The best illustration of how woeful council’s planning scheme is, together with its recently completed ‘work plan’, comes from the following screen dumps of developments in East Bentleigh. These are significant since:
- East Bentleigh, plus another 9 suburbs, are classified as ‘neighbourhood centres’ and therefore lower down in the ‘hierarchy’ for development that council stipulates in its planning scheme.
- Yet, council saw fit to impose a 5 storey preferred height limit for Bentleigh (an ‘urban village’) when East Bentleigh is already undergoing major 6 storey developments.
- Since the introduction of the zones, developers have had a field day. Amended applications keep coming in to increase either heights or the number of apartments. The latest is for the Browns Road/Centre Road site where the developer wants a 5 storey permit changed to allow 6 storeys. Given the countless loopholes in the planning scheme, and other 6 storey buildings in the area, he will no doubt be successful.
- East Bentleigh is already seeing countless 5 storey permits being granted, as are other neighbourhood centres. Caulfield North already has a 6 storey permit and there is an application in for 8 storeys! If the workplan stays as it is, then residents in these areas can expect to wait at least another decade before council gets around to addressing the development pressures in its neighbourhood centres. Not good enough!
- Residents may wish to consider the possibility that this inaction is perhaps deliberate? Or is it due to a lack of money or expertise to do the necessary work? Why when other councils can produce amendments that cover all their shopping centres (ie Bayside, Boroondara) has Glen Eira decided to concentrate on only Bentleigh and Carnegie and in a stated time frame of 4 years?
- Neighbourhood centres cannot afford the luxury of being left behind
Glen Eira Debates 
December 9, 2016 at 9:49 AM
There’s no difference anymore between activity centres. All are ripe for plunder and developers know that.
December 9, 2016 at 1:45 PM
The one on Hawthorn road is seven stories I think.
December 9, 2016 at 6:25 PM
Disgrace
December 9, 2016 at 7:00 PM
Who do you think the Councillors are working for? residents or to support the political parties they belong to via their relevant MPs? It may be a worthwhile exercise to analyse how many developers are from overseas and how many are local. Then and only then one will see who the developers are – from overseas or Melbourne. As veteran Magee would say, to residents “Residents can get stuffed, they need to get used to the high rise developments in their streets – tough luck”
December 9, 2016 at 8:02 PM
The last 3 posts deal with legacy issues from previous Council and administration. Since then we had a new CEO from February and since October, 5 new Councillors were elected and we have a new Mayor with a new approach to Council work.
Mayor Cr Delahunty signalled her team’s new approach to Council work – “During my term as Mayor, I plan to work cohesively with my colleagues to make the City of Glen Eira an even better place to live. I will be placing particular emphasis on community engagement, strategic visioning, and strong advocacy.”
I understand that the process of engagement is being implemented in line with the IAP2 guideline http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/effective-engagement/developing-an-engagement-plan/a-model-for-engagement . The Transport Forum was conducted in this way http://haveyoursaygleneira.com.au/transport-advisory-committee-transport-forum . There were a few Advisory Committees to engage the community eg Sustainability, Transport etc. These have been disbanded to allow the new Council to decide on new Community Forums. This is an important part of engagement and residents and ratepayers should indicate what subjects should have Advisory Committees.
Community engagement and strategic visioning about shopping strips is underway. ‘Residents, workers and business owners are invited to share their thoughts about their local shops, as part of a major community survey across the City of Glen Eira’s 17 shopping strips. Between late November and mid-February, Glen Eira City Council will undertake community consultation to shape the vision and planning for local shopping strips.’ For details see http://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/yourshops .
Note in particular the February deadline for this wide ranging consultation. February is the time when Councillors and Directors generate a work plan and strategies at a weekend away. So, if any reader of this blog wants to influence Council work and strategies then you need to make a submission and lobby Councillors. Expressing views on this blog is unlikely to have much of an impact.
The legacy issues will take few years to go through. But, if I am correct to assume that a new planning approach is being implemented then I feel that GE Debates will have less problems and issues to harp upon as is the style of this blog.
December 10, 2016 at 12:19 PM
You have every right to be optimistic I, too are hoping that the divide and rule tactics of Lipshutz, Hyams and Newton are dead and gone.
But, rust never sleeps, and so long as Hyams and his old sidekick are there pouring acid onto the wheels of community harmony, the machine may grind to a halt.
But, here’s to hope in the coming new year, may be the wheel has turned, even small changes in Glen Eira will be big changes
And to be fair to this blog, it has been a beacon of light shinning into the dark recesses of secrecy and maladministration.