Bass Coast council gets rolling on Sunderland Bay roadworks

ALMOST three years after dumping a $35 million road and drainage improvement project for the potholed, mishmash of roads in the Surf Beach and Sunderland Bay housing estates, the Bass Coast Shire Council is moving forward.

At their council meeting on Wednesday, they voted to adopt a piecemeal approach to problems for residents in a discrete section of The Esplanade, west of Sunderland Bay Road.

The others, who supported the district-wide approach, will simply have to wait, some for a very long time.

While the original project would have seen the third-world system of open drains and dustbowl-come-pockmarked roads brought up to the 21st century for $35 million, it’s going to cost $1.85 million just for the section of The Esplanade between Sunderland Bay Road and Zephyr Court.

Heaven knows what it will ultimately cost to have all of the roads in the two estates sealed, footpaths added and drains properly constructed.

Councillors nonetheless welcomed progress on a vexed issue.

General Manager Future Places at Bass Coast Shire Council Donna Taylor introduced the debate.

“This report seeks council's consideration of the submissions received during the statutory process for the proposed special charge scheme, the upgrade of The Esplanade between Sunderland Bay Road and Zephyr in Sunderland Bay.

“Following council's resolution in February, the statutory declaration process was undertaken and affected property owners were provided with the opportunity to support or object to the proposal. Council received 18 submissions from 24 affected properties, comprising 10 submissions in support and 8 objections. A committee of council considered the submissions and recommended that the scheme proceed unchanged.

“The recommendation before council is to declare the special charge scheme and to proceed with the next stage of the project.”

Cr Ron Bauer spoke in support.

“This motion is the next in a rolling implementation of special charge schemes as a result of the abandoned overarching special charge scheme for Surf Beach and Sunderland Bay that was abandoned in 2023,” said Cr Bauer.

“I commend the ratepayers for asking for this, and I hope more streets will follow. The improved road conditions will improve the living standards for the local residents considerably and I commend the motion to the council,” he said.

While the upgrade of the small section of the road and drainage network will cost a total of $1.85 million, council’s contribution will be $1.325 million and residents included will pay only a fraction of the cost, a maximum total of $524,033.

The 24 property owners share their part of the cost with charges estimated at between $29,783 and $12,256 but typically between $29,000 and $18,000.

The shire uses a complicated formula to calculate the benefit to individual property owners and the benefit to the community, including the cost of providing amenity for visitors to the area in the council’s share.

“The proposed and preferred concept design option adopted by Council achieves a strategic balance between minimising cost to property owners and Council and improving road safety, accessibility, visual amenity, and reduced flood risk,” said Council.

“Investing in road and drainage infrastructure will position the community to better withstand current and future extreme weather events, strengthening the community's resilience to climate change impacts.

“Road upgrades will generally follow the existing alignment of roads, while footpaths will be designed to avoid disruption to established vegetation.”

The shire received only eight objections to the scheme or 33% against, well below the threshold of 50% who would need to demonstrate their objections for the scheme to be abandoned.

Meanwhile, a program of winter grading and maintenance has continued on the road network in recent weeks, where roads have been impacted by a burst of wet weather.

Despite the obvious benefits to health and the environment, not to mention containing the shire’s maintenance costs, some residents of the Surf Beach and Sunderland Bay estates remain opposed to having their streets sealed and drains constructed.

“I’m on a fixed income and I simply couldn’t afford it,” one long-term, permanent resident of Surf Beach told the Sentinel-Times during the week.