Councillors have repeatedly stated that it is the State Government and the Minister who is responsible for the new zoning. This only reveals half of the story. Yes, amendments have to be signed off by the Minister and yes, councils have to abide by the Minister’s decision. However, it was up to councils to first determine
- Where the zones would go
- What the height limits would be for each zone
- What would be contained in each schedule
On all of these aspects, Glen Eira City Council has, in our view failed those residents living in GRZ, RGZ and Mixed Use Zones. These are the areas where Council did have the choice as to what went into their schedules and standards. Glen Eira chose to go for the least protection possible.
Please consider the following table which outlines exactly the scope provided to councils. Readers will note that in terms of height, there was the ability to impose a 9 metre limit in GRZ. Glen Eira opted for 10.5 across the board. Even in the RGZ council again had the option of selecting a lower height limit. They didn’t. The heights listed in this document are MAXIMUMS and were not set in stone. And as we’ve previously stated, height by itself is only one component of good planning. Council ignored all the other aspects that we’ve mentioned such as: site coverage; permeability; setbacks; minimum lot sizes, etc.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE AND PLEASE NOTE THE HIGHLIGHTED SECTIONS.
November 29, 2014 at 8:50 PM
Staikos and Labs look home. Time for them to live up to the promises of rejigging the zones and making sure people get a say.
November 30, 2014 at 9:48 AM
Nick and his government will be judged by this electorate based on what he does with the idiotic residential zones. Time to stop criticising; spend more time in Spring street.
November 30, 2014 at 1:18 PM
Somehow think Dan has way more important matters to deal with than residential zones. Not that they don’t warrant attention mind you.
November 30, 2014 at 9:19 PM
You must be some lunatic Labor worshipper. Elizabeth Miller supported development in East Bentleigh and Bentleigh. There is nothing wrong with it. Pilling and Magee,are in favour of residential zones.
December 1, 2014 at 11:40 AM
indeed she did, and look at the result
November 30, 2014 at 6:51 PM
I was happy to see Labor voted out 4 years ago, just as happy to see Lib/Nat voted out now. Neither has managed Planning competently. There is almost zero probability of Labor tackling the serious structural flaws in the planning system, and a “review” [which is all they promised] doesn’t necessarily mean improvement. Expect backsliding.
The Victorian Economy depends heavily on construction, and Labor will be lobbied heavily to be pro-development by people [including unions] whose jobs depend on construction. Migration will continue to generate demand for additional housing. Politicians and economists all fear stagnant growth. It is however high-risk, as the infrastructure required to maintain amenity is very unlikely to keep pace with the growth, as we’ve seen in Glen Eira.
I don’t think our Council has got the balance right with its zones, given the extraordinary freedom Council and VCAT have to ignore/reject/undermine amenity standards or anything else that might constrain development. It is simply unfair to impose on residents a lesser standard of amenity in the areas targetted for higher density development, made worse by so severely limiting development in NRZ that the size/mass/density now being sought in C1Z/RGZ/GRZ goes beyond what was previously tolerated.
I can understand people living in NRZ desperately wanting development kept away from them, and this in part is driven by Council and VCAT repeatedly compromising amenity standards. A starting point to reform the system is to be much more explicit about minimum amenity standards, and if they are still discretionary then require decision-makers to document every waiver along with their reasons why.
For too long we’ve had a Scheme that says “a standard should normally be met”, and a Council that believes standards should always be compromised when it involves C1Z/MUZ/RGZ/NRZ. The current Amenity Standards already represent a compromise. The pathetic reliance on the Guidelines for Higher Density Residential Development for buildings taller than 4 storeys desperately needs tightening.
VCAT’s Planning and Environment List needs to be reformed along with the rules they operate under. There is far too much freedom for them to set aside Council decisions in favour of developers. They are not accountable or responsible for the consequences, don’t have to consider the cumulative and long-term effects of their decisions, don’t have to pay to fix or ameliorate mistakes. Their decisions are highly political, and that is unacceptable for an unelected unrepresentative body that lacks even a basic quality control system.
Planning Schemes are riddled with “decision criteria” that provide no guidance. On top of that, in Glen Eira we have great chunks of the scheme that admits it needs “more strategic work”, with no evidence after 10+ years that progress has been made.
As our CEO has admitted, residents of Glen Eira subsidise developers. We subsidise their planning applications, and we subsidise the provision of infrastructure that underwrites their profits. This is crazy and manifestly unfair.
Council has already walked away from its policy about using open space contributions to provide open space where it is needed. It is now back to the system we had for the last 10 years, where almost all money was spent on maintaining existing open space, despite existing space being poorly distributed. Having pushed the price of land up where high density is encouraged [but oddly, not defined], Council has decided it can’t afford to meet the resulting open space needs. This is described as being “pragmatic”.
Just maybe in the wake of Tony Abbott’s “referendum on the East West link” we’ll see a reevaluation of the appropriate split between Federal funding for roads vs public transport.
November 30, 2014 at 8:10 PM
Well balanced summation. minus the hype of most other posters.