PS: Council has sent out letters and flyers to businesses and residences in the area. Letter dated 2nd September. The outstanding characteristic of these missives is the indecent haste that is now about to take place. For example, we are told:
1.Amendment will be ‘available’ from Thursday 5th September to Wednesday 9th October
2. Planning conference held at KINGSTON CITY HALL FUNCTION ROOMS on Thursday 10th October from 6.30 to 8.30 ‘to provide an opportunity for Councillors to hear those who have made formal submissions”.
3. Amendment to go to council meeting 23rd October
4. Directions Hearing 31st October
5. Panel hearing Monday 2nd December to Friday 13th December.
To the best of our knowledge, no other council’s planning scheme amendments have been pushed through at this rapid rate (ie it often takes months before planning panel hearings are set down). December is not an ideal time for residents either with school holidays, etc. How deliberate is this we have to ask?
Today’s Caulfield Leader features council’s advertisement for its East Village amendment (see below). Residents should note:
- The lack of mention of any heights in the announcement
- The similarity to the originally released documentation (ie ostensibly identical to first ‘vision’)
- The fact that the Inkerman Road debacle will have a 6 week further consultation period but this, the biggest development in Glen Eira’s history, will have only 5 week ‘consultation’ period.
- The insistence on a Comprehensive Development Plan (aka Caulfield Village) which means no third party objection rights once applications start coming in.
- Nothing up on council’s website at the time of writing
- Placing an advertisement in the Leader meant that this was ‘booked’ earlier on. Why wasn’t this included in the agenda for tonight’s meeting?
- The VPA website includes a statement that the ‘amendment’ was handed over to council in October 2018. Hence, has council been sitting on this for nearly a year?
- We will comment far more comprehensively once the various documents become available. However, we warn that this has all the makings of another Caulfield Village where the originally proposed development numbers of 1100 have now become closer to 2500!
CLICK TO ENLARGE
Glen Eira Debates 
September 3, 2019 at 9:53 AM
3000 will become 4000 at least. Terrific for traffic, and open space. Good job council. You are destroying our suburbs
September 3, 2019 at 8:15 PM
In short TfT..
September 3, 2019 at 10:56 AM
Since the amendment is being advertised, I wonder if the Minister refused to exercise his S20(4) power. Did an unnamed officer from Council ask? That’s all it took for several previous amendments to be foisted upon on with no scrutiny. Caulfield Village failed to comply with residential amenity standards, and the Incorporated Plans and Development Plans didn’t comply with the recommendations contained in the Planning Panel report, and the subsequent development, having gained considerable concessions on the basis of providing social housing, then refused to deliver the social housing.
September 3, 2019 at 11:35 AM
It will be very interesting to see how many changes have been made since the first publication of the plans. I doubt there will be any of significance. If this is the case then it speaks loudly and clearly about how much council is willing to listen to residents’ views and what a farce the reference groups are.
If the Caulfield Village development teaches anything, then it is that this council is willing to roll over and grant the developers everything they want. I don’t see why this won’t happen with East Village.
September 3, 2019 at 2:58 PM
Why the hell is this in Kingston. What’s wrong with all the bloody pavilions in Glen Eira? Why pay Kingston to hire out the room?
September 3, 2019 at 5:57 PM
Good questions, seems a very strange action for GE to take.
September 3, 2019 at 5:08 PM
The areas around North and East Boundary are I’d guess about 20% of the overall site area. That would make it nearly 5 hectares and council is willing to take only 5.7% for this area as the levy. Not good enough. The whole 24 hectares should be one set percentage as most other properties are assessed. Stop lining the pockets of developers!
September 3, 2019 at 6:10 PM
Wonder if this group of robbers will be allowed to:-
1. Build whatever they want
2. Rob the community of trees which were on the street and footpaths
3 Rob of us/commuters of many street car parking spaces.
4 Carve up the road in the same manner as Station Street… It has now become a narrow line ridden road of only two narrow lanes. It is rather like driving through the eye of a needle now.
5 Did the planners have to pay for the large area seized on the south side of Station Street or was it just grabbed?
6 Did the developers ,MRC and Probuild pay for grabbing Smith Street and for blocking Bond Street. None of this adds up to me(a simple person) as to how everything would flow better with about 10,000 more residents in Village along with shoppers, café patrons after this Great Road Robbery.
Maybe the Eastern developers will take lessons from Caulfield Village Developers and we’ll see available surface area of North and East Boundary Roads robbed too despite greater number of road users. Will they need to pay?
6 As an elderly resident there is now nowhere for drop off especially with all railway work but yet the developers have been given acres of public of land.
September 3, 2019 at 10:04 PM
There site flood plan was a PR con, and councillors fell for it
September 4, 2019 at 8:26 PM
Speaking of the flood plan ELWOOD WILL HEAR ALL ABOUT IT.