A new year has begun, but nothing seems to have changed in terms of accountability and transparency when it comes to Glen Eira City Council. We note the TOTAL SILENCE on the following crucial issues:
- No Pools Steering Committee report on GESAC. Given the absolute schemozzle, public outcries, and the fact that we are now into February, residents have every right to expect an up-to-date report on the progress of the pool. And by some miracle, an announcement of opening date.
- No Audit Committee Annual Report! Regardless of whether this has been presented in secret at an assembly meeting, it should still be published and disclosed to residents.
- No Records of Assembly. The last published record dates back to 22nd November. That means that all of December and January meetings remain undisclosed. We cannot believe that it takes two months to prepare a set of skeletal and non-informative records!
Other major lowlights are:
- The ceding of public land via a section 173 agreement. In return, Council will gain a public toilet – but will still have to pay for maintenance, water and electricity. In the meantime, the developer gains 4 storey multi-units.
- More secret ‘legal advice’ – this time about VCAT
What really caught our eye was the proposed development in Balaclava Rd – 4 storey, offices, retail and 14 units. It seems that the original application for 2 units lapsed and this is now a second bite at the cherry – with the increased residential component. We’ve had a good laugh at the following statements from the Officer’s Report (Ms Snell) and urge readers to carefully note the double speak of the following:
“There will be no excessive overshadowing impacts on residential properties due to the orientation of the site.”
“A relatively high level of natural light will be provided to each dwelling through the use of suitably located windows. In addition all bedrooms have direct access to natural light and allow for adequate natural ventilation with the exception of four dwellings.”
”It is also recommended that the disabled car space be converted to a visitor car space”. (Please note: the recommendation is that 22 onsite car parking spots are sufficient for 14 units, offices and retail shops).
‘No on-site loading facilities are proposed. This is considered to be appropriate given service vehicles can use Stanley Parade”.
Once again this Council fails to adhere to its own planning scheme and regulations.
Glen Eira Debates 
February 3, 2012 at 4:07 PM
Council needs to take out a patent for cloning. Each new officer is the replica of the one before – all incredibly gifted with meaningless jargon and weasel words that hide a multitude of sins. Newton and Akehurst should be extremely proud of their progeny and how successful they have been in duping the public. But no longer it seems! Thank you blog site for showing all this up.
February 3, 2012 at 4:46 PM
Akehurst has been the planning supremo since Adam was a boy. He’s one of Newton’s sycophants whose position gets rolled over each time his contract comes up for renewal. Nothing much will change until these senior bureaucrats roles are tested in the market place each time their contract expires. Any potential Councillor who puts that front and centre in their pre-election manifesto will get my attention.
As for the secrecy! Openness, transparency and accountability were front and centre in Councillor Pilling’s pre-election manifesto. Seems to have become more back and off-side as his term has proceeded.
February 3, 2012 at 5:14 PM
The agenda includes a section on upcoming vcat appeals. Most of these appeals come from the applicant rather than objectors and there’s a fair few “refusals” by council listed. All this is totally useless when the Planning Scheme is nothing more than a paper tiger – and developers know this. What we then have to endure is Lipshutz and Hyams throwing up their arms and blaming vcat. Not once have they ever done anything about the planning scheme that might halt the destruction of so many areas in this municipality. They are totally culpable for allowing this situation to continue. I’m not defending vcat. I’m only pointing out what should be obvious to every resident. This council is 100% in favour of development and has structured everything to ensure it happens that way and that very few obstacles – via interim height controls and structure plans – are put in the way of developers. Others have also pointed out how often officers fail to stick to the minimalist plan that already exists. C87 just adds another cosmetic layer to the camouflage of really caring about what happens in Glen Eira.
February 3, 2012 at 5:51 PM
Curiosity got the better of us and we had a sneak look at the GESAC Facebook page. We figured folks might like to see what people think about the latest embarrassment. The first comment comes from council. We’ve deleted the names of commentators. The Hard Sell continues it seems – but no gym!
Hi all, if you are one of our lucky foundation members you may have received an email to organise a fitness assessment!
If you haven’t it might be because we don’t have all the details we need from you….
When you receive your Mobile Fit questionnaire please make sure you fill out as much detail as possible so our Gym team can contact you!
While we wait in anticipation for the centre to open this i…
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Like · Comment · Yesterday at 9:34pm ·
yeh, i filled out that stuff the email said to do like wayyyy over a month ago and i still havnt had a reply or anything?
Yesterday at 9:48pm.
The questionnaire also asked for a member number which I don’t have.
Yesterday at 9:49pm.
I still havnt received an email and I am a foundation member. I am registered as xxxx.
Yesterday at 9:50pm.
me too
Yesterday at 9:55pm.
I am a foundation member and recieved nothing as well
Yesterday at 10:04pm.
me too
Yesterday at 10:07pm.
received nothing
Yesterday at 10:07pm.
I haven’t received anything either. I’m a stage 1 member. Who do I need to contact, or will someone contact me? Thanks!
Yesterday at 10:08pm.
I haven’t received anything either
Yesterday at 10:27pm.
My son is a member and I haven’t received anything for him either. What’s the go for that?
Yesterday at 10:30pm.
I guess the word ‘may’ should have been emphasized.
23 hours ago · 1.
I deleted mine as I thought it was junk mail or someone had hacked into your database as there was no warning this was coming. Please can you send again. Cheers
23 hours ago.
haven’t received an email either
23 hours ago.
Lol, I must be the only one here that has done my fitness assessment. Can’t wait till this bloody place finally opens.
21 hours ago · 2.
ihave ^^
20 hours ago.
I have too!
19 hours ago.
received nothing !!!
