Council voted last night to amend its advocacy plan in relation to the State Government’s Sea to Shrine project. Council voted to remove a proposal to construct a kerbside separated bike lane corridor in Kerferd Road and the removal of two vehicle lanes, following community feedback. 

Kerferd Road residents were caught by surprise when Council put this proposal back on the table when large numbers of residents opposed the same concept presented by the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) and Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) the responsible authority for the Shrine to Sea project, at a community engagement activity on Kerferd Road on 2nd April 2022, and following two petitions and representations to the Albert Park Member of Parliament. 

Around 30 residents spoke passionately at the Council meeting with about one third in support and two-thirds in opposition to the original motion. Cameron Smith asked, “is Council wilfully ignoring residents who previously strongly advocated for the removal of poorly designed designed pop-up bike lanes?” 

Karen Hardidge, a Kerferd Road resident said “We have already had robust community consultation. The public spoke out against the separated bike path, by way of petitions and the in-person pop-up with the Department of Transport”. 

“I’m concerned for my next-door neighbour who has two toddlers, having to carry them across a bike path, to load them and a pram into their vehicle. I’m concerned about my nine-year-old who may well forget about the bike path and open her door onto oncoming cyclists”. 

“I’m concerned about the future proofing of charging electric vehicles. Would it be ok if I run a cord across the bike path to charge my car?”

“When the traffic is reduced to one lane, we will be forced to stop all oncoming traffic, so we can park out front of our homes. This will be very stressful for the resident parking, not to mention frustrating for all other drivers”.

The original motion published a few days before the Council meeting and with no community consultation, called for the Council to advocate for the state government to fund and construct a protected kerbside bike lane from Beaconsfield Parade to Moray Street along Kerferd Road and Albert Road/Albert Road Service Road including the:

• reduction of traffic lanes from two to one in each direction on Kerferd Road; and
  
• reduced speed limit to 40 kph on Kerferd road.

In response to residents’ concerns about the lack of consultation by Council, Mayor Cunsolo amended the motion to “advocate to the Victorian Government to work with council to develop a comprehensive community engagement approach for any future project that proposes a bike lane and associated works on Kerferd Road, not within the publicly released draught Shrine to Sea Masterplan”.

Residents advocated for improvement to the existing Kerferd Road bicycle lanes by fixing the confusing arrangement at Richardson Street, removing bluestone which makes the path dangerous (see image below) and improving road markings. 

The original motion was amended to remove the kerbside protected bike lanes and reduction of vehicle car lanes from two to one in each direction. It was voted up by four votes by Crs Cunsolo, Pearl, Bond and Sirakoff, to one vote by Cr Martin. Crs Baxter and Nyaguy left the council meeting for the vote and Crs Clark and Crawford were apologies.