By KATH GANNAWAY
THREE Yarra Junction sporting clubs are calling on Yarra Ranges Council to remove a gum tree they say is a risk to players and visitors.
But after talk of the onus being on clubs to apply for a planning permit, the council has said it will be applying to have the tree removed.
The clubs, Yarra Junction Football/Netball Club, Yarra Junction Junior Netball Club and Yarra Junction Cricket Club wrote to the council detailing their concerns.
The clubs said the tree had begun to drop limbs and added its location, between the practice cricket nets and adjacent to the netball courts, made it dangerous to the players and others who used the facilities.
The walkway to the netball courts is under the tree.
A common theme of the letters was that the tree, in addition to dropping limbs, was a nesting site for bull ants which occasionally drop from the tree.
Cr Jim Child raised the issue for a second time at the Yarra Ranges Council meeting on Tuesday 7 March.
He said that at a site meeting with council staff and a community representative for the clubs it was suggested that to appraise the matter further, a town planning permit was required.
The requirement for user groups to apply for the permit, he said, had astounded him.
“I still express that concern (raised in the Councillors’ Forum Meeting) that users of the recreation reserve facility have to apply for a town planning permit to actually satisfy or to get a safe place for recreation,” he said.
“I just can’t handle that,” he added.
He referred to letters from the clubs that detailed the hundreds of people who use the facilities adjacent to the tree.
He said he had been advised by the council’s arborist that the risk assessment was now “between low and moderate”.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard moderate,” he said.
“But, to me, there is a risk on the ground and the residents and the people who use the recreation reserve also believe there is a risk.”
Speaking with the Mail this week, Cr Child said the requirement to apply for a planning permit raised a number of questions, including who paid for the removal of the tree, and who paid the offset if it was required.
“Offset for a tree that size could be tens of thousands of dollars,” Cr Child said.
He said the last limb that fell landed on the seating area and that it was fortunate that at the time no-one was there.
“In that highly concentrated area, where kids, mums, pushers, and on game day when you could have 80 or 90 people there, if the same thing happened, I think we (the council) would be in strife,” he said.
He said he was preparing a motion on the matter to put to council.
“I want to have a clear conscience that I’ve done the most I can possibly do in regards to representing the users of that recreation reserve to overcome this problem,” he said.
Yarra Ranges Council’s Director of Environment and Engineering, Mark Varmalis, said the council will be submitting a planning permit application on behalf of the clubs, to remove the tree.
“If a permit to remove the tree is approved, council will obtain three quotes from contractors and pay for the works,” Mr Varmalis said.
“We estimate these works would cost around $3200.”
Mr Varmalis said the tree had been inspected twice and was identified as healthy with no risk, “which is why the recommendation was for no works to be undertaken”.
“Like residents, council is also subject to the requirements of the planning process where a tree on council land, not assessed as being high risk, is being considered for removal.”
