Bellarine Times
Tuesday 8 March 2011
VOL 4. No 10
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
FREE WEEKLY
WIN! Show passes The Bellarine Times has three family passes to giveaway to this Sunday’s Bellarine Show. Bellarine Agricultural Show’s handcraft steward, Kath Caulfield, is expecting the hall to be filled with entries for the many competition sections at this year’s annual event in Portarlington. Schools have supported the show with many children joining in the fun and opportunity to showcase their talents. For your chance to win one of our family passes, simply email editor@bellarinetimes.com.au with the words ‘Bellarine Show’ in the subject line. Entry closes 4pm Friday and winners will be emailed by 5pm the same day. See you at the show on Sunday!
NARROW CALL Photo: MICHAEL CHAMBERS
Portarlington residents angry over new ‘standard’ road widths
BY ALISON MARTIN FRUSTRATED Portarlington residents are calling on authorities to rethink the ‘standard’ road width for busy thoroughfares, which have been labelled ‘local access streets’. Brown Street is the latest roadway on the Bellarine to be redeveloped from a wide street providing ample parking along both sides and two lanes for cars to pass easily and safely to half its width. The new design is considered ‘standard’ by City of Greater Geelong, with the Brown Street scenario a repeat of last year’s reconstruction of Granville Street in Drysdale, which has left residents with a narrow inner city street providing access to the
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town’s recreation reserve. Portarlington resident, Lyn O’Brien, said her protests to the City had been fruitless, and she is urging decision makers to stop the roadworks which will have a negative impact on residents, motorists and road safety. She said she had been told by a council officer the narrow road width was ‘building for the future’. However, with a growing population and thousands of holiday makers arriving every year, she disputed that making major access roads smaller was smart future planning. O’Brien said CoGG had not given consideration to the fact Brown Street provided direct access to the town centre, was home to the busy neighbourhood
house and council had approved the construction of the town’s largest supermarket in the street. In response to concerns by more than 20 residents, CoGG manager engineering services, David Hannah, verified council considers Brown Street “a local access road, which services abutting properties”. He said the road met the “standard width of residential streets in the municipality” with Portarlington or other Bellarine towns considered no different to Geelong’s residential estates. A Smythe Street resident said he was concerned the narrow street would encourage traffic to use Fisher Street to access the town centre, forcing more vehicles past the school. He also questioned the logic of building a narrow
WED 1-2ft building S 22° THU 1ft+ tiny S 18° FRI 1-2ft small E 22° SAT 1-2ft+ building NE 25°
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street with kerbing but allowing stormwater from six new townhouses to be built on the adjacent site to flow into an open drain. “An open drain certainly isn’t walker-friendly or good for mosquitoes… and with all these things, you generally don’t know anything about it until council is actually doing it,” he said. Council confirmed that despite the roadworks, the stormwater system would remain an open drain. Council also dismissed residents’ concerns regarding cyclist safety in a narrow street and the need for bike lanes – or at least a road wide enough for bikes to travel safely alongside cars. Share your views by emailing Letters to the Editor at editor@bellarinetimes.com.au
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