19 hours ago.
also received nothing
19 hours ago.
I haven’t received anything either. Are you guys going to be in business at sll this year??
19 hours ago.
I had mine done and was so happy with the advice j was given in the interim, very thorough
18 hours ago.
So are the gym assessments there so you can convice people they need a fitness instructor?
17 hours ago.
Glen Eira Sports & Aquatic Centre Hi Guys, we have taken down all of the names of people who need to be contacted and we will be making calls to book you in today. The assessments are there so we can meet our members and tailor a program that is specific to their own individual needs, these are free of charge with free programs and assessments every 8 weeks!
7 hours ago.
Please contact xxxxxx thanks
5 hours ago.
I have not got a email
4 hours ago
February 3, 2012 at 5:53 PM
Check out the financial report guys – half a million bucks down on projected income already for gesac. The white elephant is trumpeting mighty loud!
February 3, 2012 at 7:22 PM
The absence of any statement on the likely opening of gesac and a full report is reprehensible. Council has consistently claimed that after workers return on January 16th they will know when the project is due for completion. Either there have been more delays and it is completely embarrassing for Lipshutz to admit that the facility won’t open until late March or even April some time, or nobody really knows anything. Neither option is excusable. The public has been led down the garden path for long enough. It is time that the perpetual spin was replaced with some honesty and a full and frank report on costings, income, and outgoings. That would equal real transparency and proper governance. What we have now is a far, far cry from responsible government and sound financial management.
February 4, 2012 at 1:33 PM
The non appearance of the annual audit committee report is even worse than the non appearance of what has always been the non appearance of any worthwhile gesac report. This year has witnessed debacle upon debacle financially. There’s gesac of course and the unbudgeted for spending on this for a carpark and playground relocation and we now learn another million for another playground that also isn’t budgeted for. The top issue is the auditor general’s ranking of council as high risk. That’s why we need the audit committee report – not that I’m expecting anything else except the usual generalities that cover up what’s really been going on – but it’s important that this be presented to the public. As far as I can tell this is the first time that the annual report hasn’t been tabled at the end of the year. Like everything else this council does it has to make people suspicious as wonder where the next cover up is occuring.
February 4, 2012 at 2:30 PM
There is a real fear amongst hopeful GESAC users that Council have done a deal with the Basketball incumbent and will only charge for courtspace used.
Another financial disaster about to happen?
February 4, 2012 at 6:10 PM
So now we have “no excessive overshadowing impacts on residential properties” – just what standards were applied in that determination? And just what constitutes excessive – above 50%?
This is the thin edge of wedge for future development permits – this little zingy phrase is bound to appear and re-appear from here on in.
Somehow I doubt that the views of the impacted residents and the Council’s views will align on this one.
Perhaps moderators would like to conduct a survey – entitle it “how much of your private personal space do you think should be overlooked and overshadowed” and provide boxes for categories of say 10%, 30%, 50% etc.
February 4, 2012 at 7:05 PM
In the wake of the last publicly visible report from Local Government Inspectorate (where councillors were reminded of the Objectives of transparency and transparency in s3C of LGA), it must be deliberate that Council continues to conduct business in secret. Not that I think LGI is doing its job if its failing to track Council behaviour subsequent to the report.
It was fascinating to see Victoria’s Building and Plumbing Commissioner, Tony Arnel, resign a week after a damning Auditor-General’s report. It was reported that 96% of 401 building permits audited did not meet basic standards. [Its a breach of the Building Act to build without a building permit, and a breach to obtain a building permit without a planning permit when one is required, and a breach to building something deliberately not in compliance with the planning permit–all of which Glen Eira Council has secretly tolerated.] While tough for Tony, we desperately need to clean up the endemic corruption in the development industry.
The “weasel words” used in the officers report to justify the 4-storey development in Bentleigh are fairly typical. There are others that get trotted out periodically, such as “strong policy support”, “not considered fatal to the proposal”, “generally in compliance”, “considered acceptable”, “reasonable considering the location”, “innovative”, “emerging character”, “positive contribution”, “net community benefit”, “robust presentation”, “high levels of amenity”, “contemporary”, “high degree of articulation”. You will *never* see “complies with ResCode”.
My interpretation of “no excessive overshadowing impacts” is that the development fails to comply with ResCode but the officer wanted to grant a permit. There is a precedent that “excessive” means “more than 100%”, since Council has supported the granting of a permit that 100% overshadowed the secluded private open space (within the meaning of ResCode) of an immigrant Russian couple that didn’t speak English.
You can’t change the culture of an institution overnight, but in the case of Glen Eira an attempt desperately needs to be made. Here’s a couple of possibilities:
* Change the delegated authority given to council officers to grant planning permits so that all applications that fail to comply with ResCode must go to a Council Meeting rather than be handled by a Delegated Planning Committee.
* Require the officers report to state explicitly for each ResCode standard the compliance of the proposal, and state why a waiver is appropriate for each breach.
* Insist that ResCode be applied to the bottom 3 storeys of 4- or higher storey developments when adjacent to or facing single-storey developments.
* Demand that traffic analysis reports include in their consideration not just existing traffic patterns, but the patterns likely as a result of the developments under construction.
* For any predictions (such as there will be no loss of amenity) outline how that prediction will be monitored, what actions will be taken if the prediction is badly wrong, how much it will cost to provide a remedy, and who carries the legal responsibility to pay for the remedy.
* Prosecute any builders that deliberately fail to comply with their planning permits, or build without a planning permit when one is required, and prosecute any officers who secretly condone these breaches.
February 6, 2012 at 12:59 PM
Dear Reprobate, After reading your excellent contribution to this debate could I ask that you please stand for Council in this year’s election.