The Phoenix Precinct has been moribund for years. Now it is officially dead with council’s proposed Amendment C109 in Tuesday night’s agenda. What was envisaged as a ‘grand plan’ that would look at an entire area (Caulfield Racecourse & Monash, plus surrounding areas and plan appropriately) has been hacked to pieces. The C60 was just the beginning of the dismantling. Now there is the Monash proposal (nothing definite of course!) and Council once again rolling over and complying with all developer requests – this time our old friend Urbis rather than Equiset.
The Amendment proposes to remove the Priority Development Zone and vest control in Council – which would have happened anyway with the demise of Priority Development Zones under the new planning laws. However, there will not be the NEED FOR ANY PLANNING PERMIT and that probably means no public input into the eventual plans. Worse is that the officer’s report only tells half the story. Reading this document we could be forgiven for thinking it is only about Derby Rd and a few shops. Hardly! The Monash Plan is now reinvigorated and will include – 800 student residences; retail, cafes, etc. (See: http://monash.edu/about/who/ambition/masterplan/). Yet all of this barely rates a mention. Why?
Just for a taste of what is to come, here is the award winning entry for a new building on Dandenong Rd – Source: http://www.australiandesignreview.com/news/26244-mcbride-charles-ryan-to-design-monash-uni-complex
Other Monash sites providing information on the development may be accessed at:
Our questions are straight forward –
- What are residents not being told?
- Will this be another C60 that excludes community input?
- Has everything already been decided in those ivory towers?
Glen Eira Debates 
September 22, 2013 at 9:57 AM
800 units + 1500 units = 2000 plus people all rushing for non existent trains. 2000 plus people plus 2300 toilets and showers on non existent drainage. Time to move.
September 22, 2013 at 11:34 AM
I don’t see that any of this is a major surprise. Planning in Glen Eira has been piecemeal and fragmented for eons. Everything is on a “case by case” basis that serves development and council favourites extremely well. The other advantage of doing things in such an ad hoc manner is that you can get away from having to plan adequately for infrastructure, open space and traffic management. They won’t touch this because it just might be a financial deterrent for development and that would be against the grain for council. Another reason is why put in the work when you don’t have to and everything is left in the developer’s hands. They submit the amendment and all council does is give it the stamp of approval. I suggest that council hires another 10 planners who are paid quite well to sit in their offices and do nothing.
September 22, 2013 at 7:58 PM
I feel very sorry for the residents around the racecourse. 15 years of development ahead of them with no increase in amenity. The gang should be sacked over their disregard for the residents and what was once a lovely area.
September 23, 2013 at 8:22 AM
Gotta wonder what Council and the State/Federal MP’s are doing. Caulfield Village, Monash Uni Devt and the implementation of the Commercial Zone (12 storeys is the starting point) on the Glen Eira side of Dandenong Road and on the Stonnington side major apartment complexes (6 stories and rising, 11 storeys for Dandenong and Tooronga Roads). A little further down the road and we get the mammoth Chadstone development.
Dandenong Road and the Monash Freeway provide the road transport for the Eastern Victoria and the major Latrobe Valley growth area. These roads are already heavily congested and subject to frequent traffic mayhem. On the public transport side we have the Melbourne-Cranborne/Dandenong city lines and VLines (passenger and freight). The services are already inadequate, overcrowded and cause major traffic congestion. Study after study (all costing millions) has pointed to the need for grade separation along this line – the only result is an increase in the number of studies sitting in the “too hard basket”.
It really is time Glen Eira stopped shoving more and more onto Dandenong Road – it is short sighted and public transport is way below par. It’s also time for the pollies to focus on the upgrading of public transport infrastructure. Both Councillors and MP’s need to look beyond their boundaries and see the bigger picture.
September 23, 2013 at 8:41 AM
Under the Planning Law, the permit granted to the Monash University Development (originally called the Fusion Project) had a 10 year start time frame. The permit was granted in 2002, the project is still in the planning stage and therefore a new planning permit must applied for. A project this size needs to have community consultation – already Council is setting up to yet again deny the community any input.