Hearty congratulations to Kingston City Council on their first public forum regarding the planning zone reforms. About 35 people were present tonight including the Mayor, one other councillor, plus 3 strategic planners and a full time mapping officer. Kingston had obviously gone to great lengths to ensure that information was freely available to residents – ie. the walls were plastered with maps, full colour booklets of 12 pages, and draft amendments including the all important schedules.

The Mayor introduced the evening and his focus throughout the 5 minute talk was that NO DECISION on anything had been made. That Kingston’s intent was to firstly inform their residents of the dramatic planning changes and to seek their input. All questions would be answered and there would be multiple forms of consultation – mailouts, website, council newspapers, advertisements, online discussion forums, etc. Residents had 6 weeks to consider all the information and then council would go away and draft its amendments. Another consultation would then follow before any final decision was made.

The Manager of Strategic Planning then provided a formal presentation with Powerpoint slides. The current Kingston planning scheme was explained as well as what the proposed changes meant for the city. The most striking features of the evening, apart from the genuine desire to inform and consult, were:

  • The extent of detailed local analyses that Kingston had already undertaken. Maps showed each suburb and included a breakdown of every single development – ie single house, 2 units, multi-units etc.
  • The projected population figures and the preferred locations – for example: areas that lacked public transport would be unlikely to be included in ‘growth zones’

The real highlight was the acknowledgement that there was tremendous flexibility available to councils to determine the future of their municipalities. All would depend on the schedules that accompanied each specific zone. In other words, the devil would be in the detail. Councils had the options of:

  • Determining height limits for specific locations
  • Determining setbacks
  • Determining permeability
  • Determining private open space
  • Determining Landscaping
  • Determining site coverage

Structure plans were another tool that assisted in the protection of specific areas.

All in all, the evening was a true eye opener to how different Kingston is to Glen Eira – both in objective and in performance. Unlike Glen Eira, public comment is actively, and we believe, genuinely sought. Further, the extent of the work already done by these officers is literally mind boggling. We can only ask our illustrious lot: why the 9 months of silence and when will they let the public in on what is going on? How much work on population and available lots has been done? Will residents really be informed and consulted, or fobbed off with half-truths and waffle? We wait with bated breath!

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that Kingston claims to have very few of their planning decisions overturned. The reason? Because they have done their homework and ensured that their neighourhoods are holistically planned – in total contrast to the ad hoc and open slather approach of Glen Eira!