This letter to Minister Richard Wynne sent on 11 July 2016, urges that he request the Victorian Government Architect to convene a Design Review Panel to review and resolve design issues associated with the Walmer street/ bridge, affecting commuters (pedestrians and cyclists), residents and the Yarra river environs.
Open letter to the Collingwood Children’s Committee of Management regarding governance issues associated with the development of the Master Landscape Plan for the Farm by landscape architects Phillip Johnson Landscapes, from the Farm Plots Subcommittee.
The letter provides a formal response to the presentation of the plans to Community Gardens Plot Holders at the Children’s Farm on 5th May 2016. The letter puts forward a detailed account of what the ‘plotters’ believe to be a flawed governance process surrounding the development of the landscape plan in the absence of stakeholder consultation. The letter requests that the Farm’s Committee of Management abandon the current plan and recommence the process with a new tender to develop a plan with stakeholder input from the outset.
See also: Community gardens at Farm could be cut to size of a ‘grave plot’ published in the Leader newspaper, 12 June 2016.
Residents, cyclists and pedestrians using the Walmer Street bridge, Abbotsford to access Victoria Gardens shopping centre (to the south) and Yarra Park Bend and Kew (to the north) have several reasons to be VERY worried about the proposed Salta developments on both sides of Walmer street (607-627 and 647-649).
Walmer street on the right side of the plan – note the two ramps into underground car parks.
The ‘Park House’ site at 607-627 Victoria Street is on the former MFB Training site. It is in a Priority Development Zone (called in by the Planning minister) whereas the site on the other side of Walmer street is currently being considered by VCAT.
The public amenity of Walmer street therefore appears to come under the consideration of two different planning delegates: Minister of Planning and VCAT.
Both sites belong to the one developer, Salta.
Legislation is currently being drafted to provide long term protection for the river environs, indeed, to address potential impacts of, and threats to, the riverine environment and public amenity of the river and surrounds by huge developments like these.
In this context, it is heartening to see that Minister Wynne took the highly unusual step of writing to the VCAT (reported by the Age) to brief them about the ‘importance of protecting and enhancing the natural landscape of the River Yarra’ when assessing the application for 647-649 Victoria Street.
This states that:
New development must respect its relationship to the public settings of the Yarra River corridor and its environs by adding substantially to the ground level amenity of these settings and by minimising the visual impact of development through a range of compositional and landscape strategies.
And key objectives for development must include:
We don’t believe that the design response has met these criteria. The proposed design for Walmer street is particularly disappointing. It represents a diminution and degradation of public open space and of access routes north-south to the busy shared pedestrian and cycling bridge to Yarra Bend Park and to Kew, and deprives the community of ever developing the sorely needed east-west cycle path connector to Gipps Street. With two car entry/exit ramps and 700 car movements a day this is clearly not a Plaza.
Note: screened ramps on either side to underground car parks. Steps to bridge in background are hidden from view.
Furthermore, due to differing height levels, commuters coming off the bridge will have to either climb a set of steps to plaza level or follow several ramps leading to a new public corridor between buildings A and B which will also be shared with cars in a pickup/ dropoff loop arrangement – hardly an enhanced nor safe thoroughfare for cyclists, wheel chairs and prams.
Interface with the river: claims that total open space is increased and enhanced are disingenuous because these are steep and under building edges (undercrofts).
The developer claims: ‘a substantial proportion of the DP area adjacent to the Yarra River will be ‘given back’ to the community. Specifically, more than 2600 square metres of area will be dedicated as public open space, to not only enhance the natural landscape settings of the Yarra River, but to provide for meaningful recreational needs of the community.’ (From The Park House – Urban context and Planning report, Nov 2015 – Executive Summary)
We wonder what meaningful recreation can be undertaken in these spaces.
We welcome Yarra Council’s report (passed by the IDAC of 11 May 2016) to be sent to the Planning Minister, Richard Wynne, which states:
there are fundamental concerns with the setbacks, internal amenity, road capacity and the Yarra River environs… finds these matters …. would necessitate a redesign of the proposal … and until the issues are remedied Council cannot support the proposal.
This growing group of concerned residents has written to Richard Wynne recommending the following:
Andrew’s doing a terrific job making meaning from the these long days at the East West Link Public Hearings.
The tempo of the hearings dropped markedly today as the last of the council witnesses were heard.
Michelle Zeibots, a Sydney academic who has specialised in induced traffic gave a strong performance explaining in detail the numerous factors that result in overall traffic increases when new road space is provided.
The LMA has adopted a tactic of not arguing the detail but spending most of their time either trying to attack the credibility of the expert witnesses or luring them into agreeing there is “some merit” in the East west Link.
Of course, every transport project has some benefits for someone – especially if you spend $8 billion building it.
