That would be a good start to getting a park rather than housing on the land.
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