Unique park may be lost

An arboretum with the potential of being a unique showpiece parkland has been proposed in a housing estate south of Warragul. But, with no area for "kicking a football," Baw Baw Shire has said no.
Developers of a 251-lot residential subdivision in Warragul want to incorporate the existing Coromandel Arboretum in East West Rd as a botanical garden feature of their estate.
However, planners say the proposal fails to meet public open space guidelines.
Coromandel Arboretum owner Jan Miller fears her garden could be lost to the community. When she sold her 1.2 hectare property to developers Bernly Properties
Pty Ltd, she did so knowing the garden, featuring 400 trees, would be a long appreciated community asset.
Ms Miller said the shire would be gaining an environmental asset worth up to $4 million and one of the most diverse collection of oak trees in the world.
"It could be lost as a community asset. I wanted someone to value it so I was happy to sell to the developer because they wanted to retain it as a park," she said.
The proposed estate includes 27.2 hectares of land in Warragul-Korumburra Rd and the Coromandel Arboretum, which developers propose would become a centrepiece public open space area north of a village convenience store and complementing 2.4 hectares set aside for future waterways and parkland.
The matter is now in the hands of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Development director David Sowerby said now was likely to be the only opportunity for the Coromandel Arboretum to be integrated into the Warragul Precinct Structure Plan.
"Its size and location is generally in accordance with the PSP. With the will of council to collaborate on the terms of its hand over as a public asset, it can be a ready established botanic garden for the residents of Warragul and beyond," he said. Ms Miller said she understood council would inherit ongoing maintenance costs with the park but it was a small price to pay for what could become a major botanical feature in the shire.
She said the park could be either a public park and maintained to be safe for others or fenced off as a botanical garden that could be maintained by a community of volunteers.
"All of these problems can be solved but I don't know if the council wants it," she said.
During development of the Warragul PSP in 2014, Ms Miller discussed the opportunity for council to purchase the arboretum for future parkland within the proposed urban growth zone. She had verbal support from the councillors of the time.
Her family garden, established in 1986 by her parents, features original Warragul forest trees surrounded by about 400 established trees, including 160 oak trees of 60 varieties.
Established trees in the garden are valued at up to $10,000 each and were planted to provide trees for wood, food and medicinal purposes.
A labyrinth within the arboretum is recognised on both world and Australian labyrinth locators for its walking meditative benefits.
Baw Baw Shire Citizens and Ratepayers Association is joining the fight to include the arboretum in the subdivision.
BBSCRA secretary Kerry Elliott said including the arboretum in a residential subdivision was an opportunity to provide a unique piece of open space.
"This is not a playground but you can see the opportunities for children to be running through the trees and a boardwalk taking you all the way around to Hogget Kitchen.
"How much of our environment have we lost in the PSP. We have this opportunity to do something quite different and bring visitors into the town.
"We have a developer trying to maximise the environmental potential and increase the appreciation of our environment. This is part of our rural living and here we are just scrapping it," she said.

Grounds for refusal
Planners recommended the subdivision be refused, with one of the key grounds for refusal being its failure to provide public open space.
Planners said the site was located within the Warragul PSP where "detailed planning has been undertaken to deliver sustainable neighbourhoods that maintain the rural character of Warragul."
It was deemed the application "would not deliver the public open" required in the PSP.
The PSP requires a neighbourhood park to be 1.2 hectares in size and within 400 metres of 95 per cent of the houses. The arboretum is within only 65 per cent of the proposed houses.
"It would not contain any open play spaces for ball games and the like due to the vegetation, water bodies and slope of the land...the site is not suitable for kicking a football or wheeling a pram," planners said.
Planners also said the proposed subdivision failed to provide adequate links to existing roads; did not contribute to the prominent town gateway on Warragul-Korumburra Rd; did not provide a village convenience store at a size and location required by the PSP; and did not provide development responsive to the topography of the site.
"The proposal also lacks information required to assess its impacts on native vegetation, bushfire risk, medium density housing sites, retaining walls and fencing to open space areas," planners said.