When will the sheer, unadulterated arrogance of Lipshutz cease? When will the level of argument in this council rise above the facile and puerile? When will logic and fact, replace hyperbole? When will residents finally listen to debates that are worthy of that name? When will the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth actually be stated? These questions arise out of the ‘debate’ on the Significant Tree Register. Please read carefully and make up your own mind whether many of these individuals are worthy of their soon to be voted in pay packets that will cost ratepayers approximately $340,000 per annum!

Pilling moved the motion: “That Council proceed to introduce a classified tree register where there is a Local Law requiring a Permit but only for those high quality trees which Council has included in the register”. Delahunty seconded.

PILLING: Stated that Glen Eira ‘doesn’t have tree protection on private property’. He thought the motion was ‘appropriate’ and that it was a ‘fairly moderate scheme’ and that it would probably effect only 100s of trees rather ‘than thousands’. Said that the other option available was to ‘introduce a local law’ that’s ‘governed by the size’ of the tree which would ‘catch a lot’ of trees. The ‘previous council’ agreed upon ‘a moderate start’ and that the local laws committee had already done some of the work and he would ‘like to see that work continue’ and that council introduce the register to ‘protect significant trees’. ‘It’s a step in the right direction’ and that there are ‘different views around the table’ but that council does ‘regulate’ things on private property such as fences and that he sees ‘significant trees in the same way’. He thought that ‘most people do look after their trees’ but ‘this will stop the unnecessary removal’ of trees and ‘goes some way to achieve that’….it’s a short step, it’s a modest step’

DELAHUNTY: agreed that it’s a ‘moderate’ step and probably ‘a little too moderate for my mind’. Said that regardless of what her values might be ‘it’s in the community plan’ and for the community is ‘clearly important’ and ‘this is what we’ve been elected to do’….’I’ll be gutted if we can’t introduce’ the register and the city will stand in clear contrast ‘to some of our neighbours’ if we can’t ‘protect some of our most beautiful trees’.

OKOTEL: talked about the expense of this and trees on private property that can’t be removed. There will be ‘ongoing costs…..increased red tape’ and ‘continuous discussion’ about what is or is not a significant tree. She thought that residents ‘are more than sensible enough to know’ what’s a good tree and ‘what’s appropriate to maintain’ and ‘to make those decisions for themselves’.

ESAKOFF: didn’t support ‘tree protection’ and that people in general ‘do appreciate the value of trees’ and that people don’t remove trees ‘without good reason’ ( such as property damage, or dangerous). Thought that people ‘should have the right of choice’ over their own property and shouldn’t have to pay to get a permit to prune, or ‘being forced’ to hire an arborist to ‘report on whether they should be allowed to prune’. Accepted that there are a ‘range of views’ and that some people would feel that ‘they are over-governed’ and to introduce a tree register ‘will only cement that view’. Existing mechanisms include town planning, so that if there is a significant tree then town planning conditions are ‘put in place to protect them’. There are also ‘large penalties’ for ‘breach of those conditions’. Other safeguards are landscape plans, 4 metre setbacks and open space requirements which means that more trees can be planted. ‘There are enough hoops to jump through’ without adding to them.

MAGEE: said that a property in Mckinnon was sold but before it sold 2 lovely jacaranda trees went. Developer then had ‘no problems’ in applying for a permit. Believed that he should decide what trees are on ‘my block’. This will ‘only cover 1% trees in Glen Eira’. Trusted council’s arborist to say what’s a ‘significant tree’ or not. Said he’s ‘got a problem’ with cutting down trees ‘in suburban streets’ just for the sake of ‘cutting them down’. ‘We have to start somewhere. This is a moderate approach’. There are beautiful trees in East Bentleigh. One was a redgum in the school and it was removed because it provided ‘too much shade’ and he would ‘hate to think’ that this can happen because someone thought that a tree had ‘too much shade’. Something is needed to ‘protect significant trees like that’. ’We should have some say in what happens to the amenity of our suburbs’.

SOUNNESS: Glen Eira is ‘lush’ and not ‘concrete city’. Should start ‘negotiations’ with private property owners if they have significant trees. It won’t be simply ‘ah this is 2 metres’ it’s got to be significant. Said he wasn’t a ‘tree expert’ but ‘trusts people who are’ and then can be considered if ‘those things’ are worthy of putting onto a tree register. It won’t stop trees being cut down but the ‘start’ of a discussion. So he supports a tree register.