The issue is whether the benefits are justified compared to the costs and the social equity of who is benefitting (Doncaster residents getting to the airport five minutes early at the expense of sleepless nights for residents in the…
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It’s taken a very clever little video to inspire us to return here to post on the campaign to stop the East West Link.
It’s a great way to explain the complexities of the ‘Business Plan’ for the Tollway and why the government has kept the commercial arrangement secret. That’s because the people of Victoria will pay for it for a very long time.
Please share the video widely.
There are a lot of excellent resources to keep you informed so we’re not going to double up here but over the next few weeks, we will attempt to post some of them here, too.
Here at CARA Central we need to revise our blogging skills and next Tuesday’s forum provides a perfect opportunity for that!
Please join us for an informal and friendly round of speeches (short) and question time to get to know the candidates standing in the Langridge ward of Yarra Council.
Go here for general information about the Council Election to be held on 27 October and a range of FAQs about postal voting/ pre-polling, etc.
Whilst you’re here at the CARA Residents blog, you might like to check out a few of the new links that have been added to our list of Related websites.
A few of us took up the invite to get a guided tour of the Dights Falls weir reconstruction project this Saturday, 14 April 2012. The Chief Engineer and the Communications Manager at Melbourne Water gave us the lowdown. Photos show footings of the weir itself and the fish ladder, both of which we’re assured will be operational for at least the next 100 years, once the project is finished. In the meantime they’ll move the giant rocks around till they get it right, as it’s apparently a bit hit and miss to get the right mix of froth and bubble in the correct location for both the fish and the canoeists (amongst other stakeholders).
Letter writing time again! We didn’t expect to have to revisit this campaign.
Follow the links at the end of the article to the newspaper stories and consider voicing your opinion to this Government too.
We can’t keep up with the community here at CARA Central and have only just signed the online Gopetition ourselves. Here it is:
SAVE PUBLIC LAND AT ABBOTSFORD CONVENT Petition | GoPetition
This petition is not to be confused with the other one conducted earlier this year – that was in response to the first Steiner school planning application. So please sign this one too if you are concerned about the implications of the current application for the heritage and precious open spaces at the Convent.
For details of the second Steiner school application, which was approved by Heritage Victoria, and which now awaits a decision by the Planning Minister, Mr Matthew Guy, check our previous post: Threat to our public open space intensifies at Abbotsford Convent.
So you thought that Heritage Victoria rejected the application to build on the remaining open spaces at the Convent? Well, that was the first application – the one that located a five classroom school building directly on St Mary’s Paddock, used by the Collingwood Childrens Farm (CCF) for grazing pasture for the last 30 years of its operation.
Then the Sophia Mundi Steiner school shifted the building over to just within the perimeter of its current space (their playground) claiming also the yet-to-be restored swimming pool enclosure outside the educational area as its replacement playground and adding a few covered walkways, and possibly a (raised?) walkway on St Mary’s Paddock to the Mercator Annex (their BER-funded Science wing). They then liaised with Heritage Victoria to ensure that this second application would be granted a heritage permit. Go here to read the Heritage Victoria decision, 7 September 2011.
Now the planning application is on the desk of Planning Minister Matthew Guy for approval. You wonder why it is with the Minister and not the relevant planning authority, the City of Yarra? That’s because BER-funded proposals get to by-pass the local planning authority and go straight to the Planning Minister. He has referred it to City of Yarra (for advice only): go here to read about Council’s position as decided on 27 September 2011.
But the acquisition of the pool enclosure by the school is outside the Master plan (AND not covered by BER funding) which protects the Convent’s mix of uses. Is the Master plan worth the paper it’s written on? We think not.
In the words of the School spokeswoman, Leslie Arnott, …. “We are seeking to amend the building envelope within the masterplan, following the recent endorsement from Heritage Victoria. We are also seeking the minister’s approval for this amendment, along with his building approval.”
Now is the time to let Mr Guy know how strongly you feel about the appropriation of public open space for a single Convent tenant to the detriment of the rest of the community.
Please send a letter or an email ASAP (this week) to Minister Guy at: matthew.guy@parliament.vic.gov.au
Here is a sample letter:
Matthew Guy
Hon Minister for Planning and Community Development
matthew.guy@parliament.vic.gov.au
Level 7, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne 3000
Dear Mr Guy,
I understand that you are considering a Planning application by the Sophia Mundi Steiner school at the Abbotsford Convent for an infill school building and associated covered walkways, and raised walkway and to expand the existing footprint of the school to include a replacement playground.
I urge you to refuse this application because:
The proposal is contrary to the spirit of the ‘gift’ of the whole site to the people of Victoria which came about as the result of a long campaign to preserve the Convent’s built form and its open spaces from inappropriate and disrespectful development. So I ask you to reject the planning application.
Yours sincerely,
(Name and Contact details)
cara.residents 