Treegate: How did Cowes Boat Ramp even get funded?

IT SEEMS certain now that three stately Southern Mahogany Eucalypt trees, at the Cowes Boat Ramp, will be chopped down in the next two weeks to make way for a $675,000 redevelopment of the boat ramp and carpark.

Cr Ron Bauer had one last chance to challenge the carpark design and save the trees by moving an Urgent Motion at last Wednesday’s Bass Coast Shire Council meeting.

But, in the end, bureaucracy and a lack of confirmed numbers around the council table scuttled the bid.

“A seconder? Yes, I had that, but they were telling me it wasn’t an Urgent Motion, that I should have tried to rescind the motion earlier,” Cr Bauer told the Sentinel-Times.

“I feel very strongly about this, but I realised it wouldn’t get the support this late in the day.”

So, ultimately, he didn’t go ahead with his Urgent Motion at Wednesday’s council meeting.

“What gets me is they were prepared to spend an extra $100,000 to save one tree at the new PICAL (Phillip Island Community & Learning Centre) site but they wouldn’t try to save three beautiful, mature, native trees at the boat ramp.

“But you’ve got to pick your battles. There’s no point banging on about something when other people won’t see it.”

So, the trees will go but the issue has prompted a key local community group, the Phillip Island Conservation Society, to question how the project even got funded in the first place.

In their submission to the shire’s Anderson Road East Car Park Proposal, the influential PICS provided the following summary: “In summary, we question the strategic need for significant car park works and the need to remove a large amount of vegetation. A car park of this scale appears to have limited strategic support. Under the proposal there would be an unfortunate loss of habitat and only limited replanting including insufficient space allowed on the “islands” for planting of Moonahs.”

The group went on to say that there would also need to be major works undertaken to control a serious infestation of invasive weeds.

They said the project was not identified as a priority in the Victorian Recreational Boating Strategy 2030.

They claimed there was also some misinformation about how the project was funding with council initially announcing on March 11, 2022 that the $675,000 project would be fully funded by council, but later that that the Victorian Fishing Authority was contributing $337,092.

“On this basis the need for a fully sealed and extensive parking area, as proposed by Council has not been identified by boaters or the State as necessary. Rather alternate funding has been obtained for approximately 50% of the cost of the car park from the Victorian Fisheries Authority.”

The conservation group queried whether the Cowes Boat Ramp had officially been reclassified from a “local” to a “district” facility and if not, previous council reports identified that only a modest upgrade was needed, in the order of $50,000.

“The current proposal appears to be vastly more significant than the GHD proposal and the proposal is not recognised by the state as a project requiring funding.”

So how did it get funded.

The conservation group stops short of calling for the trees to be saved, acknowledging that they could drop branches on cars if the boat ramp carpark is extended under the present design.

But they do say, the scale of the project does not have the required strategic support.

If council had listened to this well-reasoned submission, the trees might have been retained, taxpayer and ratepayer money saved, the invasive weeds attended to and the privacy of the homeowners backing on to the boat ramp area preserved.

So, again, how did a project lacking the necessary strategic support leap-frog ahead of others more deserving of state and shire funding?

Even if the trees don’t stay, the question still remains.

For a full copy of the PICS submission go to: https://picsvictoria.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PICS-submission-Anderson-St-east-car-park-April-2022.pdf