Bungendore Residents Group Community action for Bungendore Village

This entry has been updated with a comment from Alix Burnett, please see below.

The BRG invites all residents and members to attend this council meeting on Thursday 6 at 12.00 noon. This is the first of the new daytime meetings so it’s important to show Councillors that we’ll go out of our way to attend, support and keep an eye on how they deliver their electoral promises.  Council Agenda Download the PDF here.  

Items to be discussed

The two Ellendon Street Subdivisons ( see previous post below)

Molongolo Street Shared Path

Three days out from the Council Meeting we have at last a detailed plan (it was a sketch last we heard of it) of what the Council has planned for Frogs Hollow paths ( mention of kerbing seems to be absent from this plan, it’s hoped those discussions will continue as planned)

See full plan as a PDF

Download the Full PDF here of the path plan.

Director of Infrastructure Planning, Bill Ellinson says in Item 9A.3

“With reference to the attached layout plans it is planned to construct the shared pedestrian/cycle
path within the next month. This path work will complete the combined Turallo Creek
Bridge/Molonglo reconstruction project. The path will facilitate safe and functional pedestrian
and bicycle movements in this area and will link the ‘Elmslea’ developments to the shopping and
community facilities in the old part of the village. It will be part of a system of pathways that
hopefully in time will provide a circuit for recreational cyclists and walkers around Bungendore.
There are three issues however that need to be determined by Council before the works
proceed.
· Of what material should the pathway be constructed?
· Should the opportunity be taken to incorporate a pedestrian refuge facility and link paths
to provide a safer pedestrian crossing adjacent to the Turallo Creek bridge and Turallo
Terrace?
· Voting of funds is required ”

The BRG will make a response at the Council meeting, and we welcome your feedback before then.
I’m sure all of the future bike riders in Bungendore will welcome this ‘circuit for recreational cyclists’ and the linking of the underpass of the bridge to the path through the Common will help them avoid the heavy truck traffic (and be safer for school kids). Pedestrians may also feel this is a safe route.

But on the plan, (and there’s a separate drawing of it)  a Pedestrian ‘island’ included. Now this may just be a clever plan to slow down and limit the number of gravel trucks that take this section at speed (although that’s not listed as a reason). That section of path is proposed to end at the first driveway in Turallo Terrace (?). At first glance this has to be questioned as to its placement directly in front of one of our nicest heritage cottages, and certainly had not been requested (that we are aware of) until it appears as a plan today.

You must wonder why this now has to be rushed through this month and be concerned with a sneaky note that wants any discussion on the surface material of the path be binding for all other Council paths in the old village.  Hello? What about asking the advice of the Council’s Heritage Committee?  And obviously the Council don’t want any discussion with the Heritage Advisor and are pushing this through while he is away on holidays.

I’m sure it would suit the Council Engineers to get this done while the bridge work is being completed but someone has to say, STOP!. If you haven’t asked the community first and collected all the advice from your own committees, it would be appalling to push this through at Thursday’s council meeting.

Fred Harden

Added Tuesday 4 November by Alix Burnett

We are also of the opinion that any works on public recreation land in the historic precinct need to be considered in accordance with Council’s own recommendation in Agenda item 9B.13, that Council adopt the July 2008 draft Bungendore Heritage Discussion Paper (BHDP) that states that “for the proposed Bungendore Conservation Area generally, the streetscapes shall be managed in a manner that compliments the town’s historic origins, ambience and character.”  Council staff recommend that the BHDP be placed on public display for community comment and it therefore follows that any works in the historic precinct and on public recreation land be allowed time for public comment and consideration.

It is the BRG’s position that there is no demonstrated need for such a path on Frogs Hollow and that any pedestrian or cycle traffic that should utilise the Turallo Creek Bridge be directed under the bridge (as proposed by council) to link up with the purpose built dedicated pedestrian/cycle path at Butmaroo Street and that it should be constructed in bitumen in keeping with the path it will be linking with.  This will keep pedestrian traffic away from a road that has considerable heavy traffic and negate the need for the additional expense of a path on Frogs Hollow or of the need for modern steel and concrete pedestrian refuge to be built in the middle of Molonglo Street and in the near vicinity of historic properties that date around 1880.