Over the past 4 weeks we have received numerous emails from residents complaining that they know nothing about the proposed rezoning of Virginia Estate and where they can find information. This is a damning indictment of council’s failure to not only live up to its charter and Community Plan in ‘ensuring’ community input into development, but we would go further and allege that this is all part of the culture of this council – ie the less people know what is going on, then the better from the point of view of ramming things through. God forbid, there should be extensive community involvement!
Council has spent tens upon tens of thousands of dollars upgrading its website. We challenge anyone to find any ‘useful’, coherent information on the plans for Virginia Estate. It’s not listed under ‘Major Projects’ (in fact, nothing is at the time of writing). Under ‘Public Notices’ one would have to know which amendment number refers to the Virginia Estate proposal. In other words, users have to click on every single amendment listed. Not only is this woeful website design that a 4 year old could do better, but it makes things as difficult and time consuming as possible for people.
Once found as Amendment C135 residents are overjoyed to find the following ‘explanation’
(The Amendment proposes to rezone part of the land to Commercial 1 to enable an integrated mixed use development over the entire site and amends Schedule 2 to the Development Plan Overlay (DPO2) to enable a broader mix of uses across the site)
Accurate? Of course! Informative? Never! How many residents really know what Schedule 2 is and means? How many know what the ramifications of rezoning to C1Z means? And as for Development Plan Overlay, that belongs in the stratosphere 0f total incomprehension for most people. There is absolutely no excuse why Council can place ad after ad in the Leader for GESAC, (at what cost?) and only one notice about Virginia Estate which would be the largest single development in the municipality’s history. Don’t people deserve to know what is really going on and what it could potentially mean?
Compare this with Bayside and the documentation that accompanies their proposals – ie actual documents online; ‘have your say’ available, and most importantly, a PLAIN ENGLISH EXPLANATION of what is proposed AND WHY! http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/living_in_bayside/amendment_C139_bayside_drainage_development_contributions_plan.htm
The same can be said for Boroondara and countless others – http://boroondara.vic.gov.au/your_council/building-planning/strategic-planning/amendments/amendment-c178-introducing-permanent-heritage-overlays
Even typing the word ‘amendment’ into council’s search engine brings up a page of gobbledygook – ie a list of amendments. Click on any one, and all that comes up is the ‘public notice’ published in the Leader. Informative? Conducive to resident involvement? No way!
We are now living in the age of social media. Glen Eira Council still belongs in the dark ages. We also believe that the substandard website is nothing more than the physical manifestation of this culture which is determined to carry on business as if residents don’t matter, shouldn’t know, and definitely not be given the best chance of becoming involved and voicing their opinion(s). Yes, council adheres to the legislation – at the literal and minimal level. It will not go one step further in ensuring that people know exactly what is going on.
How much more incompetence, sub-standard performance, and anti-community behaviour, will this set of 9 councillors allow? When will they exert their legal muscle and say ‘enough is enough’?
We urge as many residents as possible to attend Monday night and for once, let us hear the community – loud and clear!
Glen Eira Debates 
June 18, 2015 at 4:51 PM
Thank you. You’ve put my thoughts into words. Communication and engagement is non existent as far as I’m concerned. Money is not spent where it should be spent. If it is spent then the results are poor like the website. Whoever is the webmaster needs to go back and do a course on how to design and maintain it.
June 18, 2015 at 6:47 PM
FYI – FROM NICK STAIKOS’ FACEBOOK PAGE
Declan Martin Our council is quite incompetent. No consultation with residents for example. i attended the info session a few weeks back but barely anyone was there, due to lack of knowledge for residents. Even this was the first i heard of the conference! as per usual, the destruction of bentleigh is being stowed away from the people who reside here. (Not even any information within today’s’ Moorabbin leader!) Furthermore, there is inadequate public transport near the site, It does not lie in valkstone/mckinnon zones, so no walkable schools for kids, a park that will soon have no room, and a few sports clubs that are bursting at the seams! Just imagine how crowded the area will be once / if this radical over-development begins! It must stop now, so i trust Richard Wynne will not rezone the land. Will you be attending, Nick Staikos MP
Oscar Lobo Dear Mr Martin,
I am not sure how you define the words competency and incompetency and if you do not wish to define then it is your prerogative not to do so.
By way of infornation, I was invited twice by the Gillion group to attend their forum on Virginia Park change of zones. Do you really believe that as your Councillor (whether you have or have not put me in the Council) that I should attend the meeting intended for residents?
I take my responsibility of representing the residents seriously, and threfore, I thought it would be prudent to abstain from such meetings to not only give mixed messages but above all keep an open mind.
The erstwhile state government’s overzealousness to accommodate 7.7 million people in Victoria without proper planning is similar to putting the cart before the bull.
I will be attending the Planning Conference called for by Council down for 22 June 2015 at 6.30 pm, and if you are there, please do not hesitate to approach me for a chat and I would be obliged.
June 18, 2015 at 7:05 PM
Of course you should attend meetings run by developers and geared towards residents Oscar. That’s your job! To separate the crap from the truth. Maybe then you would have seen that Gillon had filled out the official forms and asked people to sign on the dotted line – after the sales pitch naturally.
Pardon me for sniggering but is your mind equally open to the crap when you get the officers’ versions? Or has Newton scared you off with winky-pop? By the way – have you and colleagues bothered to have a good read of all the documents and asked scores of questions as a result or left it all to Rocky boy and his bosses?
June 18, 2015 at 7:28 PM
Who will be chairing this conference?
