By CASEY NEILL
FIVE options are now on the table for removing the Abbotts Road level crossing.
But businesses are calling for plans to close the Dandenong South thoroughfare to be canned.
Arco Restaurant hosted an industry forum on the issue on Thursday 17 March.
Owner Lindsay Bull has been outspoken on the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LCRA) plan revealed late last month to close Abbotts Road and build an overpass connecting Remington Drive to Pound Road West.
He said the forum was quite heated.
“We got a pretty good turnout, it would have been over 100 people,” he said.
“Everyone was up in arms about the whole way it started.
“They gave options of how to fix it now.”
Mr Bull said four variations on overpasses and underpasses were presented – as well as the closure.
“That needs to be taken off the table,” he said.
He said he suspected a “hidden agenda” was driving that proposal and that one forum attendee asked an LCRA representative about the authority’s objectives.
“He gets paid on every crossing that gets removed or something done to it,” Mr Bull said.
“His opinion is going to be to fill his back pocket rather than what’s right.
“It’s political and all about the dollar-factor now.
Mr Bull said he wasn’t feeling any better about the situation following the meeting.
“We need it done now and not six months to 12 months,” he said.
“One guy is trying to negotiate his lease now.
“He told them it’s all on hold until he knows what’s going to happen.
“Businesses can’t operate like that.”
Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams said some of the options put forward would require land acquisition and that a high water table was providing challenges.
“I’m not invested in any one option. The LCRA will say the same,” she said.
“This process did not start in the way any of us wish it had.
“We’ve now reset that process. We’ve got everyone to the table and listening.”
Ms Williams said it was early days in the consultation process.
“We’re just putting what we think are the five options on the table and seeking feedback for those,” she said.
She said doorknocking would soon take place, along with studies and surveys, and that industry groups would come back together mid-year as part of stage two.
“Think about this as a step one of a much broader set of work that needs to be done around improving connectivity in Dandenong South,” she said.
“This isn’t the start, middle and end. This is one particular project that relates to that level crossing.
“What it does is shine a light on those other connectivity issues.”
She said further money to address other issues could become available in the future, and urged industry to work with her.
“All of that knowledge can actually be really well-applied to this process and beyond this process,” she said.
