Reimagining Blind Creek Community engagement report July 2018 Melbourne Water is owned by the Victorian Government. We manage Melbourne s water supply catchments, remove and treat most of Melbourne s sewage, and manage rivers and creeks and major drainage systems throughout the Port Phillip and Westernport region.
Table of contents Overview... 3 Community engagement activities what we did... 4 Online feedback... 5 Face to face feedback... 7 What s next... 8 Appendix A - Map of Blind Creek project site... 9 Appendix B Feedback key themes and comments... 10 2
Overview The Re-imagining Blind Creek project involves upgrading a section of the creek from Scoresby Road to Manuka Drive Boronia, approximately 650 metres. See Appendix A. This project is being implemented by Melbourne Water in collaboration with the Knox City Council, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), South East Water and representatives from community groups and residents. Through early engagement with the community, online and face to face, Melbourne Water has been able to identify ideas, suggestions and priorities for redesigning the open space and to capture feedback about the project. Information and feedback provided by the community will be used to inform the design of a desirable, open space that has been co-designed in collaboration with people who live, work, and play in the area people who can provide local knowledge and who identified priorities for improvement. By working together with stakeholders and community representatives, Melbourne Water aims to meet its objectives to deliver improved: amenity, connectivity and liveability based on local knowledge, community preferences and aspirations flood mitigation and public safety during wet weather events as well as the quality of water flowing into local waterways, rivers and Port Phillip Bay. This report documents the community engagement activities undertaken from mid-april to late July 2018. Once this initial engagement was completed, the project team began work on a design that incorporates community preferences and aspirations. This design and its key drawings will be shared with the community prior to work commencing on the detailed design used for construction. These drawings will be shared with the community online and face to face. Figure 1: Summary of key co-design engagement activities April Launched webpage Installed signs Distributed Communit y Update Met with community groups and schools May Held pop ups Updated webpage Prepared story for print & social media Recruited Community Advisory Group June Held community group vision workshop 1 Closed online survey Updated webpage Shared Community Engagement report July Held community group workshop 2 challenge ideas/capture feedback Scheduled pop ups Updated webpage Distributed Community Update Next steps Update webpage Prepare final designs Distribute Community Update Share designs online and face to face, collate feedback Meet with community groups and schools Monthly meetings with project partners Knox City Council, South East Water, DELWP 3
Community engagement activities- what we did To announce the start of the project, project newsletters were distributed to residents in the vicinity of the works and large signs were installed at key locations within the project area. This information included a map of the area and the contact details for the project team. Online activities The Blind Creek Your Say website was launched on 19 April 2018. https://yoursay.melbournewater.com.au/reimagining-blind-creek This informative, interactive page had online engagement tools for capturing community comments and feedback. Visitors to the site were encouraged to: read information about the project follow the page to receive project updates complete the online survey and provide feedback about their preferences and priorities for a reimagined creek register online to be part of the Community Advisory Group. These online activities were supported by face book posts and advertising. Face to face activities A number of face to face engagement activities were implemented to provide information about the project, capture feedback and to recruit participants for the Community Advisory Group throughout April. This included meetings with Fairhills Primary School and U3A Knox and attendance at community events including: Old Joes Creek Open Day on 19 May Fairpark Reserve football games on 19 and 20 May Active Ageing Expo at Knox City Council on 30 May. These face to face engagement activities were held in collaboration with stakeholders, at events where residents gathered and went about their everyday lives. Blind Creek Community Advisory Group To ensure the project team captured a cross-section of community views, members of a Community Advisory Group were recruited. This group of ten comprised residents who live in the vicinity of Blind Creek, recreational users of the open space and representatives from local associations and community groups. Representatives were asked to: contribute local knowledge and information about the open space provide ideas and possibilities for re-designing and naturalising the creek offer feedback on ideas and the preferred options developed share information with the broader community so that feedback can be captured and incorporated into the detailed design. People committed to attending two facilitated workshops; the first was held on 5 June 2018 and the second is scheduled for 24 July 2018. 4
