Scorpio Street, Torquay

The root system of the Pine Trees roots grow laterally as they look for water. The root system can be 2 to 3 times longer than the height of the tree.

Blackwood trees grow to a height of approximately 20 meters, after 10 years they will have grown to approximately 10 meters tall. The Blackwood trees will have a small lateral root system but will be less invasive than the Pine trees.

Once the Pine trees are removed, the ground will be remediated and nutrients returned to the soil. When the trees are planted, they will be hand watered for three months and by this time they should be strong and established enough to survive on their own. If any trees fail to survive, council will replace them.

The trees to be planted will be 1.8-2.0m meters tall, well established and not tube stock. 

The Pine trees that are being removed will be replaced so the tree canopy in the estate won’t be affected.

Council is working on a strategy called ‘Branching Out’ that looks at tree canopies in urban areas. Tree canopies help to reduce heat, so Council is creating a strategy to plant more trees in urban areas to help reduce heat for houses and the community. Council Officers will ensure that Torquay Heights is assessed as a priority.   

Any road maintenance issues can be reported to council at surfcoast.vic.gov.au/RequestRoadMaintenance

Council officers will speak to the staff at Lisieux Primary School and ask for some road safety information to be included in the newsletter and communicated to parents.

Access will be maintained at all times during the works. When the road is rebuilt an alternate road will be built over the drain so both lanes of the road can be constructed together. This alternate road will be removed once the road is complete.

Works will take up to four to six weeks. Tree removal should take about one week. Road removal and rebuild will take about three weeks. The tree removal and rebuild works at this stage are likely not to be concurrent due to missing the booked window for works. We are working to line up the works as best we can. Planting of the trees was to occur in autumn, if this timeline cannot be met the next best available timeline for planting is early spring.

No Scorpio Street will not be extended. The town boundary has been set for the next 40 years and a green wedge is to be maintained between the town boundary and edge of the Surf Coast Shire boundary.

Fischer Street will be extended to meet up with South Beach Road. The timeline for this is at the hands of the developers of the estate. 

Waste trucks will still need to access Scorpio St.

Just asphalting over the top of the road will not fix the cause of the issue, which is the roots rowing under the road. Overtime the road will continue to break down again. The preferred option is to remove the cause of the issue which is the tree roots form the Pine trees.  

Council’s Environment Co-Ordinator has checked the area and there are significant other trees in the area to cater for the wildlife once the Pine trees are removed. 

The roads were constructed with the original subdivision circa 1970’s. They would have been constructed to the relevant standards of the time and we are trying to source the original plans to confirm the depth and construction for our works as well.

The design of roads is based around traffic movements i.e. heavy vehicles per day and year etc. and this loading is unlikely to have altered much since construction, based on how the road is performing, it is handing the current loads sufficiently. Aside from where the tree roots are impacting the road pavement the road has maintained shape and profile despite the age.

Yes, we will make sure the next traffic count is conducted during school time. Will possibly look at doing traffic counts over a school week and holiday week to get a clear indication of the traffic volume difference under the two circumstances.