By Mikayla van Loon
Having engaged with the community last year, the Morrison Reserve draft master plan has been finalised ready for further consultation and feedback.
Yarra Ranges councillors voted on Tuesday 25 July to put the draft plan out for engagement with some of the key suggestions from the original process being adopted.
“What we have in front of us here is a draft master plan, which hopefully will get support tonight and includes a substantial amount of elements notwithstanding something that’s always been really important to the community up there,” Councillor Tim Heenan said.
“We’ve got so much scope for future development there to make sure it is a bustling precinct for all the things we want.
“Obviously the grand plan is quite a few million dollars, as it is with many of our major projects we’ve got going on at the moment, everything has a timeframe and this plan is going to be developed over the next 10 to 15 years and all things will come in place.”
The first stage which has been approved, with $2.6 million in funding awarded from the State government’s Growing Suburbs Fund and $800,000 being provided by the council, is a youth activation space developed through consultation with students from Yarra Hills Secondary College.
“I’m really excited about the first part of this plan particularly for the youth because I think it’ll give another opportunity for young people in Mount Evelyn and Lilydale because it’s virtually on the border to be able to come up and interact with the bike path and with the upgraded playground,” Cr Heenan said.
Working collaboratively with 60 students, key elements for the activation space included walking fitness tracks, bike, scooter and skateboard facilities, as well as hang out spaces.
“This includes a suite of landscape features and gathering areas that encourage social connection, capitalise on the strong views and celebrate the opportunities of the topography,” the council’s agenda stated.
The rest of the plan includes scope for upgrades to toilet, barbecue and shelter facilities, better walking tracks, upgrades to the soccer, netball and tennis facilities, as well as advocacy for an improved sports stadium at Yarra Hills.
It is estimated the works will cost in the realm of $14.5 million over the 15 year period, with a further $27.1 million for a potential stadium facility to be built on the Department of Education land.
Cr Heenan said while Morrison Reserve has improved greatly, there is still work to be done to provide a facility fitting of what the community deserves.
“When I first went down to Morrison Reserve many years ago it was an absolute disaster at that particular time,” he said.
“Yarra Hills Secondary College was Pembroke Secondary College and there was enormous vandalism and graffiti that existed every single weekend.
“We’ve got not only a school on site, we’ve got a regional athletics facility on site. We’ve got existing soccer groups on site, we’ve got tennis on site. We’ve got a magnificent special development school that has wonderful educational opportunities for young people who need that.”
Cr Richard Higgins said it will be nice to deliver this ongoing project for “Mount Evelyn people [because they] deserve something like this”.
“I love the layout of it because Mount Evelyn’s not too flat but this site actually gives all those different things in the one place, which is fantastic,” he said.
“If you look at the number of diverse sports, activities, Men’s Sheds, what’s going on there is sensational. It’s a really good, put together concept.”
The draft plan will be open for consultation throughout August and September, with it to be reconsidered for adoption later this year once feedback has been received.
“I’m going to be recommending everyone in Mount Evelyn make sure they have a good read and interact with it,” Cr Heenan said.
“If they’re not happy about it, if they think something’s not right, change it but just take the opportunity to have a look at this draft master plan to see what future we can have for Morrison Reserve.”
