Successful Council Meetings on Tuesday 26th August

Tuesday 26^th August 27, 2008 was a successful day for our campaign against overdevelopment in Knoxfield. A meeting was organized by Cr Debbie Field with the Mayor, Jim Penna and senior representatives of the Planning Department at Knox City Council. Then the monthly council meeting provided success again for our lobbying of councillors.

Firstly representatives of the residents met with the Mayor, Jim Penna, the Director of City Development, Angelo Kourambas and Paul Dickie, Manager of Planning. The residents were represented by David Chaney, Irene Kelly, Irene Fullerton and myself. We were provided with opportunity to address our concerns, which were:

·    Overdevelopment of planning applications

·    Concern with double storey townhouses which are out of character with the area.

·    The intensity of development in Kathryn Road

·    The detrimental effect on the old 1960’s infrastructure on sewerage, drainage, power and gas supplies and traffic on Kathryn Road

·    Concern with the removal of remnant forest canopy trees and the effect on wildlife

·    The poor quality of plans released by the Planning Department for advertising, especially with a total disregard for Rescodes and Vegetation Overlays

Paul Dickie responded to our claims stating the restrictions in which the planners had to operate especially in regard to the Melbourne 2030 Policy. Paul Dickie intimated that the current planning applications will in all probability go to VCAT for a decision, which infers that council will not pass them. If this occurs we must attend VCAT in numbers to present our case.

Secondly, at the monthly council meeting last night Cr Mick van de Vreede moved a “Call-Up Item” to reduce the 400 metre perimeter, which enables medium/high density housing around Neighborhood Activity Centres, to 200 metres. This was achieved after much lobbying by both David Chaney and myself. We are mindful that to bring about change to the Melbourne 2030 Policy will be very difficult and we’ll need much help from the community of Knoxfield.

The doors of communication are now open with the responsible planning officers in council and we’ve been invited to contact them whenever necessary. We certainly intend doing that.

 

 

Support for Cr Debbie Field

Hi Folks,

You may have noticed an article in the Journal this week criticizing Debbie Field for not attending Council meetings. Debbie is quite ill and having weekly treatment, which does not sound good. Even though she’s remained in contact with me and has willingly returned phone messages or emails. This article smells to me like a dirty election campaign. One candidate, Tony Holland – a REAL ESTATE AGENT, said at a meeting I had with him recently that Debbie was useless and never attended meetings.

Below is my response to the Journal. Whatever you do DO NOT VOTE FOR TONY HOLLAND! I’ve had it on good advice that the aim is to get him elected to improve the chances of electing Adam Gill to the position of Mayor. Guess what, they're both real estate agents. What hope will we have with Adam Gill as Mayor.

Cheers,

Ian

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Dear Editor,

Re: “Often absent councillor insists she’s still in touch” by Winston Tan

I can assure all Friberg Residents that Cr Debbie Field is definitely in touch with issues in Friberg Ward, especially in Knoxfield.

I am incensed by the insinuation in the Knox Journal of August 20, that Cr Debbie Field is absenting herself from Knox Council and relinquishing her duties as a councillor. Cr Field may have been on leave from council since July, but that has not prevented her from providing wonderful support to the Knoxfield residents in the fight against medium/high density housing in our suburb. Cr Field’s advice and direction has only been a telephone call away and at times she has called to see how the campaign is going.

This insinuation that Cr Field is not fulfilling her duty to residents of Friberg, seems very much like a dirty election ploy. A candidate opposing Cr Field made similar accusations to me at a private meeting recently.

The reasons Cr Field has taken leave from council is her private business and should not become an issue in an election campaign.

Decent people respect the privacy of others.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Simpson

New Planning Application for No 32 Kathryn Road

Say NO to FOUR double storey townhouses at

No 32

Kathryn Road.

If these are approved will your neighbor’s property be the next targeted by developers?

These townhouses will:

Be out of character with the surrounds,

Generate more heat and use more power,

Not be sustainable in a time of climate change,

Be a danger to passing school children,

Create more parking on Kathryn Road,

Create stress on 1960s infrastructure,

Not be family friendly, no play space for children,

Not have facilities for disabled persons,

Have a direct affect on wildlife of the area.

