Newsletter - October 2022

COUNCIL ELECTIONS

Nominations have now closed for the 2022 Council Elections.
Ballot papers will be mailed to all those on the Council Roll from 14th October and must be returned by mail before the close of voting on the 10th November.

Long-term Mayor Robert Bria has two challengers, lawyer Sue Litchfield and Parade business owner Tracy Marsh.

In the St Peters Ward (College Park, St Peters & Joslin) current Councillor Evonne Moore has decided to retire, leaving her co-councillor & SPRA member Kester Moorhouse to face five others for the Ward’s two positions. The new candidates are Claire Clutterham, Sam Diprose, Diane Lee, Carrie Phillis and SPRA member Andrew Tarca.

The Maylands / Trinity Ward, which includes the suburbs of Stepney, Evandale & Maylands, has four nominations for three positions. Current Councillors Scott Sims & Connie Granozio are facing newcomers Max Franchitto & Victoria McFarlaine.

Full candidate profiles can be found at: 2022 Council Elections - City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters

MEET THE CANDIDATES FORUM

You are invited to attend a forum to meet the candidates for Mayor and for Councillors representing the St Peters and the Maylands/Trinity Wards in the coming Council Election

WHEN: Wednesday 19th October at 7pm
WHERE: St Peters Banquet Hall, St Peters Street, St Peters

All candidates will be given the opportunity to speak to their candidacy and to take questions from the floor to help you to decide who should represent you on Council for the next four years.

SPRA IS 50 YEARS OLD

In the early 1970s the St Peters Council proposed rezoning large areas of the Town. Council at the time considered that many of the dwellings built in the years before, and immediately after 1900 were past their prime and they would be best replaced with two- storey cream brick walk-up flats. At the same time the Dunstan Labour government proposed that most of Hackney North should be demolished and replaced with 12-story Public Housing flats similar to the pre-cast towers blocks in Inner Melbourne. These proposals stirred both established and young recently arrived residents into action to oppose these moves.

The St Peters Residents Association was incorporated in October 1972 and is probably the oldest continuously operating resident association in South Australia.

Over the last 50 years SPRA has had many successes including: -

  • Much of the former St Peters Council area becoming an Historic Residential
    Conservation Zone,
  • Successfully supporting likeminded candidates for election to Council.
  • Supporting the implementation of traffic control measures on local streets
  • promoting many amenity-enhancing benefits for residents.
  • And much more.

Hopefully SPRA will continue to be active for residents for the next 50 years.

PLANNING REVIEW

South Australia’s controversial new Planning and Design Code introduced in March 2021 is now under review, with the Malinauskas Government seeking to address ongoing and serious community concerns about the Code’s ability to deliver the right building and development outcomes for our State.

Issues already publicly highlighted include:

  • The need to more effectively protect heritage, character, and the natural environment within our neighbourhoods
  • Disallowing, without formal approval, the demolition of historic but unlisted buildings lying outside designated protection zones
  • Far greater Council control over local development decisions
  • Better industry and community balance within the State Planning Commission and the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP)
  • Restoration of resident appeal rights against inappropriate development
  • A user-friendly portal to satisfy both professional and non-professional applicants
  • Greater transparency, consistency, fairness, and accountability in the decision- making processes.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a useful starting point to get us all thinking about what we as residents ultimately want. A small window of opportunity exists (to 16th December) to influence existing government policy and should not be ignored. Given that our area’s face is already changing, we need to seriously consider just how far we want that to go!!

Ensure your voice is heard. For details of the review see: - Planning System Implementation Review.

COUNCIL REPORT

Long term SPRA member Evonne Moore has been a Councillor on the Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council and the former St Peters Council for a total of 25 years. Evonne has decided that she will not stand for re-election this year, and Evonne says that “it is time to encourage some new younger blood onto Council”.

Thank you, Evonne, for all you have done over those 25 years.

Evonne has provided this summary of recent Council decisions.

Traffic: In 2021 the Marden Royston Park Joslin and St Peters Traffic Study was undertaken to identify those streets with the greatest volume & speed of traffic, and to determine the origin and destination of this traffic. One outcome of the findings was a recommendation to install traffic management devices in key streets in Marden and Royston Park as these have the highest traffic volumes & speeds. These works were considered to have flow-on benefits to Joslin and St Peters. Public consultation has now finished, and the consultants are finalising the priorities and staging of these works for a second round of public consultation.

Another recommendation was to investigate a 40km/h speed limit for the streets bounded by Lower Portrush Road, Payneham Road, North Terrace, Hackney Road and the River. These investigations have begun, with community consultation to be undertaken later this financial year. Residents in College Park, St Peters and Joslin will be invited to give their views. A 40km/h limit already exists in residential streets in Maylands, Evandale, and Stepney and is now also being rolled out in Norwood and Kent Town.

Parking Policy: Council staff are reviewing streets where parking problems have been identified by residents and are working on obtaining data to assist with introducing new time limits for parking in problem streets.

Heritage Strategy: Council has prepared a Strategy to help bolster its push to protect more of our built heritage and is in negotiation with the new Planning Minister with submissions also going to the State Planning Commission.

