By Tyler Wright
Yarra Ranges councillors have supported a planning application for a childcare facility on 1 Baynes Park Road in Monbulk, despite pedestrian safety concerns raised by a local resident at the most recent council meeting.
At a supplementary council meeting on Tuesday 10 October, councillors unanimously voted to approve the planning application for the use of land for a childcare centre, building and works to construct a childcare centre, building and works to construct a front fence, removal and lopping of vegetation and removal of access to a Transport Zone 2 at the site.
Councillors also voted to issue a notice of decision to grant a permit subject to the conditions in attachment one to the report.
There were 22 objections to the proposal and one letter of support; with concerns including an increase in car noise and fumes, decreased traffic/pedestrian safety and potential for poor driving behaviour and a lack of car parking on site and on Baynes Park Road.
Monbulk local Robin Oakley said he could not stress enough how “unsafe“ the intersection of Baynes Park Road and Emerald-Monbulk Road is; and urged the council’s engineering traffic team to reassess the road.
“It’s been noted by both VicRoads and our MP Daniela De Martino that the crossing directly out the front of our house has terrible line of sight, and has been noted by these guys to be unsafe – and that’s the safest possible spot to cross in the area,“ he said.
Mr Oakley said he could imagine parents parking at Monbulk’s Aldi store, walking across to grab their child and walking back across to complete their shopping afterwards.
“To assume that people won’t cross the roads at all there and are only going to navigate that by vehicle; I can’t accept that,“ he said.
Speaking on behalf of planning applicant Casa Monbulk, Jason Sumner said the proposed childcare centre is based in a “very good“ location.
“Childcare centres are almost always located within a residential environment such as this,“ Mr Sumner said.
“It’s also worth noting that Monbulk is known as a larger neighbourhood activity centre under the Strategic Framework plan..these centres provide a range of community services to the surrounding communities.“
According to the Yarra Ranges Council website, there are 15,751 people – including 747 zero to four years olds in the Mount Dandenong, Olinda, Monbulk and Silvan areas; all within the proposed childcare centre’s catchment area.
Mr Sumner said there should be at least one place in a childcare centre for every three children.
“This means that there should be the provision of 249 childcare places in the Monbulk area,“ he said.
“At the moment there is a single childcare centre operating with 45 places; there’s been approval for an 88 place centre already; this childcare centre will be for another 88, so that’s 221 childcare places; it is still an undersupply.“
Mr Sumner said the application is considerate to the potential impacts on neighbours of the property.
“The plans themselves separate the children by areas and provide for acoustic generation through fencing,“ he said.
“The building itself has been designed to have a very residential appearance; so we’ve tried to put things such as the car park underneath the building.
“I can also advise you that there’s been a lot of interest from operators in this application, so it certainly will be constructed if approved.“
Mr Sumner also said childcare centres act “vastly different“ to schools in terms of start and finishing times.
“They have fewer children, the children are younger, and they do not have set start and finish time,“ he said.
“They do not get a mad rush with parents coming to childcare centres in a short period of time and picking children up.
“In regard to consideration of potential community impacts, the question should not be whether the application would result in a change in existing environment, but whether that change is unreasonable.“
In response to being asked how the council can mitigate pedestrian safety issues in the future, Director of Planning and Sustainable Futures at Yarra Ranges Council, Sarah McClusky, said the council can not implement a planning condition that requires the operator of the childcare facility to install a pedestrian crossing because the facility alone is not increasing demand for the service.
“A couple of things that we can do – and that are identified in the plan – are things like a road safety quarter, and that would identify the different types of works or treatments that might be required,“ Ms McClusky said.
“That would need to go through a formal budget process.“
Yarra Ranges Council’s Director of Built Environment and Infrastructure, Hjalmar Philipp, said the council’s traffic team identifies issues, gathers data, and then presents a case in support of a pedestrian corner to the Department of Transport and Planning.
Chandler Ward councillor David Eastham moved the recommendation in general business.
“It’s always good to hear from the community that are going to be directly impacted, whether it’s positive or negative to planning and items that come before it,“ Cr Eastham said.
“A lot of the issues raised through the objections, there are certain things in there that just don’t fall within the planning scheme.
“I think it’s important that when we’re discussing this and Councils, when it comes to voting on this item that we are voting on what sits within the planning scheme and what Council has control over.“
However, Cr Eastham said pedestrian access is a “very significant“ concern.
“It was heard loud and clear, not just tonight, but through the consultation that was done throughout Monbulk over the last six months,“ he said.
“It’s very important when we consider these child care centres that we know and we’ve seen the data that Monbulk does not have enough childcare centres.“
Cr Eastham acknowledged concerns around the proposed childcare centre holding 19 car parks on site.
“As highlighted by the speaker against, there’s also the cars that are going past at significant speed,“ he said.
“All of this has been taken into consideration by people that are experts in this field.
“We put this through the traffic engineers; they are experts in this, and they have said that it meets their requirements.“
Cr Eastham said he struggled making decisions with both head and heart when it comes to pedestrian safety.
“I don’t want community thinking that me moving this recommendation and supporting it is not taking [pedestrian safety] seriously.
“We take that very seriously and we’ll be looking to take action on that and personally, I’d love to meet with you if you want to to discuss that and see what advocacy can be done through Daniela De Martino’s office, and working in conjunction with Council as well.
“It’s a real concern; It’s been raised by yourselves tonight and other community members, but overall, this decision that’s before us tonight meets the planning scheme…there is an absolute need for childcare centres within Monbulk and the broader Yarra Ranges region… the community have come to me about saying they don’t want to have to drive half an hour, 45 minutes to find a childcare center that they’re comfortable to send their kids to
“I believe that it is of a benefit to the broader Monbulk community, and I look forward to seeing the conversations play out going forward around advocacy for pedestrian safety.“
Lyster Ward Councillor Johanna Skelton seconded the motion.
“Looking at the whole piece, I think it does respond to the needs of the community and predict for what our future needs are,“ Cr Skelton said.
“My concerns were around hinge points in the car parking, and whether that would turn our peaceful road into a pedestrian racetrack.
“I’m glad that you’ve confirmed that it would not be possible in the Council setting here tonight, that as a planning consideration, that this development be responsible for that addition to the road network because that was really the bit that I was unsure about.“
Cr Skelton said she echoed both Councillor Eastham and Ryrie Ward Councillor Fiona McAllister’s request for the council to remain vigilant on pedestrian safety.
“I do feel like there is a chance that if the parking is not quite sufficient, or if the parks are small for the big vehicles, or whatever it is, people will be using that crossing more.
“We need to be looking at that; and if DoT (the Department of Transport and Planning) are not able to put some kind of solution on the table, whether that’s speed reductions or a crossing or whatever that looks like, I do think we need to be there to consider what can happen, perhaps with a footpath on Baynes Road or something else that solves that.
“We absolutely need to be on the watch, but it’s not enough to make me think that this project as a whole doesn’t have benefit for community overall.“
The motion was carried unanimously.
