Baw Baw Council is making quite an effort to encourage Trafalgar residents to have a say in the future structure and development of the town. We have heard complaints that the public generally have little say or input but this was not the case last month.
Staff from the Council planning division, along with staff from Tract Consultants, conducted two drop-in sessions at the Community Hall on May 9 and a follow up public meeting the next day. A total of seven staff were in attendance to listen and to field questions.
There were fifty-nine sticky notes containing ideas and suggestions placed by the public on the various maps and charts from the two drop-in sessions. Each of those sticky notes represented an idea from a member of the public and every one will be considered in the draft planning process.
At the meeting many more ideas were floated and two in particular are worth mentioning.
One concerned resident worries that as the town grows and population increases one or both of the supermarket giants will move into town to the detriment of IGA. In this resident’s view, once that happens a town loses its identity; loses its village feel and becomes a less homely and friendly village. His question to the meeting was how can this be avoided but there were no immediate answers.
Another major concern was drainage and flooding. An engineer with vast experience in that area is concerned that not enough attention is given to proper drainage and this will cause problems.
He reminded us that Trafalgar sits at the foot of the Strzelecki Ranges and rain hitting the ranges naturally flows down and through the town. The area which is now farmland north of the town was once part of the Moe Swamp which stretched from Yarragon to Moe and was the natural soak for all this water, but rainfall doesn’t get that far now because of the highway, which is higher than the surrounding land and acts like a dam wall.
Adequate drainage can overcome the problem but his fear is that drainage is treated on an ad hoc ‘as needed’ basis and not looked at as a whole. These concerns were raised with the staff who were present.
Submissions are still being sought from the public and a draft plan will be ready in September. If you want to have your say do so by email to bawbaw@bawbawshire.vic.gov.au, attention ‘Strategic Planning’.
It was decided that when the draft is ready, a public meeting will be called to discuss all aspects of it and the council staff agreed they would attend.
This newspaper will keep you informed.
Planning for Trafalgar’s future
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