Council’s $2,000 threat to family over basketball hoop on nature strip
The council has since responded with stern words for those hoping to leave basketball hoops out for kids in the street to use.
A family who had called their council to complain about a garbage truck driver allegedly ramming into their basketball hoop on their nature strip were instead threatened with a whopping $2,000 fine for not moving the hoop off "Council land".
Renee called 3AW Melbourne on Tuesday telling host Jacquie Felgate the local garbo in the City of Casey has been "purposely" reversing into her children's basketball hoop on three occasions.
"In the footage, you'll see sometimes there's not even a bin at the front of our house and the truck driver pulls up, reverses all the way back close to the nature strip, smashes into the basketball ring, stops for a couple of seconds [then] drives forward [and] re-smashes into it," she said. "It just seems deliberate."
Family reports garbage truck hitting basketball hoop
Renee claims the last time it happened it "broke" the hoop, so she called the Council to report the incident. But, in an unexpected turn of events, the mother received a fine for the hoop instead, with the reason being that it "is an obstruction and needs to be removed".
"We let it go about a month because we forgot the first infringement warning," Renee recalled.
"It's not in the way, it's not obstructing anything, every kid in the street plays with it — they’re not inside on their iPads," she added.
A follow-up notice a month later came with the threat of a $2000 fine for non-compliance — forcing the family’s hand despite believing that due to it being "aligned with the light pole" it was "not an obstruction". "We moved it slightly up the driveway," Renee conceded.
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Council's stern response
According to City of Casey Manager Connected Communities, Callum Pattie, basketball hoops are not permitted to be placed on nature strips and "is in contravention of two clauses of the Casey Community Local Law 2018".
"In this instance, the basketball hoop was placed on the nature strip in contravention of the Local Law and caused an obstruction to the reversing waste truck," Callum told Yahoo News Australia.
"A Notice to Comply, directing the removal of the basketball ring from Council land, was issued to the property owner. The basketball ring was removed to private land and no infringements or further action was taken."
What are the laws for nature strips?
Nature strips are council-owned land — including in the City of Casey where Renee is located — and there are guidelines enforced that dictate what can and cannot be done on that area, including what is considered an obstruction, where trees can be planted, and more.
Each council have different rules for residents to follow. For the City of Casey, Clause 23 (1) of the Casey Community Local Law 2018 states that a person "must not, except with a permit, construct, or place anything on a road pertaining to a nature strip".
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