By Mikayla van Loon
The mitigation of increasing flood events across the Yarra Ranges has again been raised in front of the council on the night it discussed further advocacy at a state level.
At the Yarra Ranges Council meeting on Tuesday 12 March, questions from residents pushed for answers about submitted petitions and what the council will do to address flooding in the shire.
It came as councillors also put forward a motion for advocacy items to be shared with the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) at its upcoming May meeting.
Lilydale resident Susan Lee began with asking for an outcome of Rosemary Mosley’s petition which was submitted in early February and Star Mail reported on on 13 February.
“What date can the nine unit owners at 26 and 28 Chapel Street expect drainage work to commence please? All the owners are waiting for the specific date from your Drainage and Infrastructure Team,” Ms Lee said.
Built environment and infrastructure director Hjalmar Philipp responded and said the petition was being investigated “with scoping and design” the first stage of the process.
“In this case, the team will commence with catchment analysis to properly understand water flows and determine what improvements may assist, without causing downstream impacts elsewhere,” he said.
“Engineering concepts for any identified improvements are then developed, including cost estimates and a delivery plan, for consideration in Council budgets. Subject to budget confirmation, we can then start planning works on the ground.”
For that reason, Mr Philipp said an exact date could not be given but works are being undertaken.
Submitter of a different petition, Sonia Weir, also raised a question on why “it [has] taken 20 years for the council to finally listen, step up and take action to fix our drainage issues”.
Mr Philipp said the council has always allocated a budget to drainage maintenance and upgrades but the increasing events is something the council will have to work through.
“The severity and frequency of flood events are increasing, which is heavily impacting our Shire,” he said.
“Throughout 2023 the council commenced a Draft Stormwater Management Plan which is a key piece of work that will guide future priorities in this area. This plan will be available for public review late 2024.”
Michael McGill, a Lilydale resident, questioned the use of the council’s funds, with rumours of a private chef which were denied by corporate services director Andrew Hilson.
Following this discussion, councillors voted to put forward a motion that would ask the MAV to advocate on behalf of the shire for the State Government to improve flood mapping data, develop a Flood Information Framework and invest in flood mitigation infrastructure.
The agenda outlined the rationale for these three points, suggesting the “patchwork of existing datasets is insufficient, and exposes [the] community to unnecessary risk” particularly with the impacts of climate change.
“Beyond the framework and data, urgent investment in flood mitigation infrastructure is needed to manage increasing occurrences of severe weather and flooding events across Victoria,” it states.
Councillor Tim Heenan supported the flood advocacy points made, saying “it couldn’t be said more plainly”.
Given the vastness of the shire, spreading 2500 square kilometres, 70 per cent of which Cr Heenan said is bushland, parks and crown land, has meant the flood mapping is limited for the region.
“The information is key to creating a clear and full picture of risks and it’s not readily available to councils currently and we suffer from that because of the coming together of the four shires all those years ago,” he said.
Flooding has been felt right across the municipality, with flood watch groups now established in Coldstream, Lilydale, Kallista and Belgrave as the issues of flood become more impactful, more frequent and more destructive.
The motion was passed unanimously.
