Solving stormwater pollution from Hawthorn Main Drain - restoring Hawthorn Creek

Smart Street, Hawthorn to The Birrarung Aim: To make our street a vision of delight and to restore a creek in its birthright place Proposed by Brod Street, 39 Smart St Email: bstreet@westnet.com.au

1

Introduction Residents of Smart Street, Hawthorn are blessed with ready access to splendid green open space and the Birrarung (Yarra River). It is a stroke of luck these parks still exist, because there

was a time when several planned transport routes criss-cross West Hawthorn parks.

I have assembled a set of projects that present an opportunity to breathe new life into Smart Street. I then give attention to how we could restore the beautiful face of nature to ugly cement drains and scarred land.

It is an ambitious collection of proposals involving State and council owned land.

Fundamentally it is about how we treat our most precious resource – water.

I hope my ideas stimulate other good impulses.

Smart Street Reserve 1925 (State Library Victoria) 2

Ideas for Smart Street

3

Did you know that our parks were once primed for a rail and a road reserve?

Rail line originally proposed in 1880s through Smart St Reserve

Major arterial road proposed just south of Smart St Reserve in 1959 4

From the 1924 Council Elections (do election issues ever change?)

To the Ratepayers (Owners and Tenants) Dear Sir or Madam,…For health reasons alone, more open spaces are desirable in congested areas.

I favor the abolition of the Smart Street stone-breaking eyesore, and running a road through to connect Church and Smart Streets, transforming it into a park on one side and a children’s play-ground on the other…

F. W. Dawborn, J.P. August 1924 Candidate for the Yarra Ward

5

What could be improved (other than painting fences and resealing the road)?

Some ideas are: • Expanded choices for walking and cycling • Superior street parking • Wider footpaths (both sides) • A safer and family friendly street • More trees and gardens to cool the street • Passive stormwater irrigation for trees • Kerb-side pop-up electric vehicle chargers 6

Existing street conditions • Smart St surface area is 2,192 sqm of which: • 67% is roadway • 32% is footpaths and • 1% contain tree plots, with 28 trees

• Less than 1 tree per property • About 1.5 car spaces per property • Almost 100% of the surface area is sealed • It is a very hot street in summer

7

Current road dimensions Smart Street, Hawthorn Footpath (south side)

2.0 m

8.2 m

3.7 m

Footpath (north side)

1.9 m 8

Most plans have a vision, so here it is…

Smart Street will be a green street, with high levels of summer shading, vegetation, water sensitive urban design and will include a high percentage of permeable surfaces while creating a safe environment, including street play and walking

9

How important is road access between Melville and Smart Streets?

Road No searching for lost car keys in 1890.

Corner Elgin and College Sts, 1890s (State Library Vic)

Do we want a street that is a refuge from tidal traffic streams? Or is through traffic ok?

This is the most fuel-efficient car in Smart St, it has not moved in 3 years!

10

Change vehicle movement ?

11

2.5 m

Footpath (south side)

4.1 m 7.2 m 3.1 m

Footpath (north side)

2.5 m

Would 30° angle parking work?

(Adapted from measurements in Australian and New Zealand Standards: AS/NZS 2890.1 and AS 2890.5)

12

Angle parking means more trees and gardens Close off Smart St to Melville St?

Turn out areas

This is a concept only, but appears achievable with 49 on-street parking spots maintained 13

A no- through road provides extra green space

This area to provide resident only parks removed from the expanded reserve Smart St Reserve expanded by 220 sqm

New car turning circle Rain garden?

14

Finer scale details of 30° angle parking The new road alignment would: • maintain road width of 3.1m • allow for road curves to be 5m wide for safe driving • Slow traffic to 20km • Increase footpath width on both sides from 2m to 2.5m

15

What would 30° angle parking look like?

Before

After 16

A struggle for some?

..

Footpaths Too narrow for social walking

17

Extending the width of footpath Expansion would:

➢ Allow more stormwater infiltration pits ➢ Move tree plots edge (plot wider on the roadside) for safer and wider path ➢ Help maintain a safe distance between walkers and cars as they park or parked

(30° angle parking as suggested)

18

Only 10% of area has tree canopy cover (trees over 10m high) Smart St (Crepe Myrtle) Vic Govt: DELWP (Planning)

Trees

Unabated searing heat in summer – we need more shade trees

College St (Lilly Pilly)

Tree size unrelated to width of street

19

Let’s look after trees and the Yarra River (aqua-kerb)?

