Killara housing estate developer wants council to assist with Murray Valley Highway access

The appeal has been made in a letter to the council from JMP Developments, the company behind the estate.

Contents of the letter appear in the agenda for Monday night's Wodonga Council meeting as part of an item responding to a petition presented last month.

That petition from 36 people sought a second entry to the estate, raising concerns about access for emergency services, road maintenance costs and congestion due to the existing single opening from the highway to Riverside Boulevard.

In response, staff recommend to Monday night's meeting that council notifies the petitioners that a trigger for a second access road has not been triggered.

That relates to a requirement that "development within the Riverside Estate will be limited to a maximum of 200 residential lots with connecting road access to the Whytes Road/Murray Valley Highway via Whytes Road until the roundabout has been constructed" at that point.

Despite that issue, JMP Developments states it has engaged a company to study a traffic solution and discussed the matter with Regional Roads Victoria.

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It has told the council, its traffic engineers have proposed a second access point via a service lane off the Murray Valley Highway into Konrads Street.

However, that option has obstacles, including neither JMP or the Department of Transport owning land traversed by the service lane as well as the route running through the living room of a property which would need to be compulsorily acquired.

As a result JMP states we are "seeking council's support in championing the alternate service lane solution....to enable the secondary entry to be approved by DoT and enable construction to take place in a timely manner".

Council's director planning and infrastructure Leon Schultz did not directly respond to the plea in his report for Monday night's meeting.

However, he notes the council has encouraged the developer to undertake work to improve the Whytes Road intersection with the Murray Valley Highway at the western end of the estate.

However, streets within the estate do not yet join Whytes Road.

In response to unease over emergency services accessing the estate, the council contacted police, fire and ambulance representatives.

Police had no concerns, fire authorities did not respond and ambulance officers supported the provision of a second entry point at the earliest opportune time.

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