Wattle Tree Road residents Steven Peterson, Kylie Griffiths, Tony Pitman and Graham Grey say they are not against having a BMX track in Bunyip — just not in their street. 43952Picture: Kim Cartmell
By Melissa Meehan
BUNYIP’S Wattle Tree Road residents want an international standard BMX track built along the road ripped out or its size reduced.
The track, which will open this month, has dirt mounds the size of a small house and several residents said it should be tore down and the site returned to a flora and fauna reserve.
But Cardinia Shire Council councillor Bill Pearson the council had received letters of support for the track from Bunyip Police and many other local clubs in the area.
“We have talked about the project for five years and it came up because we asked the kids in the area what they wanted and this was it,” he said.
The Bunyip Ward councillor copped verbal abuse from one resident when he visited the site recently.
A group of 20 residents had met outside the cyclone fence that divides the track from unauthorised trespassers and Cr Pearson left the site when the resident approached him.
As he walked away, an ambulance was called for Noel Griffiths who feared he had a mini stroke after finding it difficult to catch his breath.
“This track is killing my husband,” his wife Nora said.
“We agreed to having a BMX track in the street, but we never knew it would be anything like this.
“The first we ever knew of the size was when the machines moved in.”
Their daughter, and the groups’ spokeswoman, Kylie Griffiths, said the residents supported the idea for a BMX track for kids but this was something different to what they expected.
“We expected the track to be a quarter of the size and towards the back of the property – it’s like no one has listened to what the residents want,” she said.
Her neighbour, Stephen Peterson, whose property borders the other side of the BMX track said at first residents were included in the plans but were soon left out.
“Ideas were thrown around, especially the push to build the track near the new auditorium,” he said.
“But that was probably only one of the few times residents were included and it all fell on deaf ears.”
He said the majority of residents wanted the track pulled down completely but would, if necessary, come to a compromise if the track size were reduced by a minimum of a third.
“We have had two petitions going around and out of 82 people only two didn’t want to sign them for whatever reason,” he said.
“That shows that the council really hasn’t been listening to us.”
But Cr Pearson said the council had spoken to neighbours, sent out notices and printed updates in its quarterly magazine.
While he agreed that the dirt mounds were bigger than he initially expected, there were no plans to install lights or public announcement systems at the site.
“The overriding thing is that the Shire and the State Government put the money up because we were thinking of kids in the area,” he said.
“It will give them a place to go and keep them out of trouble.”