June 18, 2015 at 10:57 PM
Don’t know and it does not matter.Each and every councillor is cued on what to say, how to say it, and to keep the rabble under control whilst getting the development through. When all else fails he/she can always close the meeting like Lipshutz and not allow more questions. Any other councillor that shows up will sit there like a dummy and wont ask one single question of the developer. That’s called having an open mind.
June 20, 2015 at 9:17 AM
PIlling’s performance at the C60 Development Plan Planning Conference was even worse than Lipshutz.
Amid much outcry, he simply said it was over and left.
June 20, 2015 at 7:40 PM
Does it really matter?
All you can say, based on past Adminstration appointment to the chair of planning conferences is that it won’t be a Tucker Ward Councillor.
All you can say, based on how all Councillors see their role when Chairing a planning conference, is that they are not there to actually listen or fulfill their obligations to represent residents. Rather they are there as facilitators whose primary purpose is to protect the attending planning officer (whose knowledge of the proposal and the Glen Eira Planning Scheme will be substandard) and the developer (who has already be guaranteed a free pass to go, without passing jail).
June 20, 2015 at 8:44 PM
You forgot to mention Page 8, Section 3 of the Administration’s Handbook to Councillors
. Clause 3 – The 6 to 3 rule (a.k.a. How to protect the Ward Councillor’s by making them appear supportive of residents while pursuing the pre-determined decision) – “Give the ward Councillor’s scope to argument against the amendment – allow them to appear supportive of residents, Then outvote them”.
Been there, heard it a gazillion times and has a well proven track record.
June 19, 2015 at 7:30 AM
Council has a long history of providing limited and unintelligible info to residents on major issues – it fits in neatly with Council’s prevailing attitude of development at all costs and “if it worked in the past, use it again in the future”.
I believe it’s because Council wants to avoid public scrutiny. The more info provided, the greater public awareness and interest in its decision making. And that’s something to be avoided like the plague because Council’s decision making processes and antics are crap. Done deals supported by flawed reasoning and Administration decisions rubber stamped by disinterested Councillors is best kept away from public view.
Seen it with the Caulfield Village Development, the Alma Club development, Zone Implementation and in just about all smaller developments through out Glen Eira. Even the little conservatory in Caulfield Park wasn’t immune. The most recent and blatant example being the preservation of Frogmore House.
Council’s isn’t improving, it’s getting worse.
June 19, 2015 at 11:47 AM
If council spent a fraction of the money it spends on self promotion and instead used that money to educate people about planning and other things then I think we would have a decent council and developers would get the idea that they can’t get away with everything. We don’t have this and that is the way the big boys want it. They want to keep people ignorant and silent.
June 19, 2015 at 3:22 PM
I was one of the residents invited to a drop-in information session by the Gillon Group and yet my neigbour over the road did not get invited nor did other residents and interested parties? How did they decide who was to be informed? Very few residents are aware of the plans or the meeting opportunity to express their concerns. This is a major concern.
June 19, 2015 at 5:12 PM
notice that glasshouse application by the MRC has been refused. Anyone know anything https://epathway-web.gleneira.vic.gov.au/ePathway/Production/Web/GeneralEnquiry/EnquiryDetailView.aspx?Id=502267
June 19, 2015 at 5:33 PM
Just like Glen Eira, eh?
Labor Secures Planning Promise In Williamstown
Friday 19 June 2015
The Andrews Labor Government has delivered its election commitment to ensure redevelopment in Williamstown enhances the area while respecting the suburb’s history and character.
Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne, has approved a planning scheme amendment for a part of Williamstown set for redevelopment which reflects recommendations from an advisory report.
Developers and the Williamstown community endured years of uncertainty after the former Liberal Planning Minister, Matthew Guy, failed to accept the Port Phillip Woollen Mills Advisory Committee Report.
The advisory committee had worked with the community, residents, landowners and local government, assessing 146 submissions into how the land be best used.
Williamstown residents were left disappointed when their concerns about height, heritage and infrastructure were ignored by the previous Liberal Government, who favoured a high-rise development grossly out of scale for the area.
Member for Williamstown, Wade Noonan, has worked with residents and the Mr Wynne to ensure the advisory committee’s report informs long-term planning for the area.
The planning scheme amendment supports community views and ensures 60 per cent of the site yet to be developed complies with the Committee’s recommendations, by applying mandatory height controls ranging from 10 to 25 metres, introducing a development contributions plan overlay for new local infrastructure and requiring a coastal hazard vulnerability assessment.
The amendment is now in effect and has been published in the Victorian Government Gazette.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne
“Williamstown locals have been campaigning against the development of a series of high rise properties on this site. This is about listening to the community and ensuring healthy, vibrant and sustainable neighbourhoods.”
“The Andrews Labor Government encourages smart growth and development which enhances our suburbs, rather than destroying their character.”
Quotes attributable to Member for Williamstown, Wade Noonan
“In opposition we pledged our commitment to the people of Williamstown’s right to have their say on how their suburb is developed and we have delivered on that promise.”
“Finally, the people of Williamstown have certainty and it’s thanks to their efforts, along with Hobsons Bay City Council, who have advocated for the good of their neighbourhoods.”
“This is a victory for common sense.”
June 19, 2015 at 6:38 PM
Does Matthew guy expect to be a Premier?
June 20, 2015 at 9:47 AM
Frogmore update – Bight lights, lots of banging and trucks departing during most of last night.
Thank you Council, in particular CEO Newton, Director of Planning Torres and Crs. Hyams, Lipshutz and Pilling.
Methinks you have seriously misjudged the community – your duplicity and complicity in this appalling loss is not something residents will “get over” by the time the next election comes around.
June 20, 2015 at 4:08 PM
They care a rats for your threats.