PS: We’ve received notification that there is currently an online and hard copy petition doing the rounds of Glen Eira. The petition is basically asking that this council review the damage it has wrought via the zones and that full community consultation be included. We urge all readers to follow the links and to voice their opinions on the various sites. GE Debates fully supports any group that seeks better outcomes for the community.
Please click on – http://geresidents.wordpress.com/
There’s a new tactic being employed by real estate agents and their buddy developer friends throughout significant areas of Glen Eira and it’s all due to the new zones. So, thank you Newton, Akehurst, and councillors for unleashing this tsunami of inappropriate development into our quiet residential streets – all done of course in secret, and behind closed doors.
We urge all readers to note the following screen dumps carefully because they reveal exactly what is happening and the tactics that are now being employed.
- Instead of planning applications there are now ‘concept plans’ inviting developers to buy
- No planning permit exists for this site, according to council’s planning register. No application has even come in as yet.
- Height and density are the biggest selling points
- Note the idealistic glorified design – with so much green, green, open space around!
PPS: we just couldn’t resist this stunning offer to be ONE OF 83 UNITS in Elsternwick. Design of building is something else again – like the Mad Hatter’s tea party perhaps?
Glen Eira Debates 
October 4, 2014 at 12:35 PM
675 for 16 and if it goes for 4 stories then 24 at least. Take away a couple of metres for setbacks and the size of these places will be mainly 40 to 45 metres. That’s what i call fostering “community”
October 5, 2014 at 10:04 AM
The zoning on the Bent street property allows for four storey buildings. I don’t see any developer wanting to make some real money settling for a three storey building when he can go higher and cram more flats in. This will end up as a four storey place.
October 4, 2014 at 1:47 PM
OMG – the real estate agents are having a field day, each and every one of them is getting in on it.
So much for Council’s claims that the zone implementation has nothing to do with the rush of developments.
October 4, 2014 at 6:32 PM
Gonna be interesting to see what happens if the residents get 1000 signatures and I am betting they will. That will be more than Council got at its 2010 consultation which they continually use to justify not consulting the residents in 2013 on the Zones. No doubt Council’s spin doctors will come up with some nauseatingly fancy sidesteps.
Judging from this weekend’s real estate ads whats happened so far is just the tip of what is to come.
October 4, 2014 at 6:42 PM
At least the Glen Huntly Road image had the decency to give some idea of what it would be like for those people living right next door in a single storey place.
October 4, 2014 at 8:08 PM
Looks like Bent St is a green field site with not a neighbour to be seen!
Time for us to get very active and let Council and Councillors know that we will not stand for these zones being imposed upon us. Time for true community engagement. How will they cope with an activated community? That secret file on those who speak out against the administration will get pretty damn big….
Neither of these developments are appropriate and suitable to the environment in which they are proposed. The Glen Huntly one looks like it’d topple over in the next big winds. As per Anonymous (4), at least the image illustrates the scale in the context of the existing streetscape.
Time for all of us with large scale developments proposed in our areas to use sketch up to illustrate the potential devastation and removal of amenity!
October 5, 2014 at 5:00 PM
According to council I am supposed to be relatively safe because I live in minimal change. What a load of crap. Okay, I might not get 4 storey next to me but I will get multi unit development all along my street. There’s a huge block right next door to me so that could mean 20 two storey apartments. Three doors down a devloper bought that so it will go to. Across the road another place was sold and it will also be built up. There are only 12 houses in my street and this will triple the population and the dwellings. Nobody is safe and neither are my 80 year old trees once they start digging next door because council does not give a stuff about protecting anything. Sunlight will go and I bet I won’t be able to get out of my drive in the morning. It’s terrible already.
