Martha Cove residents on Mornington Peninsula hit with $541,000 state government bill

The residents of Martha Cove are used to paying a premium for their picturesque marina lifestyle.

The development in Safety Beach on the Mornington Peninsula is home to about 3000 people who live in properties ranging from apartments to luxury villas. Collectively, they fund the maintenance of boardwalks, underpass lifts, harbour dredging and other features of the area even though the public has right of access.

But now residents are in a dispute with the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning over its plans to charge them a combined $541,000 to update lights in a public underpass used by motorists daily.

Martha Cove Owners Corporation chairman Neil Pope, a former Victorian Labor government minister, said a dated agreement between the developer of Martha Cove, Mornington Peninsula Shire and the department had resulted in residents being saddled with the cost of maintaining public infrastructure.

“This is ultimately an issue of fairness, accountability and the proper use of property owners’ money,” he said.

Construction began on the Martha Cove development in 2004, and it was built progressively over the following years. The area now has more than 1800 dwellings and about 830 marina berths for boats.

Pope said residents understood they faced additional costs to live in the area, with its associated waterfront access. Last year, residents spent a combined $450,000 on underpass lifts, which are open to the public, as well as replacing a 2.3-kilometre timber boardwalk with fibreglass resin polymer after it became slippery and dangerous.

But Pope said it was outrageous the Department of Transport and Planning wanted residents to fund the upgrade of 50 lights in an 80-metre stretch of underpass. The department wants to upgrade the current sodium vapour and fluorescent lights with LED.

“We accept that we have to look after the marina,” Pope said. “But it just makes it darn hard when we have to budget for stuff we don’t believe we should have to pay the full amount for.”

Pope served as the state MP for Monbulk from 1982 to 1992. Under the Cain and Kirner governments, he served as the minister for labour, minister for school education and minister for youth affairs.

Now he is frustrated with the bureaucracy on his side of politics, and said the department had failed to adequately explain how it reached the figure of $541,000, and hadn’t provided residents with design documents. He also expressed concern about the potentially enormous future costs of maintaining the underpass.

“This [cost] is an extraordinary development and one that has caused considerable concern among residents,” he said.

Under a section 173 agreement, which sets out long-term obligations for property owners, residents at Martha Cove are required to fund maintenance and replacements in the area.

The light replacement project is due to begin this month. Residents are required to contribute to a sinking fund, which covers infrastructure and maintenance in the marina. With the department able to access that fund, Pope said residents could not stop the department from extracting the money.

Pope said the Martha Cove waterway had fundamentally changed the area, by creating a boating activity destination with access to Port Phillip Bay.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport and Planning said it was working closely with the Martha Cove Owners Corporation to ensure the underpass was maintained in accordance with safety standards.

“As a privately funded development, the owners corporation is responsible for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the Martha Cove underpass,” the spokesperson said.

The department said the underpass was built in 2005 to facilitate the lowering of Marina Drive beneath the entrance channel to Martha Cove Marina.

The department said the light replacement program addressed performance and reliability issues and complied with the department’s procurement policy. The department also said it had providing briefings and shared information with residents since the project development phase began two years ago.

But Liberal MP Anthony Marsh, whose seat of Nepean covers the marina, lashed the department’s handling of the project.

“That is a significant cost on local households, especially during a cost-of-living crisis,” Marsh said in a speech to Victorian parliament in September.

Marsh said the owners corporation supported replacing ageing lights, but did not accept the “extraordinary bill” without proper scrutiny of the project’s scope and costs.

“Martha Cove residents should not be left carrying an unreasonable and avoidable financial burden,” he said.

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