Councillors of course voted in the latest version of the Urban or ‘Quality Design’ Guidelines at the recent council meeting. See Item 9.5 from the agenda.

But, if you blink you will miss the really important stuff in this item.

One little sentence buried on page 7 of an 8 page report tells the story of this council’s failure  to practice full and open disclosure.  The sentence we refer to is:

The commercial setback above the podium was reduced from 6 metres to 5 metres, which is in line with a number of submissions received

Really? A ‘number of submissions’? – Obviously not too many because council itself admits:

Between 30 October and 11 December 2017, Council sought community feedback on the draft Quality Design Guidelines. Over this 6 weeks period, 38 submissions were received (20 online and 18 in paper), along with 3 surveys and 14 Facebook comments.

Sadly, these comments have not been published by council. Nor do we have any explanation in this Mullin report as to why it was decided that Glen Eira residents will be better off when there is a reduction in setbacks? It couldn’t possibly be, could it, that with smaller setbacks, the developer can cram in more apartments?

And are we really to believe that even if every single one of these 38 citizens demanded a REDUCTION in setbacks that council was prepared to accede to this demand and completely ignore the hundreds upon hundreds of residents who opposed 8 and 12 and even 4 storeys to begin with?

What is also disconcerting is that the October version of the Quality Design Guidelines has now disappeared from council’s website – making it even harder for residents to compare the ‘before and after changes’. Surely a ‘fact sheet’ that provides a clear cut and honest summary of ALL CHANGES is required and not just the spin and deception that council continually practices.

There are many changes in these documents. We simply highlight a few –

BEFORE

AFTER

AND FOR SHOP TOP (STANDARD) BEFORE

AND AFTER

There are many, many more points of comparison that readers should be looking out for – and not only in terms of setbacks, but also open space, etc.

This has now passed council. Again without giving residents the opportunity to comment or have any input.