Glen Eira Debates

Glen Eira Council has sat on its backside for the past 13 years and basically reneged on all its promises. Two years in and the impacts of the zones are obvious to everyone – especially those residents living in the ‘sacrificial’ suburbs where there is inadequate protection, no design guidelines, no preferred character statements, no structure planning, no parking precinct plans. And yet Council and its sycophantic coucillors will not do a thing to correct one iota of its countless errors and slipshod strategic planning.

We have pointed out time and time again how other councils are rushing through amendment after amendment in order to redress their zones and the mistakes they now identify. Glen Eira is waiting until high tide when every suburb is thrashed and it is too late to do anything!

Even Greater Dandenong, which was the second council to rush through its zones in November 2013, is starting to see the error of its ways. It is now advertising and seeking community input on a new amendment which will substantially change much of the zoning that was introduced in 2013.

Below we feature extracts taken from the officer’s report (minutes of June 25^th 2015) and a screen dump of the suggested changes. Please take careful note of these changes and the additional research undertaken. In Glen Eira the Housing Strategy (circa 1998) belongs in the dustbin of history as does most of the current planning scheme for its inconsistencies, its irrelevance and its lack of detail and concerted effort to protect neighbourhoods. We’ve bolded certain sections for greater emphases and ask residents to compare these statements to what has come out of Glen Eira.

The new residential zones were applied with the understanding that the Residential Growth Zone (RGZ) near the major shopping centres of Dandenong, Springvale and Noble Park would be reviewed to achieve preferred design outcomes for particular areas, better manage growth and continue to balance the needs of the community and landowners.

However it was identified that further policy, planning controls and research work was required in the Residential Growth Zone / Substantial Change Area to clarify the preferred urban landscape in these areas. This will increase certainty for local residents and the development community and improve built form outcomes. Planning consultants, Planisphere, were engaged and commenced this work, including comprehensive community consultation through the Greater Dandenong Residential Planning Policy and Controls Project

In particular, the Project:

Examined the new residential zones and accompanying schedules and the opportunity they present to give clear direction to Council’s housing objectives; and Aimed to improve the quality and amenity of new housing development by strengthening the urban design policies in Council’s Residential Development and Neighbourhood Character Policy (Clause 22.09); and Where appropriate, recommended additional variations to the ResCode standards and building height controls.

The review of the current planning provisions found that not only are the areas designated for ‘substantial’ change expansive, but the purposes of the new residential zones imply a degree of change for that area exceeds the built form outcomes anticipated in the Municipal Strategic Statement and the Residential Development and Neighbourhood Character Policy. These findings led to the preparation of a refined Residential Framework, a revision of the Substantial Change Areas boundaries, improved design principles in the local policy, additional variations to the ResCode standards and the specification of building height controls for different residential areas.

Planning Scheme Amendment C182 proposes to:

Amend the existing Schedules to the Residential Zones and introduce a new Schedule 3 to the Residential Growth Zone;

The amendment seeks to rezone identified areas in Dandenong and Noble Park from Residential Growth Zone to General Residential Zone to reflect the revised Residential Framework and achieve a transition in built form while ensuring that the identified valued neighbourhood character and amenity of established residential areas is protected.

Direct notification of the proposed changes will be provided to all owners and occupiers of land within the current Residential Growth Zone and land proposed to be rezoned (approximately 9,000 letters). In addition to the minimum notifications prescribed by the Act, the above notifications will be accompanied by an explanatory brochure that will provide a summary of the proposed changes for the community

As this is a complex planning scheme amendment, a range of materials will be provided to help explain the proposed changes to the community:

Four Information Drop-In Sessions will be held in Dandenong, Noble Park and Springvale during the exhibition period to provide residents with an opportunity to talk directly with planning officers and ask questions about the proposed changes;

Notice on Council’s website will include an interactive map where residents will be able to check if their street is affected by the proposed changes

The above images come from Monash City council’s report on several proposed amendments to their residential zones. Glen Eira Council of course only engages in widespread ‘consultation’ when it needs to spread its propaganda and undertake some costly damage control (the 11 cents flyer) or when it wants to get its way with removing the Caulfield Park conservatory. These are the only times in recent memory that every resident received anything from council on proposals or envisaged changes to policy.

We highlight this as a reminder of what CAN BE DONE when there is a genuine commitment from a council to inform, engage, and listen to residents. None of this happens in Glen Eira. We have repeated ad nauseum that the zones were introduced by stealth, without any consultation, and with the outrageous justification that had council consulted, then the ‘results’ would have been worse. Appalling and unforgiveable. Lest we forget!

Please click on the link to view last night’s Channel 7 story. The image is an artist’s impression of Claire St when 12 houses are replaced with 100 dog boxes!

https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/29882452/two-houses-holding-out-against-mckinnon-complex-plan/

PS – following up from our previous post on responses to Minister Wynne’s request for council feedback, Kingston Council has also published its views in the current agenda. Again, the submission and its detailed analysis puts Glen Eira to shame – as does the simple fact that both Bayside and Kingston published their submission BEFORE sending off to the Minister and thereby having their work ratified by council decision. None of this happens in Glen Eira – it is all done behind closed doors and in secret.

