THE Mentone to Mordialloc stage of the Bay Trail has been given the go-ahead by Kingston councillors.
Councillors voted at June’s public council meeting last week to approve plans for the shared cycle and walking path after community feedback on the project.
Kingston mayor Cr David Eden said there is “strong community agreement that the path should be built but differing views on how it should be implemented”.
More than 540 submissions were received from the public by Kingston Council and six petitions with 2417 signatures were received by council.
Road safety, traffic congestion, car parking, road cyclist safety, vegetation quality and the cost of altering the road alongside concerns about the community consultation process were flagged in submissions.
Council confirmed changes to the Bay Trail section include:
- preserving car parking in the area to lose four spaces overall to a total of 900 “compared with an earlier plan that would have resulted in a loss of up to 105 car parks overall”
- providing nine extra indented car parking spaces near Parkdale Yacht Club
- an extra 175 square metres of vegetation to increase on-road parking by 75 spaces to the south of Mentone Life Saving Club
- narrowing the Bay Trail by 10cm in a small 50m section to protect the most significant vegetation on this section of the Kingston foreshore
- no change to lane width/car parking in the southern section of Mordialloc Creek to Rennison St near the Mordialloc Life Saving Club
“We’ve listened and made changes to provide a practical solution that strikes a balance between motorists, road cyclists, path users and the environment,” Cr Eden said.
“This solution is a balanced compromise supported by Bicycle Network Victoria, meets or exceeds VicRoads standards, provides plenty of car parking and protects the most environmentally significant areas of vegetation.”
There will be no change to the existing number of traffic lanes on Beach Rd.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 5 July 2017
