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COMMENT
Residents should be outraged at the processes involved with the development of this project. At last council meeting a public question was asked in relation to a Practice Day hearing held at VCAT on this application. The response was far from satisfactory. Be that as it may, plenty of questions need answering, and all have to do with due process and sound governance.
- When did council first receive this second stage Development Plan?
- Who made the decision to ‘refuse’ and why wasn’t this done via a formal council resolution given the magnitude of the plans and the contentious nature of the entire project?
- What was the purpose of the Practice Day hearing and what were the grounds for someone’s (not Council’s) refusal? What is the outcome of this hearing?
- If decisions by VCAT are already pending as potentially indicated by the response to the public question, what is the use of calling for submissions after the fact?
- Time for submissions is 16 days. Whilst this does meet the conditions set by the relevant Schedule it is far from satisfactory, given that council also had the option of 28 days – ie “Display the development plan for public comment for at least 14 days, but no longer than 28 days”
- And how does the VCAT involvement meet this stated requirement from the Schedule – “The responsible authority must decide whether to approve a development plan or amendment to a development plan within 60 days after the display of the development plan is completed.”
In short, we maintain that every single aspect of planning for this site, has been abysmal with council and especially Hyams, Lipshutz, Esakoff and Pilling, falling over backwards to accommodate the MRC!
PS: the link to view the plans is – http://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/Planning-and-business/Planning/Large-scale-developments/Caulfield-Village-Development-Plans/Development-Plan-2
Glen Eira Debates 
June 21, 2016 at 10:55 AM
FYI – we’ve had a very, very quick scan of some of the documents. The number of proposed dwellings (surprise! surprise!) has now shot up from 2046 in the original plan to 2,170! That we are certain is not the end of the storey (pun intended!)
June 21, 2016 at 6:48 PM
That’s not the end of the story but the time they convert most of three bdr apts and a lot of the 2 bdr apts into 1 bdrs and add on an extra floor (because GE’s incompetent planning department didn’t define AHD height limits) it’ll be hitting the 2,500 mark.
But that’s ok cause they will all use public transport and be quite happy with the work Council has done to beautify Redan Street as they walk up to Caulfield Park (because the MRC won’t let them the public park across the street, ie. the Racecourse).
June 21, 2016 at 4:26 PM
The incorporated plan is a joke. What’s up now is so different that the whole schedule should be rewritten and the application thrown out completely.