Four community members, Angela Ashley-Chiew, Pierre Vairo, Kate Breen and Ena Ninkovic have formulated a plan for the site of the former Footscray Hospital.
The four locals have a spirit to keep the site in favour of the community and ask that the state government and council keep their plans in mind.
“We are trying to be realistic , but we hope that if developments progress we can be included in some capacity,” said architect Ms Ninkovic.
Beginning in December last year, the group hosted three community sessions at which 150 locals give their input to the plans.
“We tried to incorporate as much as we could, obviously everyone has their own ideas so we tried to stick to the median,” she said.
They then formulated the plan which is being used as a visual to get people talking and generate ideas.
The plan includes an outdoor swimming pool, mixed use commercial and community spaces, medium density housing, a public lawn, a recreation lake , a community garden, a playground, sporting courts and more.
“This is just a draft vision , it is not a set proposal that we are trying to get built in the design it is currently arranged as,” Ms Ninkovic said.
“We really took the themes that the community had voted on and brought them together in a holistic view for the site.”
On May 9, the group presented the final plan to council in a private meeting, following an official release to the public, in which they received a positive response.
The group is preparing a meeting which will be open to the public for anyone who wants to get involved, the date is TBC.
Jennifer Pittorino
