Council in its wisdom has decided to spend a small fortune on converting HALF a tiny street in Caulfield North into a ‘park’ that is a stone’s throw from Caulfield Park. They are also spending another small fortune in converting the concrete at the front of Carnegie Library into less concrete. Yet when opportunity after opportunity arises for some major acquisitions that could add to the deficit of open space in Glen Eira, there is no action whatsoever, no planning, and no overall public benefit. For starters, there was the Alma Club land; next there was 487 Neerim Road, and now there is 46 Regent Street, Elsternwick. All available for purchase, and in the case of the Alma club an absolute bargain at $3m compared to the $8m it was sold for and the development of 79 units in a neighbourhood residential zone. Now we’ve got Regent Street.
Readers with long memories should remember the outcry over the proposed school application for the site in 2011. With a packed gallery and much acrimony, the application was rejected unanimously by councillors and the threat of a VCAT appeal did not eventuate. See: https://gleneira.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/regent-st-protest/
The Regent Street site has been razed, moonscaped, and left vacant for years. A submission to the Open Space Strategy and a Change.org online petition pleaded with council to purchase this land in an area identified as lacking open space. Of course, nothing was done and the pleas fell on deaf ears. Now the property is up for sale. And it is not just any property – it is a massive 3,000 square metres! Big enough to provide a real park, in an area crying out for more open space.
Given the size of the area, we are in no doubt that residents can expect scores and scores of new apartments on the site – all exiting via the narrow confines of Regent Street itself. Another opportunity is thus about to be lost and council can continue to squander ratepayers’ hard earned cash on cosmetic changes to already existing open space instead of INCREASING open space that is worthy of that name! We assert that by the time the Open Space Strategy is reviewed in another 15 years the overall open space per individual in Glen Eira will be REDUCED as a result of population growth and more than 60% of the funds raised by the levy will have been squandered on more concrete, more pavilions, and more useless ‘parks’ such as the one in Eskdale/Fitzgibbon. That is open space planning in Glen Eira!
Glen Eira Debates 
July 10, 2015 at 11:01 AM
Another opportunity gone begging. Frogmore could have been a beautiful place to visit with a small coffee shop. I see no commitment form either Glen Eira Council nor the developers to add to our open green spaces. However, I see many, many apartments being built in inappropriate places adding to traffic congestion and the demise of residents living nearby.
July 10, 2015 at 12:16 PM
Yep, even though zoned NRZ, it ain’t gonna be limited to 2 residences or 2 storeys. And given the Alma Club re-zoning (it became a pocket of GRZ in a sea of NRZ) demonstrated a clear intention to increase density in terms of dwelling numbers and heights for large lots – gonna be interesting to see what gets built here.
As for the open space issue – Glen Eira Council is still concentrating on pavillions and concrete paths and plinths rather than acquiring new parkland. Pissy little 500 sqm pockets of closed roads that are extremely expensive to convert and maintain do nothing to alleviate Glen Eira’s chronic shortage of open space.
July 10, 2015 at 12:15 PM
Broken promises the norm for this lot. Levies were to be used for the purchase of new open space. Promise after promise only to be chucked out at the last minute giving Newton all the dough he wants to build his concrete monoliths that are called “improvements” and are always over budget. Then there’s a few hundred trees that go plus more concrete and car parks.
July 10, 2015 at 1:56 PM
these little pieces of open space gained by shutting down streets will make little difference in our shortfall in OS. The recent open space strategy was a con, in the lifetime of the strategy some 12 plus years, Glen Eira will have less open space than we have now, and this strategy was meant to redress this shortfall issue. (MODERATORS: sentence deleted)
July 10, 2015 at 2:17 PM
Remember the hoopla and fan fare that accompanied the announcement that Glen Eira would reserve all developer paid open space levies for the acquisition of new open space – featured in the Leader and the Glen Eira News. Council ended up with $2m in the kitty for acquisition of new parkland.
Well, with no accompanying fan fare, Council axed that on the basis that the rules governing the open space levy didn’t allow Council to hold ALL the open space contribution levy for the acquisition of new parkland. Strangely, no Councillor questioned
. why this wasn’t mentioned in the decision to “reserve” was made or
. why these rules only applied to Glen Eira and not to other Councils who hold all open space contributions in reserve.
. why the 1998 Open Space Levy decision to hold 50% in reserve for acquisition and use 50% for existing parkland maintenance (a decision never complied with – aside from $2m, the rest went on maintenance) couldn’t be applied.
So as a result of CEO letting Councillor’s get publicity for the “reserve” decision, he waits 6 months then gets the unquestioning Councillor’s to reverse that decision. And also got to splurge the $2m held on reserve on more concrete.
July 10, 2015 at 2:39 PM
Council are experts into turning green open space into car parks. Bailey Reserve and Gesac and now Centenary park and pavilion and Duncan Mckinnon which has blown out to over 10 million. No wonder they can’t afford a couple of million to buy any new land.
July 10, 2015 at 3:27 PM
heck why have parks when ya can have more rubbish units that bring in more rates
July 12, 2015 at 9:48 AM
Whiteside, the ex-real estate agent who as a councillor voted countless time to sell of councils assets and land in the city with the least open space of anywhere.
Did Whiteside, as a Councillor and Mayor, ever stand up and give a report on the racecourse with all her depth knowledge, not ever.
So here she is, ten years later speaking up with all her newly found in-depth insider knowledge.
I thought it was April Fools Day revisited, until I looked at the calendar.
Whiteside you had nothing to offer us as a Councillor, Mayor or Trustee
Silence and flogging off our ratepayer assets was your game
Just go away, and leave us in peace