Our knowledgeable, talented and tenacious President, Fiona Currie, has again penned a Presidents Report. It remains the most concise summary of the year’s events around the Alphington Paper Mill development, it’s impact on us – and our impact on it!.

Together with a network of other community groups, and a rapidly growing community to represent, we have had a busy busy year. Zoom or no Zoom, there’s been a lot of action behind the scenes.

We started last year with the comment that “We have seen a strange year with Covid19 shutting us all down, but still construction has continued on the Paper Mill site and some of the issues to do with traffic and parking have continued.” 2021 has been much the same and more intense! 

There are now about 1,000 residents living at Yarra Bend with more to move in before Christmas as the Artisan precinct apartments are handed over. 

APMAG’s role continues to evolve with the increased population of Yarra Bend and the representation of APMAG must reflect and include both the new and the established community.

Community Reference Group: APMAG, WARI and SAFCA and the local sporting groups are represented on the Community Reference Group along with Councillors and senior Council officers and have only met occasionally in 2021, but continue to be a key means of communicating with Council officers and Councillors

Highlights & Achievements

• Submissions made to Council on The Village revised planning application and these responses were co-ordinated with the Alphington Community Centre.  Of key interest was the approval by Council of the plans for the new community facilities and indoor multipurpose court.
• Riverfront monitoring is ongoing with reporting and monitoring still occurring.  Further remediation works have occurred and Glenvill have acknowledged that the path needs to be made safe given it is being opened and used by the community.
• The ownership of the riverfront and ongoing negotiations between Council, Glenvill and various state authorities have continued.  APMAG has been lobbying intensively with State politicians to get the ownership issue resolved so the landscape and remediation works can occur.  It is now over 10 years since this land was promised but it is not resolved. The blockage appears to be reluctance by the various bodies in which ownership might vest (Melb Water, Parks Vic, Council etc) to assume responsibility for the land until remediation has been completed.
• APMAG has continued to lobby VicRoads, City of Yarra and the Developer about the construction traffic and safety for other road users. This includes finalising the new pedestrian crossing over Heidelberg Road – all that remains is the resurfacing of the road and some paint we understand.
• Construction Traffic; is now focused mainly – but not exclusively – into the site via the traffic lights on Chandler Highway and with the opening of Mills Boulevard before Christmas, to allow handover of the nearly complete Artisan units. This will allow construction traffic to enter the site without traversing neighbouring streets

Development updates

• Hickory Construction has reached about the 12^th floor of the Caydon Development on the corner of Heidelberg Road and Chandler Highway, well on their way to the planned completed height of 17 storeys.
• Parkview Road – road construction works are underway and scheduled for completion by the end of the year.  The current construction industry shutdowns and limitations of workers will slow this down from the planned November completion
• Boiler House – demolition in progress; The Boiler House chimney and main brick structures are already gone. With the removal of the glazing Glenvill advised that the “known” asbestos had been removed but there is ongoing monitoring of the site by hygienists to ensure no contaminated dust escapes.  We are not convinced of the success of this having had an APMAG committee member witness a dusty collapse but we are continuing to lobby Council and the Developer about any known issues.
• There are plans from the Yarra Bend community for the installation of a community vegetable garden at the end of Lugden St – if we find out more we will share.
• There has been no application for development for the wall between the site and the Chandler Highway. Given the whole site has a heritage overlay, that area of the site is heritage protected, or at least is protected as much as the rest of the site has been, and so an application would be expected before anything else happens.

Focus for the year ahead

The issues for the year ahead are expected to be

• Riverfront – rehabilitation & public ownership
• Community center design – community representation and governance
• Development design – environmentally sustainable design, consistency with agreed governance, equity
• Open space design – environmentally sustainable design, consistency with agreed governance, equity & access
• Traffic & parking – safety, equity and sustainability

Thanks

And finally, thanks to the committee. Without the full support and participation of the committee APMAG could not continue to represent the Alphington Community. APMAG could not continue without the Committee and Fiona extended her thanks to the committee for their ongoing support, expertise and work.

Thank you also to you the members for your continued trust and support.

APMAG is your community voice and it needs your input and participation.  Please join the committee and help ensure that APMAG continues as your voice as the development continues.