Platypus plan boosts estate

By Ed Merrison
A FERNTREE Gully housing estate has taken out an award for environmental excellence, proving residential development and conservation can go hand in hand.
The Urban Development Institute of Australia last month presented Koolamara Waters with the award from for the development of wetlands and parkland that protected and improved an existing platypus colony.
Wilbow Corporation was responsible for the development, adjacent to the Sovereign Crest development and adjoining Waterford Valley retirement village and golf course.
Dobson Ward councillor Karin Orpen said the idea to improve the wildlife environment along Monbulk Creek originated with the council’s city development directorate.
“Monbulk Creek flows through Koolamara Waters and is a platypus sanctuary, which is home to growing numbers of birds and other wildlife. As the planning authority, council ensured the desired environmental outcomes in the three developments were achieved,” she said.
Cr Orpen said Melbourne Water, which manages the Monbulk Creek waterway, supported the concept and was actively involved in the planning throughout, as were Wilbow Corporation and the Australian Platypus Conservancy.
“Both projects at Koolamara Waters and Waterford Valley included weed eradication programs along the creek bank and plantings of local provenance plants that would naturally occur in the area.
“The lot sizes and housing constructions also had to meet environmentally sympathetic building standards. This project demonstrates that flora, fauna and new residents can all win,” Cr Orpen said.