LIPSHUTZ: said this has been up to council a ‘number of times’ and council has changed its mind a few times. Doesn’t support a tree register for the reasons basically outlined by Esakoff. Said that his worry is that ‘I don’t trust the arborist’…’I don’t trust the people who make the heritage decisions’. He sees heritage advisors saying it’s heritage but ‘I see nothing heritage about it’….’it’s in the eyes of the beholder’ since there’s ‘no scientific way of saying this is heritage or this is a significant tree’. Said that laws exist. Reflected on his personal trees but ‘over the last 20 years’ they’ve gone because they were ‘ordinary specimens and they’ve been replaced’, Now he’s got ‘nicer’ and ‘better trees’….It was my choice to do that’. Doesn’t want people telling him ‘this is the way to do it’. Local laws committee has ‘investigated’ this and ‘gone a fair way down the track’. In the end it’s about ‘making a decision on your tree’. Didn’t believe it’s ‘our’ role to ‘implement this law which infringes on our rights’.

HYAMS: no ‘right or wrong’, 2 solid arguments and where to ‘draw the line’. 1st argument is that people should have the right over their own property and ‘if you took that to the absolute limit’ then no one would ever need ‘a planning application’. Second argument is ‘desire to preserve amenity’. Take this to the ‘absolute degree’ and you’d ‘never allow anyone to change anything’. Most people are in the middle. The issue has a ‘long history’ and it’s being considered again because there is a ‘new council’ and they wanted to ‘ascertain’ that there was ‘council support’ ‘before we do any further work on it’. Said that they’d looked ‘at various ways of doing this’ such as planning scheme amendments. That wasn’t feasible because it would mean that putting in a tree ‘would take forever to do it’ and if a tree was ‘dangerous’ it would involve a very ‘cumbersome process’ to get rid of it. Other councils have measures (ie diameter, height) but ‘just because a tree is big doesn’t mean’ it’s good. Claimed they looked at other councils and it just involved a lot more ‘red tape’ to get permission to cut down a tree. Last council decided upon a tree register which provides a ‘degree of flexibility’ because dangerous trees or trees that damaged property could be ‘removed ‘fairly quickly’. Said this was similar to heritage &  planning applications which council opposes because it will have ‘an undue impact’ so this is a ‘small step’ in ‘preserving what is good about our neighbourhoods’. He thought it would ‘be far fewer than 1% of trees’ and that the goal is to protect the ‘absolutely outstanding trees’ that ‘anyone would be devastated to see cut down’. When comparing amenity and people’s rights then ‘the way to go’ is for ‘limited tree protection’

PILLING: Hyams is right because it’s about ‘striking the right balance’ and will ‘make an improvement’ to the city. Mentioned the c87 and minister’s approval and thought ‘that’s a good thing’ and this is ‘a good thing for the community’. It’s the ‘right balance’ between ‘going too far one way’

MOTION PUT AND CARRIED – VOTING FOR: Pilling, Hyams, Sounness, Delahunty, Magee, Lobo

VOTING AGAINST: Lipshutz, Esakoff, Okotel

COMMENT: And so ends the saga of ‘significant trees’. At least ten years in the making and probably another two years before the compilation of any miniscule register is completed. We wish to point out:

  • No real mention of ‘moonscaping’ in this discussion – developers suddenly do not exist
  • No statements on who will decide what goes on the register and what the criteria will be. For example: will residents be provided with the opportunity to nominate trees – either their own or others? Will councillors? Or will it all be left in the hands of officers and their paid for ‘consultants’?
  • What of ‘objection rights’ by residents? Or will council ensure that the butchers come in the dead of night and ‘poof’ the tree is gone – aka Packer Park?
  • What’s the policy (versus practice!) on notification?
  • What processes of ‘verification’ will be in place? Will arborist’s reports be made public especially since everything is ‘in the eye of the beholder’ according to Lipshutz
  • Will this be cemented into the Local Law for the next 10 years and not ever reviewed in the meantime?
  • Why can other councils hold forums, public consultations, provide discussion papers on this important issue, and in Glen Eira residents don’t receive any opportunity to comment – apart from the sham call for submissions when the Local Law must be advertised?
  • Why are the stated objectives of the Community Plan nothing more than empty words on paper that amount to nothing?

PS: Following an email from an alert reader we’ve done a little more digging and discovered the following resolution dating from the 27th April, 2011 –

“Crs Pilling/Tang
That Council:
1. Creates a classified tree register based on identification of trees which meet the criteria in attachment 1, and

2. Drafts a Local Law to give effect to management and protection of trees listed on the classified tree register.
The MOTION was put and CARRIED. ‘

Further, the minutes of this meeting include a draft ‘tree selection criteria’  (uploaded here) of which one reads: “outstanding size”. Perhaps Cr. Hyams needs to refresh his memory given his remarks re size?

Hence, we interpret the latest resolution that passed as a complete watering down of the 2011 resolution. We must also question the governance issues that surround this. For example:

  • Should the 2011 resolution have been formally rescinded first – especially since it is not within a bull’s roar of the current resolution? (of course, Glen Eira Meeting Procedures do not have such a clause! – how convenient!)
  • Why wasn’t there any ‘selection criteria’ included in this last meeting?

We will cease and desist for now, since the questions are numerous; answers non-existent, and due process and good governance totally lacking.