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Introduction This site is constructed as a protest by the Matthews Hill Alliance who have been chosen as a pilot scheme by the CEO and engineers of Brimbank City Council to implement a Special Charges Storm-water scheme that is not necessary and will only be deleterious to the residents in its implementation, and we will also have to pay for the privilege of having our gardens destroyed. At no time during the creation of the scheme were the residents consulted and at no time since the concerned residents discovered the scheme have the engineers been able to justify their course of action, this is in spite of two meetings with councillors, Brimbank engineers, and The Matthews Hill residents The reason for this site is however, not to just to protest against the scheme, but as importantly to warn all Brimbank residents, Melbourne, Victorian, and eventually Australian ratepayers, that if we fail in our endeavours then any city councils will be more encouraged to use this to implement Special Charges to drainage schemes or any harebrained scheme or change of policy that a council may make. It should be pointed out that Brimbank has unjustifiably, one of the highest paid council CEO's in Victoria and also the second largest debt. As stated previously we are a pilot scheme and are the thin edge of the wedge and if we fail in this endeavour, it will be fair to say that it will be open slather with ALL the councils and your pockets. History Over 20 years ago a house was constructed on a block at # Cornwall Rd; Sunshine. This house was built on the site where a wooden house built previously had been burnt to the ground. This house did drain to kerb and channel. A brick house was built on this site and planning approval was granted by an authority other than Sunshine Council. Cornwall Rd is the high point on this block and prior to the building of this house, there had been no problems with stormwater. However, as well as building the house a brick garage was built also and subsequently after heavy rainfall the house below it in Parsons St ended up with a stormwater pool under it. In spite of constant complaints by the occupier of # Parsons St, Sunshine Council and later Brimbank Council engineering department did not implement their powers and solve the problem by instructing the occupiers of the Cornwall Rd residence to conform to council requirements, and up to this present time, (20 years later), this problem has still not been resolved. In Feb 2003 Brimbank Council set in motion this Special Charges scheme without consultation of the residents. This block includes Cornwall rd, Parsons St, Alfred St and Hemphill Rd (now known as the Matthews Hill Alliance), and it was only later that the residents discovered that the Brimbank City Council were implementing this Special Charges scheme allegedly to solve problems by installing a stormwater drainage system in the rear garden of every house in the Hemphill Rd side of the block. There is already a sewer easement for the block in the rear of all the gardens (2 metres from boundary) in Hemphill Rd. This means that the Hemphill Rd residents would lose at least another metre in easement. The houses in this street are 50 years old and have had buildings or gardens built in accordance with the old easement, and all of them conform to the council requirement of stormwater drainage to kerb and channel and the residents or original residents paid for this privilege. All recent additions (some as new as two years old) have met council requirements and regulations and received Brimbank Council approval. Suddenly the Engineering Dept is telling the residents of Cornwall and Hemphill Rds that they are causing flooding to their neighbours in Parson and Albert St, and urgent and expensive steps must be taken to remedy this problem. It must be pointed out here that this area is a dry one compared to most of Melbourne, and that in that despite the heavy rainfalls and severe flooding that some areas of Melbourne have suffered, apart from the original problem, in Parsons St, there have been no problems in the Matthews Hill area. The Special Charges scheme steps taken were to implement a scheme in which the existing stormwater drainage systems are to be replaced by one unified system. As was stated Cornwall Rd and Hemphill Rd except for the last houses drained to kerb and channel. Parsons St drained to its own 300mm stormwater drain. At the junction with Alfred St that drained into a larger one which discharged into Stony Creek. The bottom 3 houses in Hemphill Rd also discharge to a stormwater drain in Alfred St which also drains into the main one. The link above shows a map of the area of concern and also the proposed drainage scheme. It is of particular note that the plan shows the drain having a left hand bend to meet the existing main drain despite the existing one. This left hand bend being emphasised because at the time of drawing up the scheme, the Brimbank Engineers that drew up the scheme were unaware of a stormwater drain pre existing in Alfred St and the bottom of Hemphill Rd and had to be shown it by residents. What Brimbank Council has failed to emphasise is that there will be further disruptions to residents if they