by Sahar Foladi
The long-awaited Dandenong Community Hub may now “hinge” on a Dandenong Market Precinct Master Plan, with its concept design delayed until 2025.
The latest update on the DCH was the latest disappointment for its supporters at a Greater Dandenong Council meeting on 22 July.
According to a council report, an issue had arisen over the 300 car park spaces required for the hub.
The market precinct masterplan is now placed ahead of any final concept design for the hub, to consider how the project “fits within the overall Dandenong Market Precinct Masterplan.”
In the council meeting gallery, community members advocating for the hub project held up big poster signs “Don’t delay the Hub” and “Transparency Vs Treachery.”
Dandenong Community Association (DCA) spokesperson Silvia Mastrogiovanni sat shaking her head side to side calling the parking issue “rubbish.”
“How can they tell us this about an area where we’ve got ample car parking?
“It’s all about delaying the hub. They built this building (Greater Dandenong Civic Centre) with 40 car parks, so if that’s the rule than how come we’re occupying it?
“Every other town (in Greater Dandenong) got their hub. More than once, we’ve been waiting patiently for our turn. We get our turn and now they tell us there’s delay for the money, the parking.”
A fortnight earlier, the council had proposed to siphon the hub’s funding to the Dandenong Wellbeing Centre project.
“Now they’ve taken that off and now they’ve decided Market precinct first than the hub. Didn’t they think of that four years ago? Why are they bringing that up for now?
“They talk about community strengthening but all I can see is community weakening for residents of Dandenong and that makes me so angry.”
While the hub is pending on the market masterplan, Council city futures executive director Sanjay Manivasasivagam said they’re unable to provide a timeframe for when the masterplan will be completed.
“As soon as we finalise the precinct plan, that informs the (hub’s) design. One of the things looked at is the amount of space required for the open space, so the car parking requirement is important,” he said at the council meeting.
The community hub which was originally budgeted at the cost of $30 million has blown out to between $55-63 million.
The costs are now subject to parking requirements and the level of parking required, according to the council report.
The item caught the councillors off guard as Councillor Rhonda Garad rose to defer the item based on the lack of adequate information on the market masterplan.
“This report was thrown at us – the hub now hinged on the market masterplan. We don’t have any details on that, I know nothing. What is that?” Cr Garad says.
“We know zero about this marketplace and now suddenly the co-design hangs on that.
“It’s not good enough. I don’t understand why the hub co-design can’t continue.
“They’re trying to tie our hands behind our back now. That’s why it’s deferred so we can know more.”
Cr Garad said there had been “nothing in this ward for the community since I’ve been here in the past 25 years”.
“It’s about time, with buildings, capitalisation, a lot of major developments, we know the population will increase in this area.
“Money is tight, we get that. We understand the wellbeing centre is like a Taj Mahal and that’ll stop a lot of resources but we’re saying keep the design processes going at this stage.”
The Dandenong Wellbeing Centre ‘procurement update’ was discussed ‘in camera’ on the same night.
After being deferred, the Hub issue will be in front of a council meeting in late August.
