Bailey English, Peter Wessner and Chelsea English at P.B. Ronald Reserve last week.By Paul Dunlop
PLANS have been unveiled to step up the transformation of Pakenham’s P.B. Ronald Reserve from central recreation reserve to a town park.
On Monday Cardinia Shire Council released a draft of its longawaited masterplan for the reserve, which represents the green ‘lungs’ of the central business district.
The most significant proposed changes include the relocation of the Pakenham Library to land near the existing town hall and a new picnic area on the site of what is currently the old outdoor pool.
Both of these changes are subject to future council decisions.
Funding is yet to be allocated to the library relocation and the council is still to decide whether to go ahead with plans to decommission the pool.
Dot Murphy of the Save the Pakenham Pool (SPP) group said she was dismayed to see the landscape plan for the reserve showed a green swathe of trees on what was currently the pool site.
However, town planners said a decision on the pool was yet to be made.
Councillors were told at their meeting last week that the shire was yet to receive an SPP report regarding a community bid to manage the facility.
The masterplan also proposes to:
Remove the old shire depot buildings and create a new car park between the bowling club and the youth centre;
Extend car parking next to the tennis courts;
Upgrade the playground area to include facilities suitable for wheelchair users;
Create a path around the park for walkers, joggers and cyclists that provides easy access to each facility;
Modify the pond to provide a reticulated water feature and make it easier to maintain in an attractive condition; and
Plant new trees and garden beds of flowering native shrubs and groundcovers.
The P.B. Ronald Reserve was once the home of sport in Pakenham with the town’s football, cricket and netball teams playing weekly matches there.
But since the establishment of the sporting precinct at Toomuc Reserve a few years ago, the area has increasingly become a town park.
The council said the new masterplan proposed to take the park to the next state in its evolution.
The masterplan was given inprinciple support by council and is now open to public comment.
Town planners told councillors at their meeting that the masterplan did not propose radical change but rather a modification of the existing features.
The bowling greens, tennis courts, CFA runout track and car parks had been retained in the plan, an officer’s report to council said.