Footpath

Inlet opening Stormwater

Cement kerb

Derelict clay stormwater pipe

Loose expanded clay pit (filter media) 20

Trial of 50-100 litre capacity aqua-kerb at 39/37 Smart St Old terracotta stormwater pipe

Expanded clay filter media installed

Water inlet opening

25 cm deep trench

Dam wall to go here

Trench filled with expanded clay 21

More gardens

22

Narrow garden beds could brighten up this dull public walkway

No through laneway between 18 and 20 Smart St 23

Not perfect…but an improvement

Climbers Before Source of water pollution to the Birrarung After

24

Shade (and soften) brick walls with Climbing ficus

25

Electric Vehicles (EV) Victoria has set a sales target of 50 per cent new vehicles to be zero carbon emissions by 2030 Proud Mason St EV owner

That’s me

26

Pop-up chargers for Smart St?

27

Ideas beyond Smart Street

28

Beyond Smart Street 1. Link Smart Street Reserve and Mason Street Reserve Close off a dangerous road bend Create a 280 square metre parklet 2. St James Park Wildflower and Frog Ponds Garden Convert an unused bowling green into an educational native habitat 3. Staged restoration of Hawthorn Creek Stage 1: Grace Park to Barton St Café Stage 2: Burwood Road to Yarra River 4. Major stormwater treatment and wetland Burnley Golf Course with floating greens on top of the 13 ML stormwater storage dam 1 ha wetland with 100,000 water plants

29

1. Link the two reserves 220 sqm park extension

Revert to 2-way to slow traffic Unsafe 2nd cross over for 51 Brook St removed

Dedicated cross over for rear 6 Barton St

280 sqm parklet

Benefits: • Removes a dangerous section of road cnr Barton & Mason St (see slide 31) • More trees for native animals • Cool very hot ground a stress to humans and animals

30

Crazy road (cnr Mason and Barton Sts)

Driveway

Poor visibility between drivers, walkers and cyclists Driveway

31

How the projects fit together Revert to two-way

1

Smart St west closed

1 Smart St retrofit

2 Mason St to Barton St closed Hill St - the only uncontrolled crossing from Melville to Wood Sts (west side of Barton St)

2 Mason St traffic new access to Brook St

Native wildflower frog ponds garden (new) West Hawthorn Primary School

Stage 2 Hawthorn Creek

32

2. St James Park Wildflower and Frog Ponds Garden Established in 1880 the

Hawthorn West Bowling Green occupies just under 10% of St James Park area

This bowling green is not used by the club for

bowling

33

Design of Native Wildflower and Frog Ponds Garden (0pposite West Hawthorn Primary School) Area: 1300 sqm 43 m

Large Pond: 5 sqm

Wood Street

Small Pond: 1.1 sqm

31 m

34

3. Staged restoration of Hawthorn Creek Hawthorn Creek Pre-1750

Hawthorn Main Drain 1850 to present

Designed Hawthorn Creek Future?

Creekline Grassy Woodland

Concrete channel

Managed flow, design attempts to mimic a natural creek

Some River red gums are the only surviving pre1750 vegetation Ranked 4th largest source of E.coli into the Birrarung

35

Hawthorn Main Drain was an open sewer for laundry and tannery

Workers leaving Herbert Burgess tannery at 14 Connell Street (renumbered 20 Connell St), 1906

Mrs E Benn’s Hawthorn Laundry at 75-77 Denham Street (1896) [Source: Museum of Victoria]

…and then, the tanning pits, running down in a row towards a concrete drain, which ran right through the tannery. There were sheds built over the drain. This waste from the tannery pits ran into it, ‘not all the time – mostly, when it was raining, in flood. They’d empty the pits then, when they couldn’t get booked’. The contents of the pits – manure, lime and chemicals – were poured into the drain as it continued down Denham Street, past the Hawthorn Station and into the Yarra at Wallen Road. (Bill Aylen, worker at Herbert Burgess chrome tannery)

36

Why bother ?

