Stonnington indoor stadium to be built at Percy Treyvaud Memorial Park following review

An environmental activist caused a stir at an inner city council’s meeting when she brought in a dead possum and showed it off to the gallery and officers. This is why.

Stonnington Council will build its controversial sports stadium at Percy Treyvaud Memorial Park. Picture: Hamish Blair

A protester was almost ejected from an inner city council meeting after she brought a dead possum into the gallery and showed it off to officers.

Windsor’s Jen Schroder picked up the roadkill on her way to Stonnington Council’s June 28 meeting and put it on display while a decision was being made to put the council’s contentious $26.7m indoor sports stadium at Percy Treyvaud Memorial Park.

Ms Schroder targeted the council’s director of environment and infrastructure Rick Kwasek while he spoke to the proposal, which would see 67 trees cut down in the park.

Officers took the dead possum off her and discussed her actions with security before allowing her to stay.

Ms Schroder told Leader she wanted to show off “one of the poor possums suffering wildlife armageddon in Stonnington” and also held signs with ‘wildlife killers’ and ‘park destroyers’ written on them.

A protester brought a dead possum into Malvern Town Hall to protest against Stonnington Council building a stadium at Percy Treyvaud Memorial Park. Picture: Sarah Matray

“I wanted to highlight the fact when you cut down any native trees in Stonnington, you are destroying habitat of our native wildlife,” she said.

“They (the council) have no regard whatsoever made for our native wildlife that lives in our parks, and there will be large amounts of concrete introduced into the park, similar to Windsor Siding Park,” she said.

“The bird song in Windsor is almost gone, and I want to see our council regenerating all our native urban wildlife.”

Councillors voted to progress its plans to build the stadium at the park following a $127,000 independent review of alternative sites, and talks with management at top-rated sites Chadstone shopping centre and Holmesglen Tafe.

The motion passed six votes to two after it was debated at Monday night’s meeting for more than an hour in front of a packed gallery.

Councillors Alex Lew and Marcia Griffin voted against the proposal while Cr Nicki Batagol was absent from the meeting.

Cr Jami Klisaris, a longtime advocate to build the stadium at the park, said women and young girls didn’t deserve to wait any longer for the stadium to be built.

The stadium will boast four indoor netball and basketball courts, while new facilities will also be built for bowls, tennis, lacrosse and cricket clubs as part of the park’s broader $44.6m masterplan.

“We have 1600 people (netballers) playing outside of Stonnington due to the lack of facilities in our community … the need for this facility is undeniable,” she said.

“It is clear we must proceed for the masterplan and stop our girls to keep waiting because they have waited long enough.”

Cr Matthew Koce said the stadium project would be a “multigenerational win” for the community after four-and-a-half years of debate.

“It’s dragged on for far too long, let’s just get on with it, get it built and make this stadium happen,” he said.

Ratepayers Stonnington president Dean Hurlston, an affected nearby resident of the park, congratulated stadium supporters on the outcome.

“While I don’t support the stadium being built at the park, I wholeheartedly congratulate the Prahran Netball Association and the netball, basketball and sporting communities who so deservedly had their night tonight,” he said.

Mr Hurlston singled out Greens councillors Polly Morgan and Mike Scott for supporting the stadium being built at the park, which will see 67 trees removed.

“Tonight we saw the Greens abandon their environmental protection policies, and residents of Stonnington have no confidence that the Greens care about the environment, nor do they care at all about the cost burden of this project on ratepayers.”

The outcome comes after the council spent $127,000 on the independent review of 19 alternative sites, and held talks with Chadstone shopping centre owners Vicinity Centres and Holmesglen Tafe.

An independent consultant ranked Chadstone and the TAFE as the two best locations in May following the council-commissioned report to assess suitable locations for the stadium and future sports infrastructure.

The park was ranked third in the report out of 20 potential sites.

In an executive summary, officers said Chadstone management did a feasibility study for the project and felt “a community building on their site may not meet the expectations of either council or Chadstone”.

Chadstone shopping centre was overlooked as the home of Stonnington’s new community sports stadium. Picture: David Crosling

Meanwhile, officers claimed Holmesglen was in the middle of an asset management review and couldn’t make a decision on their future use.

“Based on the independent site review it is therefore appropriate to proceed with the development of a multipurpose facility at Percy Treyvaud Memorial Park in line with the endorsed masterplan for the site,” the statement said.

Institute of Public Affairs spokesman Evan Mullholland said he felt the review was a prime example of “the waste going on in local councils”.

“Stonnington spending ratepayers’ money to discuss options they don’t end up going with anyway is a scandalous waste of ratepayer money,” he said.

“Ratepayers have had a gutful.”

The review was initiated while the council awaited the outcome of a Supreme Court hearing to remove covenants at the park shared by nearby residents.

The court ruled in favour of the council in March.

Earlier, readers passionately discussed the stadium review on Stonnington Leader’s Facebook page, with the majority unimpressed by the council’s plan.

Brendan Murphy and Denise Wallish both advocated for the stadium to be built at Holmesglen Tafe instead.

“Council’s own site review committee ranked Holmesglen ahead of Percy Treyvaud based on a set of criteria it chose,” Ms Wallish wrote.

Denise Wallish and Stonnington Ratepayers president Dean Hurlston have been longtime campaigners against the stadium at Percy Treyvaud Memorial Park. Picture: Hamish Blair

“Holmesglen saves millions of ratepayers money, has no environmental impact and already has the existing building and parking infrastructure needed.”

Ilja Sidoti wrote: “Ridiculous amount of ratepayers money on another over the top project that only a minority of people will use.”

But longtime stadium supporter Brendan Corr disagreed, saying it was “time for all concerned to finally accept the outcome”.

“The small number of determined opposers have been listened to. They’ve been heard. They’ve had their day in court,” he wrote.

“This facility needs to be built and the location has been chosen.”