Here is the Kingston officer’s report and the submission

PS – MORE SPIN!!!! – MAGEE ON 3AW YESTERDAY

PPS: 4 houses left in Elliott Avenue, Carnegie. Thank you council!

PLUS 7 STOREY APPLICATION FOR 317-319 NEERIM ROAD – BELOW!

It is one thing for a council to disseminate its rose coloured glasses view of its performance. Spin comes with the political territory. It is another thing entirely for a council to use public funds to promulgate falsehoods with the intention of misleading and deceiving residents.

The latest outrage comes with council’s announcement on its website that it will print and distribute a letter/flyer to every single resident in the municipality. (UPLOADED HERE) The claim is that this will cost 11 cents per letter. Be that as it may, please remember that all monies collected by a council are meant to be spent for the benefit of the community and NOT to engage in damage control, or to evade responsibility for the woeful planning performances that we have witnessed in the past few years. Council can spend thousands of dollars blaming everyone else except itself, but it can’t spend this same amount of money in ‘consulting’ the community when it really matters – ie the introduction of the residential zones.

What is absolutely inexcusable is the fact that in its epistle council has committed the sin of omission – or to all intents and purposes – it has lied. Whoever wrote the letter should be hauled over the coals, and whoever authorised it, should be dismissed. In our view, the buck stops at Newton’s desk. Such behaviour and deviousness is literally beyond the pale. And this cannot be another of council’s famous ‘clerical errors’. It is without doubt deliberate, premeditated, and disgusting!

We are referring of course to the ‘conveniently’ edited table presented below –

Any resident reading this could be forgiven for thinking that Glen Eira’s total number of new apartments equals 1054. The sentence speaks of ‘apartment growth’ – full stop. What this table deliberately avoids mentioning is that the figures relate to the NUMBER OF APARTMENTS ERECTED IN BUILDINGS OF 4 OR MORE STOREYS. Nor is the table itself complete. Glen Eira is ranked THIRD in this list – which has again been conveniently cropped so that the full story is not told. Never mind the fact that many of those municipalities with greater dwelling numbers also happen to have commercial zones 2 and 3 times the size of Glen Eira’s and that is where most 4 storeys dwellings have gone. (ie Stonnington has over 6% of its area zoned as commercial. Glen Eira has 2.2%)

Yet what makes matters even worse, and which points to the fact that either we are dealing with total incompetents with no corporate memory, or that this is another example of council’s manipulation of the facts and the truth. Council minutes of June 30^th, 2015 (a short 3 and a bit months ago) featured an officer’s report on the State Government’s ‘Better Apartments Discussion Paper’ – where in fact this bar chart was first published. On page 110 of these minutes we find the following –

How convenient that residents:

• Aren’t informed that the figures relate to dwellings in 4 or more storey buildings
• How convenient that this vital information has been cropped and deleted, and
• How convenient that now residents will be sold the myths that present council in the most positive light – ie. blame everyone else but not us!
• How appalling that Glen Eira City Council can sink to this level of deception and just to rub salt into the wounds – use public monies for their own devious and unethical purposes! Surely it is time that the Code of Conduct for officers was published – as (needless to say) countless other councils see fit to do!
• The biggest question is whether any councillor will insist that this farce be stopped in its tracks and a public apology listed in all media outlets. That should sort out the sheep from the goats!

We doubt that many residents bother to read council minutes. Thus they will be assailed with ‘information’ that is skewed, inaccurate, and intended, we believe, to deceive and mislead. Finally, when residents cannot trust the information that is disseminated by its council, then we are really in trouble.

WATCH THE VIDEO FROM ‘THE AGE – DOMAIN’. IT SAYS IT ALL!

http://www.domain.com.au/news/elderly-couple-refuse-to-sell-as-developers-lay-claim-on-mckinnon-culdesac-20151013-gk7kw5/

CLICK TO ENLARGE

The skullduggery that has gone on over Frogmore and the Jewish Care aged care facility is literally scandalous. A permit application is currently waiting to be decided. It proposes to remove 88 of the 92 trees on site. Well, those trees no longer exist!

This says plenty about this council and its attitude to the environment. With no tree register and no will to stop moonscaping of sites, this is the result. We are also confident that council will not seek to impose any fine on Jewish Care for removing trees under the 12 months period stated in the planning scheme. We remind readers that the heritage report nominated 4 trees as having ‘significant’ status and to be given heritage status themselves.

It is quite appalling that this can happen. But since it is Glen Eira council, where profit and vested interests are far more important than environment, no-one should be surprised – merely outraged!

This Nearmap shot is dated 13 September 2015 – three weeks ago. They sure move fast!