Carpark wins fight with trees (again) on Phillip Island

WHO would have thought that Cr David Rooks would turn out to be the best mate of Phillip Island’s jet skiers?

Or that he would be the one to insist that three mature Southern Mahogany eucalyptus trees should be torn down in Cowes to make way for a carpark?

But that was the unexpected reality of last Wednesday’s Bass Coast Shire Council meeting, leaving his fellow Island Ward colleague, Cr Ron Bauer, frankly shaking his head and wondering how he could have become the “only tree hugger” of the three councillors in the Island Ward; Crs Whelan, Rooks and Bauer.

But more than the fate of three mature, healthy, beautiful Southern Mahogany trees, the shire’s plan for the overflow carpark at the Cowes Boat Ramp is that a large, well-developed dune area at the eastern end of the carpark will have to be excavated to provide for the 20 car-parking spaces to be formalised by the $675,700 project.

“Come up here and have a look where they have put the site pegs, you won’t believe it,” said Cr Ron Bauer on yet another visit to the site this week.

“That’s where the old pegs were,” he said, indicating the eastern extent of the carpark in an earlier plan.

“Now they are putting it right back here. This whole sand dune has got to go. I can only imagine what the people of Inverloch would have said if we tried to do the same thing there.

“It’s absolutely outrageous.

“I know it’s gone a long way down the track now but it’s not too late to correct a mistake, a number of mistakes with the design.

“You can see today how many people are coming down to go to the beach, but there’s no single bay carparks for beachgoers.

“And we’re only talking about an overflow carpark that’s used on perhaps a dozen days of the year. Either don’t do anything or simply move the plan forward a few feet and save the trees, and save the neighbours privacy.

“It can’t be that hard, we’ve got until December to spend the money.”

The much vexed issue of the Cowes Boat Ramp Carpark was the subject of a Notice of Motion by Cr Bauer at last Wednesday’s council meeting, as follows:

“That the redevelopment of the Anderson Street carpark be halted and (1.) the plans be redesigned to incorporate the three gum trees that have been designated to be cleared are in the current plans, (2.) that in the new design the carpark turning circle is brought back 15 metres as in the original concept drawings and (3.), that council officers obtain an arborist’s report confirming the health of the trees.

The value of the project is $675,700, part funded by the council ($337,092) and the Victorian Fisheries Authority ($338,608).

Community feedback had to be received by council on Friday, April 8, ahead of last week’s council meeting with the project set to start in May 2022 and be completed by July 2022.

Cr Bauer led the debate at last week’s council meeting, however while he received the support of Cr Rochelle Halstead, who seconded the motion and voted in favour, the four other councillors at the meeting, Crs Whelan, Rooks, LeServe and Laing voted against saving the trees and redesigning the carpark.

Cr Bauer, however, continued to fight the good fight:

“The east side of the Anderson Street carpark, which is currently gravel and is used as an overflow. It's only required for December and January. The proposed redevelopment of this car park in its current form is nothing short of botanic vandalism,” said Cr Bauer, addressing council last Weddnesday.

“Council officers have called the three gum trees weeds. You can't call these majestic mature gum trees weeds. Just because they're not native to Phillip Island is no reason to rip them out. Nobody would contemplate removing the cypress trees that create a canopy to the entrance of Cowes because they're not native.

“Councillors who wished to object and rightly so for cutting down 15 trees for the transit centre. Also, we've played a game of Twister to save the trees as a new cultural centre.

“Are we really destroying these three majestic trees and native vegetation just because a ditch would need to be filled in and a drain would have to be extended? Are we really going to prioritse a man-made structure over a living breathing flora?

“I am bitterly disappointed at the attitude of my fellow ward councillors to this…” he said.

The Mayor Cr Michael Whelan, one of his “fellow ward councillors” interjected at this point telling Cr Bauer to stick to the point and refrain from personal attacks on other councillors and officers.

“Where is the support”, he continued, “for climate change, environment, land care and tree care? I can't believe that with this issue, I am the only tree hugger in the ward.”

“I have met nearly all the residents directly affected by this character zone of carpark and all of them voice the lack of consultation by counsel. One of them summed it up by saying this design was drawn up by an engineer not sympathetic to the environment.

“According to this proposal, the three majestic gum trees will be destroyed as well as significant quantity of native vegetation on the eastern and southern side of the carpark.

