A new dog park for Southbank

Southbank has received plenty of love from the City of Melbourne in this year’s draft budget, including $500,000 for a new dog park on Moray St.

While much of the excitement for Southbank is centred around major capital works funding injections to Southbank Promenade and the continuation of works at Southbank Boulevard, the new dog park was a hidden bonus for locals.

The new space will be located at the mouth of Moray St next to the Kings Way overpass and is being delivered as part of the City Road Master Plan, which council approved back in June 2016.

The master plan only received its first round of funding in last year’s budget, which was also $500,000 towards upgraded crossings between Alexandra Avenue and City Rd.

Outside of this, the council is yet to provide any significant funding for the plan.

However, director of city design at the City of Melbourne Prof. Rob Adams told Southbank Local News that due to existing construction at Southbank Boulevard and Boyd Park, any further works in the area would place too much stress on Southbank.

The small parcel of land adjoining the route 58 tram stop underneath the Kings Way overpass, is to be transformed into a new dog park and will complement the neighbouring Boyd Park, which is due for completion in the coming months.

The budget also included huge boosts for stage one of the Southbank Promenade renewal project, with $5.1 million to help revitalise the section of the promenade between Princess Bridge and Evan Walker Bridge.

This project will improve public open space on the promenade by replacing paving, improving lighting and enhancing the growing conditions for existing trees and green areas.

As reported in the December/January edition of Southbank Local News, a key objective of this project is to make the promenade very pedestrian-friendly in an effort to deter cyclists from using the promenade.

Council has also set aside $1.8 million for the creation of new separated bike lanes on Alexandra Avenue in South Yarra, Kavanagh St and William St, which will take cyclists from Swan Street Bridge through to Queensbridge St.

The other link in this chain is the provision of $11.9 million in this year’s budget to continue the $47 million transformation of Southbank Boulevard, which acting Lord Mayor Arron Wood said would be completed in 2020.

A new cycling path along Southbank Boulevard is due for completion later this year, providing the missing link in the council’s plan for giving commuter cyclists easier access to the city.

The council has invested $28.7 million towards public open space in this year’s draft budget, which totals $619 million. It also includes a record $453 million investment in programs and services.

With an underlying surplus of $15.03 million, the draft budget proposes a 2.5 per cent rate increase, which is consistent with the Victorian Government’s rate cap.

For more information on the 2019/20 draft budget, read the City of Melbourne’s two page budget spread on pages 6 and 7 of this edition (head to pdf archive).