Front Page – Bayside Leader.
Plan up in the air
Council to fight Bay Rd project at VCAT
BAYSIDE Council will spend up to $ 100,000 fighting a massive Sandringham development proposal at the state planning tribunal.
Around 120 residents packed council chambers last Tuesday to oppose Bayside’s biggest-ever proposed development.
The plan to build nearly 500 dwellings, 900 car spaces, a medical centre, and serviced hotel on a five-block Bay Rd site attracted 1103 objections and one letter of support.
Developer Magnus Floden took the application to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal after the council did not make a decision within the prescribed time frame. Councillor Alex del Porto said the application’s size and number of objections made it virtually impossible to process within the allocated 60 days.
Councillor James Long said the council needed to f i ght the $200 million-plus plan with all its might. ‘‘(The developers’) legal counsel will fight this as if it was a war because profit is the motive.’’ Developer Mr Floden did not attend the council meeting, or return the Leader’s phone calls. Mayor Clifford Hayes said the council would have its best shot at winning if it engaged top-dollar senior legal counsel. Objectors’ reasons for denying the development included increased traffic congestion and hazards, lack of parking and negative impact on the Bay Rd Healthland Sanctuary.
Objector Trish Boase said it was out of character with the area’s amenity. ‘‘ It (the development) will be like fingernails scraping down a blackboard,’’ she said.
A tribunal hearing is expected before Christmas
AND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Caulfield Leader
Stumbling start
I ATTENDED the Glen Eira Council meeting where Cheryl Forge was sworn in as the new councillor to replace Helen Whiteside (‘‘New voice elected at Glen Eira,’’ Leader, September 7).
Cr Forge made her maiden speech that night and banged on for quite some time about issues that left most attendees confused. What did ‘building bridges to Tasmania’ have to do with local issues in Glen Eira?
She was introduced as the secretary of Save Our Suburbs but immediately joined many other councillors in granting a totally inappropriate building permit in Orrong Rd.
The people of Glen Eira deserve better than what I saw at the council meeting.
(Christine Fry: St. Kilda East)
On the wrong track
WHAT a shock. Development at all costs (‘‘Rage at racecourse,’’ Leader, August 17).
We are actually going to become much more congested. Normanby Rd is terrible in peak hour now. If they wanted housing on the land, why did they buy up all the houses and rip them down in the first place? Because they needed it for parking, one presumes. Now all of a sudden they don’t need parking any more. Strange.
And what of the Crown land and Queen’s caveat which has stood unchallenged for 130 years? Money talks, I suppose.
Glen Eira Debates 
September 21, 2010 at 11:32 PM
Listening to Lipshutz and his recently acquired ventriloquist’s doll in Hyams is enough to make one turn to drink. I attended tonight’s council meeting hoping against hope that the 10 storey development would be voted down. It wasn’t -but even more sickening was Lipshutz and Hyams and plenty of the others. The gallery had to sit through the bullsh*t of ‘we can’t do anything’ because VCAT is to blame. Read what Bayside is willing to do for its residents Lipshutz! They are willing to take on the fight. But of course you probably don’t live anywhere near Ripon Grove so won’t have to worry about the traffic, noise, and lack of light. The biggest insult to residents was the argument that ten stories was to high but eight stories is just right!! I am dedicating myself to an election campaign to ensure that all know of this and that at the next election Lipshutz in particular will be tossed out on his backside.
September 22, 2010 at 8:43 AM
If only it were so easy as to remove councilors, they are only part of the problem. Let’s also not forget the the really big problem is the planning department. Note that the planners recommended 10 stories – the councilors were not prepared to accept their recommendation! when are the planners going to do their job and look after the residents
The words from four councilors last night were shocking – ‘we don’t like this’, we don’t think this should be approved’, I wouldn’t like to look up at it next to my place or similar – then follows “but’, ‘but’, ‘but’…. I will vote for it! The fear of VCAT – I have never heard such rubbish! Sham!e Shame! Shame!
September 22, 2010 at 5:44 PM
VCAT and the state government have become the convenient scapegoats for councillors continued failures to create policy that actually seeks to prevent the disasters that are happening all over glen eira. The blame must be placed squarely at their feet. If Bayside can invest this kind of money to fight for their residents, then so can this council. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are squandered on poor decision making all the time and residents receive no benefits at all. The c60 panel hearing is the perfect example where they simply didn’t give a stuff. so solicitors went up against queens counsels and experts. Sack the whole bloody lot of them and three quarters of the planning department.