Green groups are calling for Greater Dandenong Council to save 43 trees making way for the $122 million Dandenong Wellbeing Centre.
Most of the doomed trees are in and around the Dandenong Oasis car park on the JC Mills Reserve site.
They include two River Red Gums, which being remnant vegetation, require a planning permit for removal.
The permit is exempt from public notice or review – aside from notifying the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.
According to the council, the pair of gums are of moderate retention value, in poor health and with lifespans between five and 15 years.
The other 41 trees don’t require permits for removal and none were assessed as high retention value, the council argues. Some had been apparently stunted from “concrete collars” and were in poor health.
Most of the “significant” trees on JC Mills Reserve are being retained, the council has stated.
A “shocked” Isabelle Nash, of the Greater Dandenong Environment Group, said the group had believed that just two trees would be razed.
“We are so alarmed to hear that over 40 trees will be destroyed, and all without the expected planning proposals and procedures.”
Nash said the mature trees provide significant canopy cover and heat relief in summer.
“Imagine taking your family to the Wellbeing Centre to cool down in the summer heat and then scorch in the sun walking back to over-heated cars.”
Greater Dandenong is said to be planning to plant more than 140 trees as part of the project, along with 25,000-plus plants.
But the off-set plantings needed to “immediately replace canopy trees (which) take years to grow”, Nash said.
Zoe Mohl, a 2023 Greater Dandenong sustainability award-winner, said it ran counter to the spirit of the council’s tree protection laws on private land.
“What is the purpose of making these laws if they’re not overreaching the community, including council owned land?
“On another note, I’m in absolute shock as to why government and developers today are not working with and for trees every damn time.
“Particularly in circumstances like this, where there is already large, cleared land to build on. I really don’t get it.”
Friends’ groups such as Braeside Park, Eumemmerring Creek and Fotheringham Forest have also experessed alarm.
“Former Mayor Leon Trembath’s vision is being whittled away by non-visionaries,” Noble Park resident Pam Naylor said.
Keysborough resident, Gaye Guest said she was outraged to see more River Red Gum trees at risk.
“We fought to save the River Red Gum at the Maurie Kirby Velodrome – and won.
“That tree still stands as a symbol of all we’ve lost.
“Yet Council continues to approve the destruction of significant trees across the municipality. This isn’t progress, it’s erasure.”
Greater Dandenong city futures Sanjay Manivasagasivam said the council wasn’t in a position to comment at this time.
“We have a briefing for councillors scheduled on Monday 1 September on this matter.
“As a matter of courtesy, we will thoroughly brief councillors first, so that they don’t learn about it in the media.
“After this briefing, we will be very happy to discuss and explain the matter to the community.”
The DWC replaces the decades-old Dandenong Oasis aquatic centre and will focus on allied health, education, fitness and wellness.
The two-storey centre includes two separate pool halls, dry health and fitness facilities and an integrated sports pavilion.
It is expected to open in 2027.