The struggle to maintain the “leafy character” of Knoxfield is so important. Over the past month VCAT has turned down two applications in Knoxfield to maintain the leafy image. We know that Knox Council will support their policy to keep Knoxfield “leafy green”.

This developer is treating planning laws with contempt, as they provided plans for this new development without any measurements. Is this to make our task of objecting more difficult or is it to hide the fact that FOUR double storey townhouses will not fit onto this block. This planning application is a massive over-development of the site.

Knox Council planning department officers have informed us that there is nothing they can do to get more detailed plans. The developer was contacted and they absolutely refused to provide more detailed plans. Where do we go from here? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Marvellous Melbourne

 Save Knoxfield has posted another article on the Marvellous Melbourne Web Page. It can be viewed at

http://marvellousmelbourne.org/drupal/?q=node/320

 

Objections to the Development at No 40 Kathryn Road Flood In

To date 65 objections have been handed into the Knox City Council Planning Office objecting to the development of FIVE double storey and SIX single storey dwellings at No 40 Kathryn Road. Among the objections lodged residents of Knoxfield have highlighted the overdevelopment, lack of playing space for children, that the safety of children is paramount, the lack of sustainability in the plans, the severe traffic problems that already exist in Kathryn Road, and the effect on wildlife with the removal of most vegetation on the site.

One resident of 35 years stated that their family had moved to Knoxfield for the “country feel”, but Knox Council is now allowing our small suburb to be carved up without any consideration of long term residents. Council needs to be aware of the destruction these developments will and have already caused and take a stand against these money hungry developers. I am disgusted that the “lore of money” now overrides commonsense. This overdevelopment is not necessary and will spoil what used to be a friendly and caring community.

Another resident wrote … can anybody remember the old Knoxfield of country living and dirt roads and the atmosphere of trees and wildlife. We don’t want concrete jungles as it will be wall to wall units and townhouses…..

And yet another stated …The proposal also calls for the removal of vegetation which is at odds to the Knox Council’s policy of maintaining the leafy image…. And add these11 units to the proposed 10 for No 44 Kathryn Road, plus the 4 proposed for No 32 and the 7 for the corner of Kathryn and Anne Roads and no wonder we are worried.

And there are more…..

……..Our leafy image is disappearing, so are our beautiful birds. Thanks to those GREEDY developers who have made their money and don’t have to live with the monstrosities they are trying to build in our beautiful area – we love this place that’s why we moved here……

Such a development in Kathryn Road is scarey. Traffic in this street is already disrupted by roadside parking(residents and their visitors). Extra traffic will put pedestrians(especially children) at risk with school crossing, bus stop and busy Laura Road intersection(especially at school time)all close to No 40. Emergency vehicle access will be hard. Rubbish collection days will be horrendous – stress on an already overloaded infrastructure. We chose Knoxfield for its country lifestyle, sadly the trees and thus the birdlife are not what they were . WE MUST KEEP WHAT’S LEFT. This type of development is not suited to Knoxfield – we don’t want grownups doll houses. Keep it as it is. We have already lost too much. Developers are not interested in the future of Knoxfield or the NOW residents.

Whilst Kathryn Road is legally wide enough for the traffic it carries, parking on the street or exiting driveways has to be done with care. It is too narrow for its role…..If more than one vehicle is parked out the front you must cross onto the other side of the road to pass taking extreme risk…….

……In recent years, especially morning and evening traffic levels have risen to the level where I believe that at times is congested. I have on several occasions been involved in verbal altercations with other motorists who fail to give way or who it seems are frustrated with the volume of traffic using Kathryn Road as a thoroughfare. Exit to Ferntree Gully Road between 7.15am and 8.30am could see you placed in a line of 7 or 8 vehicles………It is only a matter of time before we have a serious accident.

We don’t need to publish any more as we know these stories well, but how do we make the Knox Council understand?