PIER St in Altona is set for a facelift as Hobsons Bay City Council begins preliminary design work to redevelop the busy shopping strip.
The State Government last week allocated the council $35,000 for “physical improvements” at the Altona Beach Activity Centre, as part of the Pier St Improvement Project.
Eric Braslis, director of planning and environment with the council, said a five-year urban design framework was in place for the Pier St area, and the money would be used to conduct detailed design work for this project.
Mr Braslis said the council had applied for $350,000 to complete construction work sooner but had only received 10 per cent of this amount for the design phase of the project.
He said the council planned to reapply for further funding next year to implement the urban design framework and start building work.
“Although we’re extremely appreciative of receiving the seed funding for the initial design work, we would be hoping to reapply for more significant funds to allow the area to be rejuvenated.
“Once that’s done, we can do things on the north side of the railway line like push the curbs out, put new street slights and street furniture so it will look more like the beach end of the street.
“We also want to clean up the south (beach) end of the street because that has been there for about 15 or 20 years now and is in need of a revamp.’’
Mr Braslis said the first step in the process was to place power lines in the street under ground, similar to work recently completed along Nelson Place in Williamstown.
He said this work had been repeatedly delayed but would begin early next year.
Minister for Planning Rob Hulls said the State Government funding was designed to assist with urban improvement and heritage restoration projects in metropolitan centres, regional cities and towns.
He said physical improvements like those slated for Pier St would result in “attractive, safe and welcoming public spaces”.
“Councils have received grants to help them develop plans to help create more livable, well-serviced and environmentally sustainable suburbs and towns.”
