By Callum Ludwig
Yarra Ranges Council’s draft 2024/25 Budget was open for community feedback from Wednesday 24 April to Sunday 19 May and resident’s thoughts have been factored into the final adopted budget on Tuesday 25 June.
The Star Mail took a look at Yarra Ranges Council’s responses to submissions on the draft budget to see what has been worked into the final budget and what residents expressed their approval of.
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Sophie Todorov said they sincerely value and appreciate the feedback and submissions provided by community members.
“We saw that more than 470 people visited our Shaping Yarra Ranges website to look at the draft budget and it was downloaded 264 times,” she said.
“We also received 22 written submissions from our community and we had eight people actually come to a public council meeting to put their submissions forward here in the council chamber.”
The following are submissions where Yarra Ranges Council identified an action it has taken or will take as a result:
Most significantly, Yarra Ranges Council has reallocated some funding in the Capital Expenditure program for the provision for general drainage improvements to addressing the concerns of residents of Chapel Street in Lilydale. $50,000 has been put aside for investigation and design work in 2024-25 with a further $250,000 for construction works in 2025-26. Yarra Ranges Council also noted the draft budget already had a provision for them to undertake a flood modelling assessment of the Lilydale area catchments.
This change followed a submission from resident Rosemary Mosely at the submissions hearing on Tuesday 28 May where she called for $330,000 for prioritised upgrades that she believes will benefit residents of the area, the parents of Lilydale Pre-School children, Anglicare staff, visitors to Melba Park and the Lilydale Outdoor Pool, local business owners in and around the area and residents of Lilydale Lodge.
Yarra Ranges Council also noted a couple of community submissions they would note down to advocate for or that will be prioritised in coming years:
A footpath on Kingswood Drive, Chirnside Park was requested by a submitter and is something the Council’s Footpath Prioritisation Framework has deemed a high priority project. A potential project is set to be scoped further and forwarded for recommendation for inclusion in the capital works program from 2026/27.
Yarra Ranges Council advised a submitter to participate in the consultation opportunities for a future Municipal Health and Wellbeing Strategy which Council will be considering over the course of this year and into the next.
A ‘long-time Hills resident’ had their concerns regarding storm management acknowledged, with Council noting that it is looking to equip sites with redundancy options for power outages through generator plug in points, continuing to work with ‘12 interested community groups’ on community emergency preparedness and mobilisation in disasters and adapting to new systems, such as the solar and battery systems at the Olinda Recreation Reserve which faced ‘hardware challenges’ in the immediate aftermath of the June 2021 storm event.
Yarra Ranges Council advised its Road Maintenance team and the contract service provider to address any immediate concerns on the network of roads in Kallista at the request of the Kallista Flood Watch group while already have conducted some remedial works, while continuing to advocate for Roads for Community funding to be restored by the Federal Government in order to recommence previously planned road sealing projects in Kallista and around the region.
In addressing multiple submissions regarding homelessness in the region, Council reiterated its support for service providers and projects that are working to alleviate the issue, including a $120,000 Community Partnership grant Anchor towards its Rapid Response Project Council, resourcing advocacy to support and push for the Cerini Centre Social & Affordable Housing project in Warburton and is working with key partners and local response providers seeking opportunities for improved access, funding, and housing options.
Council forwarded a request for ‘enhanced maintenance’ on Bristol Crescent and Nimblefoot Way Lilydale to the maintenance team to consider based on their current service levels after two separate submissions.
Advised owners of rateable properties in The Heritage Estate of their options to apply for a rate rebate to their properties, put forward due to the ‘community amenity’ the Owners Corporation Committee and Heritage Golf and Country Club believes they provide.
Advised that funding for the design stage of an upgrade to Edinburg Road, Lilydale has been allocated for future years but the proposal to bring it forward to 2024/25 is not supported.
Fixed an error on the ‘Budget for a Glance’ page of the Council website to reflect the roads capital expenditure budget of $18.2m after a submitter’s outrage of the incorrect figure.
Advised that planning approvals in the Council section of the Olinda Creek Trail are hoped to progress during 2024.25 but a large part of any project on the trail is reliant of Parks Victoria and Melbourne Water.
Will include the Belgrave, Olinda and Monbulk public toilet sites for increased cleaning and maintenance works, while also assessing these and all public toilet sites for more significant upgrade works.
Yarra Ranges Council expressed appreciation for the support of two submitters in regards to e proposed drainage works for North Avenue, Mount Evelyn.
Yarra Ranges Council also acknowledged and attempted to give insight on its efforts to submitters who expressed concerns regarding environmental issues/climate change, the Council’s financial position, emergency management funding in comparison to funding for the arts and entertainment and the non-prioritisation of specific footpath works and/or traffic calming measures on Alexander Avenue, Upwey.