37

Breathe new life into Hawthorn Creek (Hawthorn Main Drain)

Robert Hoddles Plan (1852) for Village of Hawthorn

Hawthorn Main Drain viewed from Denham St 38

Almost 85% of Hawthorn Creek is accessible St James Park Grace Park

Main Drain Segments

Metres

Open drain:

870

Buried under parks (238m in Morang Res):

360

Sub-total

Hawthorn Station

1,230

Ruled out for this project Easement through private property: Under roads: Sub-total Total length of creek:

100 93 193 1,423

Morang Reserve

Yarra River

39

A partial solution

An impoverished landscape Key features: • Akin to the New York High Line

• Walkway elevated above Main Drain • Up to 3.5m wide • Vibrant green path linking Elgin St and Barton St Café

• Secure decking can be lifted for servicing underneath drain

Main drain from Elgin St (looking west)

Concept with decking & walkway planter boxes 40

Hawthorn Creek (Hawthorn Main Drain) before and after

Grace Park

41

Hawthorn Creek (Hawthorn Main Drain) before and after

Low line board walk to go along here

42

4. Major stormwater treatment and wetland Summary of proposal 1. Divert majority of peak stormwater away from Hawthorn Main Drain via a 1.4 km pipeline (follows rail line easement)

Hawthorn Creek Restoration

2.

Treat diverted stormwater modelled on the Royal Park Trin Warren Tam-boore Wetland

3.

With flood water risks removed this would allow raising the drain bed for landscaping and planting

4.

Regular clean water flushing of restored creek from existing stormwater treatment system at Grace Park

5.

No loss in golf course playing areas using 43 unique floating greens

1.4km stormwater diversion pipeline

Treatment wetland (0.8 hectares) 13 ML storage

Australia’s first floating golf course green(s)

1 ha wetland

Burnley Golf Course

Birrarung

13 ML storage

International examples of islands and floating golf course greens

No loss in golf greens by building floating turf and green islands 44

Imaginary Media Release

A fairway to create a cleaner Yarra The Minister for the Birrarung and the Minister for Golf came out swinging this week at the Burnley Golf Club, announcing a big hit for Richmond and Hawthorn residents – a stormwater recycling project.

The State Government will evaluate a stormwater bypass of the Hawthorn Main Drain, one of the largest E.coli inputs into the Birrarung (Yarra River). Commencing at Grace Park Hawthorn, an above ground pipeline will cross the Yarra rail bridge to the Burnley Golf Course.

The golf minister said there would be no loss in golfing greens, despite building a 13 ML reservoir on part of the playing course. Special consideration has been given to maintain a viable site for golf, in fact it will be far more exciting and challenging, with new greens located on floating turf and green islands.

The Birrarung minister highlighted that a key environmental gain for inner Melbourne is the 1ha wetland on the southern end of Burnley Park. The wetland will source the stored water from the Burnley Golf Course reservoir and utilising 100,000 water plants filter out nutrients and provide recycled water for sports fields, local parks and gardens. The public will enjoy an exciting wetland with board walks and seating areas. A new site will be secured for the circus.

Both State ministers noted that the entire project is proposed on crown land and the government has a duty to care for country while maximising public benefits.

This is a tee-rrific project said the local mayor, who hailed the stormwater bypass as a stimulus for many other home turf projects. It will allow reinstatement of the Hawthorn Creek. It will remove one of Hawthorn’s biggest eyesores - the 1.2km concrete drain adorned with weeds, graffiti and the occasional shopping trolly. ‘It is a real rat run at present and history shows that noxious wastes from 19th and 20th century dwellings, Mrs E. Benn’s Hawthorn Laundry (1890) and Herbert Burgess Tannery (1890-1965) may have long gone, but 51 per cent of the drain catchment remains sealed – causing a rich cocktail of water related risks to people and limiting the realised beneficial uses of the Birrarung.

The CEO of the Drainage Authority rated this project as one of their top priorities and quested why their Annual Report always listed such high flow stormwater channels as an asset, when they are really an environmental liability for the river and Port Phillip Bay. ‘I have lost count of how many clean up the Yarra campaigns have been kick started. This one has real merit as it will snowball into other water related projects within the Birrarung catchment, said the CEO. Quotes attributable to the Minister for Golf “This project will establish the first floating golf greens in the southern hemisphere, said the Minister for Golf. With islands and floating turf this will be in many ways a challenging course.

No detail will be overlooked, including the installation of a submersible net to catch the 280,000 golf balls that would end up in the storage reservoir each year.”

Quotes attributable to the Minister for the Birrarung “It’s important that we remember the important part rivers and waterways play in the social fabric of our communities and we need to protect and expand these as much as we can.

At least two-thirds of wetlands have been lost in Victoria since European settlement, we need to reinstate where we can and turf out upper house opposition members who promote the ancient miasma myth that swamp air causes illness.”

45