“The removal of vegetation on the southern boundary of the carpark is particularly disturbing because the properties’ boundaries will become exposed and suffer significant and unacceptable loss of privacy.

“The turning circle at the east end will face directly into the yard of one of the adjoining homeowners.

“By moving the design northwards by only a few metres the contiguous properties will retain the privacy and the gum trees will be saved.”

Cr Bauer went on to say that some vegetation would be lost on the north side but that this could be offset by additional planting.

He said he had received expert advice that the trees were not weeds but mature trees that offered habitat value in the area of the Anderson Street carpark, especially as there were no other large trees present.

“This is only an overflow carpark and is only required for a few weeks of the year.”

Cr Bauer said it was council policy to retain the look and feel of Phillip Island through its planning policies and he urged the council to follow that plan and retain the trees by making minor alterations to the design of the carpark.

“I urge that we place a moratorium on this project, to go the back to the drawing board. As this carpark will not be needed before late December, we have plenty of time.”

Cr Rochelle Halstead, who seconded the motion, said she didn’t see a problem with getting an arborist to have a look at the trees but noted her only concern was the potential for damage to cars further down the track, if the trees dropped limbs.

“But if the trees are safe enough to remain, I would be happy to support Cr Bauer’s motion,” said Cr Bauer.

The only other speaker was avowed Phillip Island environmentalist David Rooks, who while he insisted on saving a tree slated for removal on a local residential block, agreed the mature eucalypts had to go.

“I'd like to focus on Phillip Island as a destination for boating activities. We're very lucky to have facilities both in Newhaven and Rhyll, and they're well used,” said Cr Rooks.

“We've also got, now it's been highlighted, the Cowes Boat Ramp and Better Boating Victoria has been working with Council on improving the ramp there at the end of Anderson Street, and also with that, the carpark.

“This is really important work because for those locals that know, if you need a good giggle in afternoon, you go down and watch people trying to get on and off that ramp at the moment. It's not a good situation and it needs improving. As it improves, OK, we can expect demand for increased use of that ramp and also the demand for car park. So, we need to have this car park in place.

“Studies show that if you have two lanes and a car park you should have 50 car parks. If there's three lanes on the ramp, you need 75 car parks. We don't know exactly the design yet but there's 24 car parks down there at the moment and we're going to add another 20, that makes 44 so we're still going to fall short of the demand we can expect in the area.

“As already mentioned by Cr Bauer, there's already an area that's used on east side informally and the new design has already been adjusted to recognize some of the local residents and their needs. It's been moved five metres further forward up to the coastal fringe of the vegetation there and it would be ridiculous to go further into that coastal vegetation with climate change.

“Everything's been done trying to minimize vegetation loss. I appreciate the three southern mahogany trees that are there, unfortunately, they need to be removed to complete the new design.

“I cringe when any vegetation is removed, and habitat lost to the wildlife. However, these trees are not indigenous to the Island, and they can interbreed with other vegetation which is not what we want for our local vegetation.

“I encourage the new local Cowes coastal group, which has just been recently formed, to work with council to revegetate this Moonah Woodlands area and build the gaps in the vegetation there. So, I don't support this notice of motion.”

He voted against trying to save the trees, but in so doing, also agreed to a large area of the dune system, and the coastal vegetation stabilising it, being removed to make way for 20 cars and boats.

An affected neighbour told the Sentinel-Times last week that most of the overflow was used by visiting, summer jet ski operators who nonetheless took up the same space as a boat, while the buzzed local beachgoers for their enjoyment – the jet ski operators, not the beachgoers!

In closing, Cr Bauer corrected some of the comments made by his Island Ward colleague, Cr Rooks, saying that the new ramp would not provide additional capacity and “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

He said the overflow carpark was “only used a dozen times a year” and was probably adequate for that purpose the way it is.

“Why destroy our natural beauty when what is needed is more single carpark spaces for beachgoers.”

He said that council should hold off on the project so that it could be redesigned, allowing the mature trees to stay while protecting the privacy of the adjoining residents, noting that there was time for the work to be undertaken with the grant money not needing to be committed until December.

“Let’s go back to the drawing board,” he said, “and get an outcome that is a win-win for the boaties, the local residents and the environment.”

But it’s almost certain he’s fighting a losing battle now with councillors voting 4:2 to proceed and the chainsaws set to roar into life on the site any day soon.