The draft Neighbourhood Character Assessment Volume1 tells us that the criteria for deciding which sites are ‘suitable’ for 3 or more dwellings and hence their zoning or schedules will be changed, is based on these sites being:
- Within 200 metres of a tram stop
- Within 400 metres of a train station
- Within 800 metres of an activity centre
- In an area with a decent number of sites over 600 square metres
- Not strata titled
- Not affected by precinct heritage or Neighbourhood Character Overlays (page 14 of this document)
Of course, no mention is made of Special Building Overlays (SBO) (flood management) which according to the Planning Practice Notes, should exclude areas from inclusion in activity centres and their surrounds.
Here is part of the existing/current SBO which covers the area around Patterson Road in Bentleigh.
We have decided to concentrate on this area since it basically fails to meet more than half of the above stated criteria for rezoning or altering the existing schedules. There is no tram stop. Many of the streets primed for greater site coverage, etc. are certainly further than 400 metres from a train station. But most importantly, the majority of sites earmarked for change are not even close to being ‘over 600 square metres’. So what on earth is this planning department doing? What is their real criteria for selecting properties for change? How justified are these proposed changes? Or is it simply a bunch of bureaucrats sitting at a computer and drawing stupid lines on a map? There is absolutely no justification for what is being proposed!
Please look at the following carefully. According to council’s map of proposed changes, several areas along Patterson Road will change from 2 storeys to 3 storeys (marked in red). Those areas highlighted in green will become NRZ2 and hence have increased site coverage, reduced permeability requirements, and reduced rear setbacks. Here is part of this map.
When we investigate even further, we find that the vast majority of these sites are not a minimum of 600 square metres and many are sitting in the SBO overlays.
This is pathetic planning with no strategic justification whatsoever – and this is occurring in countless places throughout the municipality. Adherence to the stated criteria is frequently non-existent and so is this council’s transparency.
Your attendance is required next Wednesday (2nd November) in order to tell this council exactly what you think of their planning!
PS: HERE’S ANOTHER EXAMPLE FROM THIS AREA – UONGA ROAD
Glen Eira Debates 
October 25, 2022 at 1:26 PM
Consultants are hired guns for council crap. They do what they’re told and paid very well no doubt.
How do I get the measurements that you guys have used here? I want to check out my street which is also supposed to become nrz2.
October 25, 2022 at 1:29 PM
All of this and plenty of other info is freely available. You will find it at this link – https://mapshare.vic.gov.au/MapshareVic/
You can search for zones, for individual planning reports, and other stuff too. Hope this helps and let us know what you find.
October 25, 2022 at 4:47 PM
Incompetence? Definitely! There’s more though than mere incompetence. It’s the failure and inability to do the requisite leg work first. On top of this we’ve got a planning department scrambling to do the government’s bidding and to catch up with 20 years of non-planning. The poor buggers are under pressure so anything will do. That problem comes down to McKenzie and the staff she hires and the priorities that are set. If all you’re interested in is getting stuff done, regardless of how poorly it’s done, then this describes council’s planning department. Anyway, who in the planning department cares if thousands upon thousands of new dwellings are built when they’re not needed?
The drawbacks are that hundreds of thousands of dollars in ratepayer money is wasted on consultants who are prepared to do the bosses’ bidding. They probably are used to selling their souls and integrity and councils are manna from heaven.
October 25, 2022 at 7:42 PM
I find the entire process that has been undergone for the housing strategy as questionable and dishonest. I use that word intentionally. From the first round of consultation residents were not provided with the most relevant information to inform their responses. Questions were not sufficiently targetted. The various forums weren’t there to gather resident views. Their purpose was to offer limited “explanations” and nothing more. The sudden change in council policy about releasing community feedback is astonishing and the excuses lack credibility. The draft housing strategy itself is confusing and by any definition lacks evidence based data. The character assessments are nothing short of outrageous. Issues regarding zoning, open space, schedules, traffic, are left in abeyance with the assertion that “planning controls” will come some time in the future. To believe council takes a gigantic leap of faith that anything will eventuate in the next decade. We are still waiting for planning controls for the majority of our neighbourhood centres and that’s nearly a decade on.
I do not trust this planning department. Nor do I trust councillors who believe their role is to support the planning department rather than implement as best they can the expressed wishes of the community.
A previous post highlighted how other councils go about their strategic work on housing strategies. It’s incredible that these councils found that not only did they have sufficient capacity to cater for the expected population growth, but even with this growth, their zones and accompanying schedules did not require changing. Glen Eira council has admitted that roughly 20% of current sites will change. That is unacceptable based on the documentation published.
October 26, 2022 at 3:49 PM
Is it’s “The Brown Paper Bag Syndrome” happening here.
October 28, 2022 at 5:31 PM
The whole process disgusts me. Council still hasn’t responded to my feedback. There is negligible accountability; the strategy has been prepared by people with hidden agendas; there’s been a total failure of record-keeping so nobody knows who contributed what and why to the strategy; our inept Councillors have failed to ensure minutes of meetings are kept and published; even the alleged criteria for selecting sites suitable for 3 dwellings is utterly bogus. The zone-based system is unfit for purpose as Council has just unwittingly admitted. If you’re going to pack people in densely then make sure there is public open space within safe convenient walking distance. We have had zero progress on cycle paths. We have the ridiculous Andrews government policy of encouraging people to park on streets rather than off-street, especially in areas of high parking demand. It’s Principal Public Transparent Network paints properties green that aren’t within 500m of public transport. Even “fairness”, allegedly an objective of planning in Victoria, is meaningless to our councillors. They lied to residents in Elsternwick to justify the outcome they wanted and were called out by VCAT for their lie. Surely there should be consequences for the councillors who bullied and intimidated residents into accepting a lousy outcome. Will a councillor have the courage to ask officers if their report addresses all concerns raised? Bother to ask what concerns haven’t been addressed? Seek a guarantee that shadow diagrams are accurate? We know the majority of councillors are aligned with political parties, and that taints their support or opposition to this and every other proposal. Even having set my expectations very low, Council has managed to underperform them, repeatedly demonstrating just how little democracy there is in how we are governed.
October 30, 2022 at 12:15 PM
Could not have said it any better myself.