Jennifer Pittorino
Work will resume on the Western Lawn project after council approved additional funding to remove contaminated soil from the site.
In its meeting on Tuesday, May 16, council voted unanimously to expend additional funds on the Western Lawn Resurfacing project following site contamination issues.
Council anticipated some level of soil contamination given the location of the test, testing 21 bore holes across the Park in June 2022.
The bore holes confirmed that while not considered a public health risk, the soil will require off-site disposal.
Some of which would need to be removed in certain locations at a depth beyond the proposed excavation.
The impact of the additional identified contamination has a significant financial impact on the project costs. To allow for these additional costs council moved a motion for the total contract sum to be increased from $4,740,758.5(ex GST) up to $8,100,000.
Cr Simon Crawford said while it is an expensive project it needs to be done.
“We want to do a good job and build something that is going to last for a decent period of time, with all of the soil testing we now realise it’s going to cost more than we thought,” he said.
The Western Lawn is a large and open community recreation space that was identified as “an active use precinct” in the Footscray Park Master Plan 2011.
The works have been designed to deliver a high-quality outcome to ensure more open space is available to community use with the capacity also to withstand intensive activity including active and passive recreation pursuits and major events.
Cr Jorge Jorquera said this is the only way to guarantee no addition of private partnerships that would comprise the public control and use of the park
“I think it’s a good spend on behalf of the council because this is something that ensures the park remains in public hands for public use,” he said.
