Residents of Kramer Drive in Berwick left this month’s Casey Council meeting disappointed, after councillors voted down a recommendation to shelve a proposed overflow carpark at Wilson Botanic Park.
Casey officers had made the recommendation after a four week community feedback period that garnered more than 50 per cent of participants objecting to the $310,000 temporary carpark, which would be accessed through Kramer Drive.
The satellite parking lot will add 100 car park bays and according to the council’s plans, will only open during weekends, school holidays and special events when the main carpark is full.
Cr Dave Perry of Grevillea ward was the only councillor who supported the motion to not progress with the Kramer Drive carpark.
He championed his constituents’ calls to shelve the plans due to the risks involved.
“The community has spoken, and we need to listen to what the local residents are saying,” he said.
“We need a clearer plan and a set of guidelines about how the park is used from this point forward.
“Through the recent consultation process, the local community has made it clear that they do not want an ad hoc carpark placed at the end of a local suburban street.”
Cr Kim Ross successfully tabled an alternative motion that suggested moving forward with the overflow carpark due to a dramatic increase in visitation numbers at the park.
In 2024, the park had approximately 910,000 visitors, a sharp contrast to pre-2020 which only saw 500,000 visitors per year.
The increase in visitors meant that the available carpark capacity of 132 at Wilson Botanic Park was no longer adequate to accommodate visitation demand.
“I do acknowledge the local resident’s ambivalence or opposition to this project,” Cr Ross said.
“If it was me, I’d probably feel the same but we need to consider the benefit of the whole Casey community.
But ultimately, Ross underscored the demand for additional parking spaces.
“This is based on recognising significant current community demand over the last five years, that his site has been identified in the masterplan and that it was originally supported by almost half of the original broader community in the community consultation process.”
Sophie Kuzakov, a resident close to the suggested overflow carpark and who has been a stern advocate against the proposal, said she was “emotional” following the decision by the councillors.
“I think I got emotional because I thought about my son,” Sophie said.
“He’ll need to grow up on a street where we probably won’t even spend time outside of the front gate at the risk of what’s going to happen on our road.
“It’s just disheartening… We had our voice, we put in the effort to have our voice heard.
“The recommendations were in our favour, and yet they still went against it.”
Sophie has long expressed her concerns regarding the possible negative consequences if the plans for the overflow parking lot were to go ahead.
Including the risk of increased congestion, traffic safety, likelihood of anti-social behaviour and after-hours security of the carpark.
But most importantly, Sophie says she’s concerned about the cost to the Casey Community.
“It’s just a ridiculous expenditure of something that’s doomed to fail.”
Tracy de Riter, another local resident who has been vocal on the issue said all the residents understand Wilson Botanic Park needs additional parking spaces, but that the community was concerned about a range of factors — including the environmental impacts on the park.
“They still have done absolutely no due diligence or proven to us that they have done some investigation into the suitability of the land,” said Tracy.
Tracy and her husband, Fred, have argued that there’s been a lack of adequate inspection on the limited soil bearing capacity of the land along with the decommissioned quarry near the proposed carpark.
“They’ve steamrolled our decision, the decision of the community consultation,” said Fred.
Despite the decision at the council meeting, residents are still adamant on pushing back against the proposal.
Tracey and Sophie have both called for greater council transparency and accountability during this process.
“They were the ones that first of all requested it, but now they’ve suddenly backflipped,” said Sophie.
“I just don’t understand. I just want some understanding, I want transparency as well.”
