About the proposed Glen Waverley community precinct
Space issues
The current library was built in 1976, 40 years ago. It is tired, dated and no longer big enough to cater for the people who want to use it. That’s people in the morning who are not able to get a computer or access a space to read a newspaper or magazine. And that’s school kids in the afternoon and evening forced to sit on the floor because literally every seat in the place is taken by the time they arrive.
More than 318,000 visits are made to the Glen Waverley Library every year, the most visits to any public library across Monash.
Anecdotally we know there are also many other people who don’t use it because they are frustrated that they can’t access enough space or technology in the library.
New opportunities
As well as simply meeting community demand, we think we can substantially improve the offering. We are inspired by what has been achieved elsewhere in Victoria, in places like Geelong, Docklands and Ringwood. New libraries in these areas are innovative, exciting and playful spaces of learning, fun and community connections.
First and foremost, we are looking for a place to connect people. What better way to do that than through play spaces for kids, cafes for adults, meeting spaces for students and adults and performance spaces for everyone?
We also want to attract those in the community who never venture inside the current library. That means it needs to offer new things - exciting and/or useful things - which aren’t currently provided. This is one of the reasons we want your input and ideas.
The possibilities…
Increased size
We are planning combined library and meeting spaces which are around five times the size of the current library. Among other things, this will allow dedicated performance areas for regular children’s story time readings.
Focus on learning
Many families have been attracted to Monash because of our outstanding schools. Our community’s focus on learning and education is one of our area’s strengths. We want a library we can be proud of that will support current and future students in Monash to learn, discover, imagine, create and play.
Community meeting spaces
Due to strong demand for community spaces in Glen Waverley, there is little capacity for new community groups or a group of friends to access meeting spaces. This doesn’t make sense and we would like to address it.
What we think is really needed are some multipurpose and flexible common meeting spaces which can be used every day and night by people in our community to meet neighbours, fellow students, people with common interests or business associates.
Replacement of car parking
The 257 car spaces on the site have been directly contributed to by local traders. If a development occurs, the spaces will need to be replaced within the activity centre. It is not legally possible for Council to simply remove these spaces without replacing them. In any event, we wouldn’t want to remove parking from the centre.
A cost-neutral approach
Monash Council doesn’t believe ratepayers should be made to pay to relocate the car parking (about $17 million) and build the library, meeting spaces and public square. The only way a major project like this one can be considered is if there is some revenue generated from the rest of the site to offset the costs of development.
We think it may be possible for this transformative community precinct to be delivered in a way that is cost neutral for Monash ratepayers. However, this won’t be clear until Council has finished the EOI process and has a sense of what interest there may be in the site and what might be achievable.
Private development
We will need to wait for the EOI process to conclude to get a sense of what interest there may be to develop the rest of the site. However, we expect it is likely that ground floor retail, office and apartments would be a likely outcome. There is also a chance that other uses such as a hotel might be possible. Each of these also has the potential to contribute to the vibrancy of Glen Waverley.
Following the strategic planning and community consultation work undertaken over the past few years and the Glen Waverley Structure Plan, a height of greater than ten storeys is envisaged for the site. This is not a blank cheque though for unrestricted height. Any proposal would need to be based on a high quality design and would need to add significantly to the amenity of the local area.