Cahills Road statement from CEO Clare Keenan

A number of residents impacted by retaining wall works at the rear of their Cahills Road properties have contacted Council to voice their concerns and request meetings to discuss the issue.

We have had conversations with individual property owners as well as three group meetings, held via Zoom due to COVID-19 health restrictions, which were attended by the owners of 11 impacted properties as well as Council officers and a representative of the developer organisation.

Four main concerns were raised during these meetings, namely the impact of the retaining wall on flooding of their property; the height of the retaining wall and its impact on privacy and amenity; concerns about responsibility for maintain the retaining wall; and the lack of consultation about this project.

The flooding concerns are easily answered as the Cahills Road properties sit in the Yarrawonga West catchment whereas the Glanmire Park properties sit in the Botts Road catchment.

The water comes from the south, reaches the rear fence of the Cahills Road properties and then runs south down Old Wilby Road – as such, the retaining wall will not impact flood behaviour.

The maximum height of the retaining wall will only be 800mm in a few sections – not right across the length of the wall.

The maximum height of the retaining was to be 1,000mm however, Council relaxed the slope of the land by the maximum amount to maintain the proper functioning of the sewer and drainage systems which means the retaining wall will now only be a maximum height of 800mm.

In response to concerns raised, the retaining wall will be moved into the Glanmire Park where requested by Cahills Road property owners and not along the fence line as originally planned, with any fences or ground that has been disturbed to be rectified by the developer.

The Overall Development Plan covering the Glanmire Park Estate has been in the public domain for some time and was originally advertised for public consultation in 2007 with the most recent revision approved in November 2020.

The Victorian Government’s Planning and Environment Act exempted the applicant from advertising the current subdivision planning application as the proposed layout had complied with the already approved Overall Development Plan, which had previously been out for public consultation.

A copy of the Glanmire Park plan can be found on our website.

We do acknowledge there was a lack of consultation by the developer of Glanmire Park with the adjoining property owners prior to any works along the joint fencing however, as explained earlier, the developer will bear the costs of moving the retaining wall and restore any disturbed fencing.