have to have guttering and drainage redirected to the new system, adding a further burden to finances and property damage will result in destroying 15 gardens and affect garages and placements of occupants that have previous council approval. The cost of this radical step was estimated at $213,000, of which the residents of Matthews Hill would be expected to pay an amount proportional to the block size. This estimate was off the cuff, and the residents told that a fixed amount was unable to be given at this point in time, and we would have to wait until completion of the work before a complete costing could be given. The Special Charge would be imposed before the final costings would be in and adjustments made. Credit facilities would be available at 12% pa. Given the poor estimation standards of the engineering staff, and their supervisory/ consultation experience the exact costing is still questionable and an open cheque book by the residents is probably a more accurate assessment. Further to this the, time frame in which the work was to be completed was unable to be quoted also. If previous council projects are used as an example, then it is fair to assume the work will take an unreasonable amount of time. Access to work sites will be restricted and severe damage to established gardens is to be expected. Given the nature of the area (Bay of Biscay soil), extensive blasting will be required as there will be a large number of large rocks inhibiting the digging process. This will further exacerbate the problem. In Nov 2003 the alliance was told by councillors the scheme would be dropped pending the new laws regarding the impementation of Special Charges Scheme. It was further stated by some councillors that they wanted an end to the scheme.
But Wait There's More!
Pondering Why has this scheme reared its head again, and why is the engineering staff so persistent to unjustifiably push a scheme that is not wanted or needed? The first thing that comes to mind is pride, and some members of the Engineering Dept seem to exhibit the trait of single mindedness and inability to see others and possibly more experienced points of view. Using the excuse of a 20 year old problem which only requires a council letter stating the obvious, causes one to wonder why? Also the fact that the engineering staff did not do their research prior to a decision being made can only mean that a decision was made and an excuse needed to implement it. Who will benefit from it? Certainly not the ratepayers. They will be severely inconvenienced by the damage to to their property during the installation as well as paying an estimated average of $10,000ea for this privilege. Also whilst previously free from flooding there is a potential for property at the lower half of Hemphill Rd to suffer from flooding during heavy rainfalls after the implementation of this scheme. The Engineers repeatedly point out that water only runs downhill and ignore or are not concerned about what happens when the ground levels out, or that flow is stopped. It must be remembered that we are looking at established homes that have been in existence for 50 years and up till this scheme more than met the legal requirements. The council plan is for a two year pipe. This means in laymans language the size of pipes that can bee seen on the sides of Nos 6 and 8 Hemphill Rd, where the owners know water can be piped to avoid having to run upwards. It doesn't take a genius to realise that two houses are singularly running the same size of piping that our paid professionals plan to instal. Engineering reply to that is we could put a larger one in but it will be dearer. The only costing differential is the materials, and this would be an insignificant factor considering their exploitive $213K. Whilst the residents would be losers, there are a plethora of winners. Brimbank Council and the developers for one. Secondly in winning a precedent will have been set and other councils will be encouraged to implement similar schemes. Once they have won this, then other money raisers can be thrown at the ratepayer. One might ask a deeper question, why was Matthews Hill chosen? Despite being asked this question at council meetings each time the Managers refused to, or evaded a truthful answer. This then causes another question, why is Brimbank pushing this? Is there a bigger conspiracy? Have all the councils got together with this idea and deliberately selected Brimbank? Why you may well ask. Brimbank is the Western suburbs the poor side of the river. Try pushing this idea in the Eastern suburbs where the affluent (and the lawyers live). Part of this answer might be State planning for 2030. Whatever, the interests of the ratepayer are obviously and deliberately being ignored. As was stated previously, this is only the thin edge of the wedge, once a precedent has been set the lawyers are happy, and councils can dig happily in our pockets. One final comment, Brimbank Council have not stated that they will insist on rate payers connecting to this new system, only that we pay for it, this further add to the voice of conspiracy dealing with future development in the area. A further question can be asked if this is the case, will the next Special Charges project be underground power and phones? |