Online feedback The Reimaging Blind Creek Your Say webpage was used to encourage the community to provide feedback, ideas and aspirations for redesigning and transforming the existing creek and open space into a fun, friendly community loved space. By completing the survey, respondents: identified how they use the area now ranked priorities, from a list of ten options, for improving the creek and open space provided ideas and suggestions for how the area could be improved. An online survey was open from 23 April until 1 July 2018. As at 1 July 2018, there had been 331 visitors to the site: 11 people had signed up to follow the project page eight people had signed up for the Community Advisory Group 47 people had completed the online survey. To support this online engagement and to encourage people to attend the pop up events, Melbourne Water posted information about the project via face book on 14 and 18 May and on 12 June 2018. These posts generated spikes in the online activity. Figure 2: Overall visits to webpage from 23 April to 1 July 2018 5
What you told us From a list of ten priorities, online survey respondents ranked their top five preferences for what to include in the redesign. The following graph shows these priorities, ranked in order of preference. Figure 3: Ranked priorities identified using the online survey The graph shows that the top five ranked priorities were: planting native shrubs and grasses seeing and hearing native birds and frogs improving the aquatic habitat having improved shared path links having access and opportunities to interact with the waterway. People who completed the online survey had a clear preference for naturalising the creek and improving its environmental values. An analysis of the comments offered by respondents confirmed that most people used the area as an active transport corridor. Currently, the site is used as a preferred commuter route as it offers a pleasant environment for recreational walking and cycling. Apart from the people who used the playground near Scoresby Road and the Fairpark Reserve sports grounds, it was not considered a destination. A summary of the key themes captured by the online survey and face to face feedback is included in Appendix B. 6
Face to face feedback By attending community meetings and events at local venues and by being available to share information about the Blind Creek project, residents could engage in conversations with the project team and ask questions specific to their personal interests. These events provided opportunities for people to share their ideas, preferences and priorities. The majority of people who nominated to join the Community Advisory Group did so at or following these meetings and the pop up information sessions. What we heard Pop up information sessions As at the end of May 2018, the project team had spoken with more than 50 people about the project, distributed multiple copies of the Community Update to education facilities adjacent to the project area and advertised the pop-up events. To support these face to face activities, Melbourne Water posted information about the pop ups via face book in May 2018. The feedback captured at these events was very similar to the comments captured on line. People had a clear preference for naturalising the creek and enhancing the open space. A summary of the key comments captured face to face and online is included in Appendix B. Community Advisory Group An important focus of the face to face engagement was the establishment of the Community Advisory Group. The first workshop was held on 5 June 2018 and nine community members attended, together with five representatives from Knox City Council and South East Water. Working within small groups, participants were asked to discuss: Current values, issues and opportunities. Participants were encouraged to share their experiences and knowledge of the creek and open space A vision and good outcome for Blind Creek Participants were asked to identify how people could use the creek and open space if the issues and opportunities were addressed. Once the four key themes had been identified, each group generated a list of most promising ideas of how to deliver these ideas/aspirations. 7
The key themes were: - Theme 1: Create a sense of place - Theme 2: Create an improved natural environment - Theme 3: Community interaction- use and ownership - Theme 4: Access to the waterway and connectivity. Peoples preferences were for: creating a sense of place with seating and nature play opportunities where kids can explore creating a natural environment with improved biodiversity in wet and dry habitats improving community interaction at the site - with rock pools, access from shared paths and establishing a Friends of group improving access and interaction with seating on the northern bank, paths and consideration of accessibility requirements, especially at the underpass maintaining flood mitigation. From these themes, a consolidated list of top five ideas was developed for inclusion in the initial design. As the urban design consultants were part of the conversations, they heard the priorities identified by residents and representatives from local community groups. Where possible these priorities will be included into the functional design. The initial, functional design will be shared with the community through face to face and online engagement activities. What s next Initial feedback from the online and face to face discussions with residents and representatives from the community groups identified a common vision for a Reimagined Blind Creek. Using this community information about preferences and priorities, together with feedback from Knox City Council, an initial design is being developed. This design will include: an improved community space where people can meet, sit in the shade or walk their dogs nature play areas for children and places where people can enjoy the natural environment shared paths that encourage active transport and provide safe connections through the open space, including a formalised walking path on the eastern side of Blind Creek planting of native species to encourage biodiversity. This functional design, including the priorities identified through the online and face to face engagement activities, will be shared with the Community Advisory Group and the community in late July. A second round of engagement activities, to share the functional design, is planned for early August 2018. 8
