Retaining Kyneton’s historic charm and country identity will be key as Macedon Ranges Shire Council pushes ahead with future design plans.
Councillors were adamant that Melbourne-style planning was not fit for Kyneton when adopting the draft Kyneton Urban Design Framework with changes last week.
The document is a strategic plan for streetscape and public realm improvements in and around Kyneton’s main commercial streets, focuses including pedestrian safety/accessibility, improved appearance/amenity, and movement.
Potential speed change of 30km/h in Kyneton’s commercial district was dubbed “more suitable for Brunswick”, and some limitations to traffic movement in favour of pedestrians/cyclists was said to “fail in understanding the context of a country town”.
Councillor Kate Kendall pushed for more balance between pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, and to maintain Kyneton’s historic look and feel.
“I was a little concerned that we over-optimised or indexed for one type of user at the expense of another, and in this case vehicles,” she said.
She gained support for her motion to incorporate changes including keeping the speed limit to a minimum of 40km/h throughout the town’s centre, rather than a potential 30km/h that attracted negative community feedback.
The motion also removed kerb outstands at the south-east corner of Market and Mollison streets and the west corners of Yaldwyn Street West and Mollison Street.
The Kyneton UDF was developed with three rounds of community consultation. Another point of contention was potential introduction of bicycle lanes and reduced car parking – an option put forward for consultation but not included in the draft UDF.
Addressing fellow councillors last week, Cr Alison Joseph said Kyneton was a country town with commuters and it was unrealistic to think that everyone could ride a bike or walk.
“Kyneton is not really inner city Melbourne, it’s not Brunswick,” she said.
“Kyneton is a country town, people use cars to come and go from it, and often they comes from considerable distances. There is also not a lot of public transport: you can’t really get a tram down Piper Street. We, therefore, need to cater to cars as well.
“To think that making things more difficult for drivers will encourage them to ride bicycles or walk, really fails to understand the context: it’s a country town.”
Cr Daniel Young said changes that put focus on traffic flow would be a “far more valuable approach”.
“We saw some data as a council just recently that showed most people, in the high 90 per cent, drive their car to get to and from work, and getting into the centre of Kyneton,” he said.
Other changes to the document include kerb outstands in Piper Street to be designed to ensure the heritage appearance of the street is maintained, and a kerb outstand trial will be implemented at a Mollison Street intersection.
The council will also seek community consultation for the final detailed design of Mollison Street and Piper Street intersection.
Councillors said adopting the framework was just the beginning of the community contributing ideas and feedback. Future community consultation will help determine finer design details.
