Sky's Vic Park Newsletter #15: Repairs, Rutland, and Recycling
What’s coming up at the December 10th Ordinary Council Meeting: the strategic waste management plan, repairs to the Lathlain Park Grandstand, advertising a plan to close one end of Claude St in Burswood, report on options for traffic calming on Rutland Ave, and the tender for the Edward Millen Park.
Kaya!
As the cycle of the year turns over, I hope that you are finding opportunities for rest and connection.
Next week will be the last Ordinary Council Meeting for the year, and I’ll also attend the Access and Inclusion Meeting. There aren’t usually meetings in January, and I’m definitely ready for a break!
This newsletter covers:
Behind the scenes: our new CEO,
How to get involved,
What’s coming up at the December 10th Ordinary Council Meeting: the strategic waste management plan, repairs to the Lathlain Park Grandstand, advertising a plan to close one end of Claude St in Burswood, report on options for traffic calming on Rutland Ave, and the tender for the Edward Millen Park,
And decisions made in November.
Behind the scenes
Our new CEO, Carl Askew, has just begun work. The CEO plays a vital role in managing the Town’s employees and operations, and providing information to council so that we can make good decisions.
Over the next few months as well as having regular council meetings with the CEO, elected members will meet him individually to get a better sense of how we can work well together.
Get involved
If you’re reading this before Monday, 9th December, CoB, get in quick to have a say about the new skateable flow bowl in the McCallum Park Active Area.
Do you have a great idea for urban greening? Apply for an Urban Forest Grant to make it happen!
There are currently two important consultations open on Your Thoughts, in addition to development applications:
tell us what you think about policies aimed at protecting trees on private property, and
let us know what you want from the future of the Albany Highway Precinct.
Looking for community events? Check out the Vic Park Community Centre and upcoming Town Events.
If you enjoy community bike rides (and are on Facebook), check out Ride a Bike In Vic Park for monthly family-friendly community rides. I went on one last week and it was glorious!
The State government is consulting about the future of their LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy.
Coming up at the December OCM
There are quite a few big items on the agenda for December’s Ordinary Council Meeting, which will be held at 6:30pm on 10th December.
These include:
Item 13.1 Strategic Waste Management Plan. Given the environmental impact of waste and the costs associated with it, this has a huge impact.
Item 13.5 Current works required for the Lathlain Park Grandstand. There are structural issues with this grandstand that require immediate attention to prevent them worsening and posing a serious safety hazard. Staff recommend shifting some funding from other projects in order to complete these repairs.
Item 13.6 Claude Street, Burswood - Request to advertise revised proposed closure of a
portion of road reserve. Advertising this proposal would not commit the Town to agreeing to the road closure, or to a future development. As the table on page 60 summarises, some notable changes to the plan have been made between Council’s last viewing of it and the present version, including that the Principal Shared Path would no longer be completed as part of the road closure. We’re awaiting more information about that from Main Roads WA.Item 13.7 Rutland Avenue - Lathlain - Traffic Calming. As we have heard from both our staff and community members, the incomplete section of the PSP along Rutland Ave regularly puts cyclists at risk of high-speed car crashes. A petition was presented back in 2014 asking Council to “Take immediate action to slow traffic” along Rutland (page 67). This report presents Council with three options for slowing traffic in order to mitigate this danger.
Item 13.8 TVP 24/26 Edward Millen Park Project Tender. This item awards the tender for construction of the park area, drawing on a variety of funding streams.
If you’d like to find out more about these items or others not listed here, as well as reading the agenda you can also watch the ABF meeting recording.
If you have questions or concerns related to any of these items, you’re welcome to get in touch with me or other elected members, or to come to the meeting.
November Decisions
The recording of the 19th November Ordinary Council meeting is available here, and you can read the minutes here. Some items of particular interest included:
Item 12.1 Consent to advertise draft LPP39 Tree Retention, LPP44 Significant Trees and LPP45 Tree Planting for Non-Residential Development
This set of policies aim to support our Urban Forest Strategy, particularly on private land. Cr Melrosa put forward an amendment (see page 39) that would require one medium-sized tree for every two parking spots in all uncovered at-grade parking spots, and higher requirements for care of these trees. This amendment passed with only Cr Hamer voting against.
13.1 TVP/24/19 Burswood Station East Stage 1A Stiles Griffiths park upgrade Tender report
This tender was awarded, allowing an upgrade of public space intended to support local businesses, expand our Urban Forest, and improve safety in the area. I tried to make some minor changes to design, and after discussion it was decided that this could be done without an amendment.
13.2 TVP/24/16 Archer Mint Streetscape and blackspot funded intersections tender report
We had quite a few questions about this item (at 1hr 52min), many of them building on Andrew Wilkinson’s deputation (which you can view at 46 minutes into the meeting recording). The meeting minutes also include a summary of the questions we asked at the Agenda Briefing Forum. After significant discussion, the tender was awarded unanimously. Hopefully this brings us closer to an improved town centre for Carlisle (which has already won an Excellence in Activation – Amenity Award), and safer transport connections between Albany Highway and the Carlisle train station.
There were also two additional motions, one put forward by Deputy Mayor Ife (to add Cr Devereux to the Integrated Transport Working Group, in recognition of his expertise and commitment to improving active transport in the Town), and one from Cr Anderson (to investigate options for allowing play equipment on verges). Both were passed unanimously.
Inspiration from elsewhere
A small political party in Norway succeeded in blocking plans to mine the seabed in the Arctic.
We are all connected
As always, I encourage you not to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenges we face. If you have money to spare, please consider donating to help others through an organisation like the UNRWA or WFP. You might also support climate justice through Groundswell. If you have time to spare, take action for human rights through an organisation like APAN.
That's all folks!
Thanks for reading! As always, I encourage you to get in touch if there's anything you want to ask about or discuss.
I’d also like to thank my friend Alex for contributing a more catchy title than my usual ones - as you’ve probably gathered by now, titles aren’t my strongest skill. I did decide that “Rutland Revelations and Strategic Waste Management Plan Secrets Revealed!” might be taking it too far.
best wishes,
sky.
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