Trafalgar dog park expansion on hold

It may be a case of back to the drawing board after Trafalgar residents and dog park users rejected expansion works planned for Hollydell Park.

A petition signed by 42 nearby residents was submitted at a council meeting on February 8, objecting to expansion of the dog park near Edward Cres, Trafalgar.

It gained unanimous support from councillors, and a report will be prepared looking into the planned park works.

The petition said residents had no idea of the works until being surprised by concrete works in mid-January.

“We respectfully ask council to put the extension plans to the dog park no hold, listen to and engage the local community to a greater extent than has previous occurred, consider seriously the traffic issues involved, and consider the agreements made in the past by council,” the petition said.

Trafalgar residents Peter Rosenboom and Norman Witt, addressing the meeting, said they weren’t against the dog park but called for Hollydell Park to remain open space for the entire community to use.

“We are not anti the dog park, we quite enjoy having it there,” Mr Rosenboom said.

However, he said original plans were for a dog park alongside a green space to be used by the whole community with seating, half basketball court and trees.

“We remind council that we want the green space, we want it used by the whole of the community,” Mr Rosenboom said.

Mr Rosenboom believed communication had been lacking over the dog park extension as “not one of our local residents knew about it”.

“We all know that the dog park is too small, it always has been,” he said. “Even with your proposed extension, it’s too small.”

“We’re hoping a solution can be found, but it shouldn’t be at the cost of the whole general community.”

Mr Rosenboom added parking issues, such as crowded cars in Cross St and issues getting into Rose Crt, needed to be discussed.

Whilst collecting signatures, Norman Witt said the overwhelming response was “put something there and we will use it”.

“People are looking for that space,” he said. “They would use the green space if there were some facilities there.”

Mr Witt said the half basketball court would be vital for youth who used the school site but would be soon locked out by fencing.

“When we won the first fight for the piece of land, council had no money. The only money they had was a grant to build the dog park,” Mr Witt said.

“We all thought it was a good idea. But it was stated that all the other things that were on the plan would come along when money became available.”

“The plan was there. To my way of thinking, council has just wiped that plan clear. Everything is gone.”

Mr Witt said parking and drainage needed to be addressed now, and “part of our grievance is the community hasn’t had a say”.

Cr Darren Wallace, moving to table the petition, said petitioners had contacted the local dog group who stated they weren’t consulted and the extension was “useless” due to its small size.

“Clearly something has fundamentally gone wrong with our so-called consultation, that it has led to both sides agreeing that what’s proposed is not fit-for-purpose or wanted,” Cr Wallace said.

“Our current method is clearly not hitting all parts of the community.”

Cr Wallace hoped the report would look into council’s consultation policy as well as if the park could be expanded north over gas and water pipelines.

Any encumbrances on the land, originally donated by the O’Meara family, would also need to be tested, he added.

“Do we do minor upgrades to what currently exists and maybe look towards a larger open space area - like the recreation reserve on Waterloo Rd?” Cr Wallace asked.

“It’s not often both sides are against the development, clearly something went wrong here.”

Cr Michael Leaney said increasing the size of the dog park was not one of the questions asked during community consultation.

“So I don’t think it’s unreasonable that these petitioners put forward their case that they weren’t consulted.

“Nobody is against the dog park, we just need to make sure we find the best one for the Trafalgar community,” he said.