October 4, 2014 at 11:10 PM
Consistency and/or integrity is definitely not one of our councillors strong points. What was said 5 minutes ago on one application is quite often turned on its head in the next agenda item. We can only wonder if councillors actually have any ideas in their heads at all, or are simply mouthing what they have been instructed to say or what is politically expedient for the moment. Here’s a perfect example and it comes from a July 2011 council meeting where we reported Magee’s little speech as follows –
MAGEE: (on the surface looks okay but had) the opportunity to stand in the back yard of one of the houses (affected) ….what I was faced with was looking up….(and seeing in time) 3 storeys of concrete looking down over a back garden…Problem I have is in diversity areas it’s all well and true and fitting…..but over the back fence is minimal change….so really what we’re imposing on minimal change is a housing diversity area…..I don’t know where you draw the line….do we respect the minimal change or do we respect the housing diversity area? I don’t think we can do both….I couldn’t live to doing that to someone (neighbours)…..(he chose minimal change to live in so that there wouldn’t be tall building next to him)…and I think a lot of these people have done exactly the same and I think it’s unfair of us to do that….
That was three years ago. At the last council meeting Magee’s tune had changed dramatically. He has become Newton’s acolyte and champion of the new zones it appears!
It’s time that correct English was used in Glen Eira. As we’ve stated time and time again, people need to realise that:
1. There is NO BUFFER ZONE in Glen Eira between housing diversity and minimal change. All there is, if one happens to be in GRZ2, are increasing setbacks for second and third storeys.
2. These setbacks are not sufficient to eliminate overshadowing and loss of sunlight if you happen to live in a single storey house right next door or along the back fence.
3. If people live in minimal change and are unlucky enough to be alongside a commercial zone or a mixed use zone, then our sincere commiserations. There is absolutely no protection for you!
October 5, 2014 at 11:20 AM
If you’re going to grant a permit for 10 storeys then the Planning Scheme obliges you to consider what the impact will be if every development in the area is around 10 storeys. The Planning Scheme is however unenforceable. Strategic planning, even if it wasn’t compelled to consider the long-term consequences of granting permits for high-density development for every site in a precinct, should still do so. Granting permits for only 1- and 2-bedroom apartments represents a fundamental inconsistency with the Planning Scheme. I don’t know of a single councillor who is comfortable about explaining their decisions that so frequently contradict their policies. Current and past Mayors especially struggle.
October 5, 2014 at 12:03 PM
Finally, finally the penny is dropping and residents are realising what is going on all around them. That is a major positive and will drag plenty of people out of their lethargy. The community groups involved in the petition now need to direct their energies into making sure that there is some dramatic change and that equates to getting rid of every single councillor and most of the directors.
October 5, 2014 at 2:35 PM
When were the planing zones come into. force?
Who from the council represented. the
council. and sold. the residents who. have. been. paying
rates for ever and residents. vote for th ese tinpots.
Residents need to wake up to the destruction.
they are causing. A clear. Abuse for. what. they. are.
voted for. Hope they are cleaned out.
October 5, 2014 at 6:45 PM
Anyone, other than a developer or an overseas investor, considering purchasing a property in Glen Eira has rocks in their heads if they don’t buy a property on a street corner.
Regardless of the type of property (single residence in NRZ or apartment in the growth zones) it’s the only thing that will ensure you at least get two sides which cannot be overshadowed or overlooked. Such are the wonders of Council’s you beaut zones.
October 5, 2014 at 7:35 PM
Whoever wrote the advertising blurb for that Elsternwick joint is a straight up liar. Claiming that it is a short stroll to the beach not true. It is 2 klms from the beach. Talk about a country mile. It would take from 30 to 40 minutes to go for a quick swim. Nothing short about that.
October 5, 2014 at 7:40 PM
Opps. Looking at 214. Glenhuntly. Still not a short walk.
October 5, 2014 at 7:45 PM
The uproar that the zones have unleashed is not, as Council fervently hopes, a flash in the pan. Council’s continual adoption of the least successful problem resolution options, ie, ignore it it will go away, is not going to be as successful as it was with the delayed GESAC opening.
If this Council had any intention of living up to its claims of community participation in the decisions that impact them, or if any Councillor had any decency or nous, they would be organising a community consultation.
But no what do they do, they lump all the currently contentious developments into one Council Meeting (14/10/14). All will be approved in record time (seconds) and hours will be spent on something as earth shattering as requesting a report on belly button lint in Glen Eira.
October 5, 2014 at 8:59 PM
Yep, sure as hell Councillors have lost the plot.
October 6, 2014 at 7:59 PM
I hope lots of people complete the petition..thanks for publishing it!