Appendix A- Map of Blind Creek 9
Appendix B Feedback key themes and comments The following is a snapshot of the community s comments, captured online and face to face, and grouped according to key themes. Key themes and recurring comments Create a sense of place Daylighting the waterway will improve the aesthetics nature of Blind Creek behind FairPark Reserve Linkages to existing assets like the playground, footy oval and U3A in the area A landmark or historical signs that reflect the history of the area and its pioneers. Signage about the history of the waterways/indigenous history of the area Occasional seats along the path would be helpful. I also like the idea of educational signs about the local environment/ habitat Picnic area for families Creating a nature play space for kids, including rock pools and areas of interest where they can interact with water and get wet! Seating and tables that cater for a range of age groups and accessibility requirements Improve the natural environment It would be great to see the creek re-daylighted as it would bring the water back to the area. This would be enhanced if it had a meandering appearance from one small wetland community to another with interesting features included - islands, bridges, indigenous plantings etc. This would help bring back the wildlife including aquatic organisms and make the ride along the bike track far more pleasant and enjoyable More trees - plant native trees as well as shrubs and grasses Put in a billabong or water garden to clean the runoff water before entering the creek. This will improve the aquatic habitat and reduce the water flow at high rain events We would like to have more habitats created and native plants with identity plaques/labels Retain existing established trees and plant native grasses to act as a filter for the polluted water channel Water in the creek. Native vegetation, more trees for shade. Improved habitat for birds, bees and fauna Structures to create a sense of adventure/stepping stones Variable habitat for improved biodiversity A place for environmental learning and play Tell the story behind the re-emerging waterway Improve community interaction / connection Create a Friends of group to support maintenance work at the creek Our Friends Group considers Blind Creek as an important wildlife corridor joining the Dandenong Ranges with Dandenong Creek. In close proximity is a Secondary School, a primary school and a U3A as well as Cricket and Football clubs. I would like to see all of these get involved and have "ownership" in Blind Creek Recognition of the important role of local environmental groups and schools in protecting and improving Blind Creek (Knox Environment Society and Fairhills High School) A bridge between Fairpark oval and across the creek to the smaller oval near Wayne Avenue is very important, and has been needed to cross an often water logged area for a very long time. Of course, if the daylighting of the creek does happen, then a bridge would be essential Improvement to the formal path network to link it with Wayne Avenue and Benbow Avenue around the 2nd Oval as the oval gets very wet and muddy during winter. 10
Include pools within the waterway, rocks and riffles to encourage water play Help the community understand how they can maintain the site and make it a place that is owned by the community groups, clubs and schools Improve access/connectivity with the waterway Rock pools to explore, interactive areas, creating habitats, places where school classes can study aquatic life etc, Stepping stone crossings along the creek Keep seating away from the shared path and creek so the so native birds and frogs survive Improve access to waterway Seating on the northern bank and paths to connect to it Improved disabled access at the underpass Other comments about the Reimagining Blind Creek project It s an active transport corridor, with many connections. The paths could be upgraded to standard. Widen the path and put root barriers on the edges of the trail Some rubbish bins or at least signs reminding people to pick up after their dogs would be good..! Please no more information signs - a mobile device solution would be more effective Regular maintenance of the trees and shrubs with the removal of dead branches Put in an exercise area, litter catchment and removal facilities A formal track on the northern side of the creek. The main path receives a lot of bike traffic so it d be good to walk the dogs on an alternate route, at least some of the way Ensure sight lines are maintained to minimise conflict between pedestrians, skateboarders and cyclists We see no point in beautifying the proposed new section whilst the older section is sorely neglected. We have also noticed a regular (weekly/fortnightly) degrading of the water quality where someone is releasing muddy clay coloured water into the creek from somewhere upstream Improve the path network to link to Wayne and Benbow avenues Greater path connectivity, especially in the NE corner near Scoresby Road Local artists to create sculpture/art work Tell indigenous story Create a billabong style environment or constructed wetland flowing and still water areas 11