Tree Strategy: Council completed a new Tree Strategy this year. One policy decision was to concentrate on planting street trees in those areas which are identified as hot spots in summer. Commercial & industrial areas and large parts of the former Payneham Council area have less trees than other parts of the City. Over 700 new trees are being planted this financial year. Residents and businesses are being urged to help Council water new trees through summer. Where there are gaps in street plantings, residents are urged to request new trees from the Council or to contact their local councillor to ensure a new street tree is planted in the next planting season.

Major Projects:

The undertaking of several major projects has resulted in Council’s capital investment going from $10m to $20m a year. This surge in investment is partly due to State and Federal Government grants to Councils to stimulate the post-Covid economy. These grants have allowed Council to bring forward planned projects earlier than expected and to contribute to stimulating the local economy as we emerge from the global pandemic. The big downside of this expenditure is an increase in Council Rates.

Most major projects have been delayed due to staff and consultant absences and materials shortages.

Some major projects approved in Council’s recent budget are: -

Payneham Memorial Swimming Centre: The $24m upgrade includes $5.6m from the
State Government and is to commence in late 2022.

The Parade Streetscape Upgrade will cost $30m over four years from 2024.

Dunstan Adventure Playground: The $1.4m upgrade (includes a $450,000 State Government grant) will provide new play equipment, new public toilets, a shade structure, lighting and improvements to the carpark and entry. Work is due to begin late January 2023 and to take six months to complete.

St Peters Streetscape Upgrade: The $4.5m whole-of-street upgrade includes a $1.27m
Federal Government grant and $200,000 from Green Adelaide.

The project will deliver an upgrade to existing footpath, road and drainage infrastructure and create a beautiful and safe street for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. Landscaping includes native plants in the verges and median, and some new street trees. Irrigation for the landscaping is being put in, with a new main from the St Peters Civic Centre to Eighth Avenue, providing recycled water from the existing Linde Reserve water recovery installation. Construction began in March 2022 and is programmed to be finished by December 2022 to comply with the deadline for the Federal Government grant.

Burchell Reserve St Peters: A major $3.2m (includes a $420,000 Federal Government grant) upgrade to this reserve in Sixth Avenue has been some years in the making. Stormwater detention tanks below the tennis courts to reduce flooding risks have added complexity to this project which is running two to three months behind schedule. Construction is expected to start late January 2023 and to take approximately eight months to complete.

Cruickshank Reserve Maylands: A $890,000 new multi-purpose building with unisex facilities is to be built to replace the existing facilities. Work will start early February 2023 and is expected to take seven months to complete.

Linear Path upgrade: The $3.1m project, which includes $1.35m State Government funding, will reconstruct the Linear Park path between Twelftree Reserve College Park and the intersection of Battams Road and Ninth Avenue Royston Park. Path works between St Peters River Park and Harrow Road have been completed, but the new safer steps to Twelftree Reserve have yet to be done.

Second Creek outlet to the River Torrens: An upgrade was completed in April. A new metal fence installed for safety reasons will have native creeper grown over it to improve its appearance.

Roads: Council is investing $7.8m this financial year on roads, footpaths, kerbs and traffic
control.

NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK UPGRADES

Residents, particularly those working from home, may be interested to know that the NBN has been rolling out an optical fibre (FTTP) upgrade through areas that currently have a copper wire connection to the property (FTTN). There is no cost to change, but users must commit to a Home Fast (100Mbps) or faster plan for 12 months. You can enter your address on the NBN website to check if this upgrade applies to you.

TRAFFIC ISSUES AND CONCERNS

A group of residents (NPSP Residents’ Traffic Management Group) has recently started meeting over concerns about poor management of traffic and parking along many the Avenues, particularly First and Second in the St Peters, Joslin and Royston Park areas of our Council.

The concerns include:

  • “rat-running” – motorists using residential streets as a by-pass from Lower Portrush and Payneham Roads, and often at high speeds
  • the increasing number of businesses, particularly along Payneham Road, that have no or very limited parking for their employees. Consequently, more people are parking in the Avenues while they are at work. Sometimes this means that those who live in the area cannot find a parking place in close to their homes.
  • the increasing number of cars using the Avenues a throughfare. A recent survey identified that at least 2000 cars use First Ave every day. These figures were taken during the 2020 Covid lock down period, so the number is likely to be an under-estimate.
  • the high speeds many motorists use along suburban / residential streets
  • damage occurring on many round-abouts and kerbs along the Avenues
  • increased potential risk of accidents – young children on bikes, residents walking their dogs, older people walking in our neighbourhood who use walking frames and / or walking aids - due to the speed of traffic and motorists using the streets as alternatives to major roads
  • difficulty many residents are experiencing trying to park their cars within close proximity to their homes.

Despite several attempts to encourage members of Council to take positive action, the group has been very disappointed with the minimising of their concerns and dismissing the issues as not being of enough significance to engage with their residents and in effect their employers.

What the group is trying to achieve:

  • Improve the community-wellbeing, safety, and residential amenity within the Council area.
  • Improve the residential street appeal with garden beds and median strips that deflect and calm traffic.
  • Significantly reduce non-resident through-traffic.
  • Reduce the area’s speed to 40km/hr on residential streets.
  • Improve parking turn-over during business hours.

If you would like to find out more, please contact Sue Morley threadshed@bigpond.com