november news

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• Greens launch campaign from Riley Street
• Beryl Ave rezoning deferred
• Bracks “open space” policy
• Council willing to “manage and maintain”

Greens launch campaign from Riley Street site

Local members of the Australian Greens Party launched their election campaign from the Riley Street Federation Park site. Many locals and members of the school community came to watch the launch welcoming the support the Greens are showing for our cause. The Greens candidates have pledged to help us in our struggle to prevent the area being turned over to housing developers.

The Green's launch was reported in the November 25 issue of the local paper “The Leader”. According to the article the Greens have “asked the State Government to consider keeping the land for open space, and making Monash Council responsible for its maintenance”.

Heather Welsh, the local Greens candidate for the Upper House has also written to us suggesting some possible options whereby the land could be retained as public parkland.

Beryl Ave rezoning deferred

The rezoning proposal

At its November 12 meeting Monash council considered a proposal (Amendment C24) for the rezoning of the old Oakleigh South Primary School in Beryl Avenue.

The explanatory report for Amendment C24 explains that the Department of Education and Training intend to sell “the majority of land” to the Urban and Regional Land Corporation for residential development with “..a 1884 m2 parcel in the north eastern corner of the site to be sold to the Metropolitan Golf Club”. The amendment is available for public inspection at the Monash Civic Centre.

Rezoning deferred

Councillor Felicity Smith (Huntingdale Ward) moved a motion to defer the rezoning to provide time for a delegation of councillors to liaise with government departments. Cr Paul Klisaris seconded the motion and council passed it.

Cr Smith said that the it was important not to look at the Riley Street and Beryl Avenue plots of land in isolation. A deferrment of the Beryl Avenue rezoning would allow time to consider both cases together.

Cr Klisaris speaks out for open space and community involvement in decision-making

View the speech in full

Council Klisaris spoke at in support of Cr Smith's motion pointing out the importance of local parks to communities. He claimed that surveys show they are visited more than district or regional parks and play a role in the social life of the community. Local parks also offer a “high level of safety and security”.

He drew the council's attention to the state government's Melbourne 2030 Action Plan policies on open space, claiming that they could have been “written with the Warrigal Ward in mind”.

Cr Klisaris also pointed to the changing demographics of the Oakleigh South area claiming there is a “baby boom” and arguing that children need open spaces that are “close to home”.

He noted that Clayton and Oakleigh are deficient in public open spaces. The government's open space policy, he argued, provides an opportunity for local government to “develop strategies to maximise the open space and conservation potential of areas such as surplus land from schools provided that the state government is prepared to gift the land to local government in a partnership which involves local government maintaining the land”.

He stressed the importance of community involvement in decision making on open space claiming that the local community has been “screaming” to be allowed to be part of the process for a very long time. From day one they have been saying that Riley Street should remain as public open space”.

But echoing Cr Smiths comments he added “...lets not look at Riley Street in isolation. The former Oakleigh South Primary School site...is just as precious”.

Finally he expressed hope that deferring rezoning of Beryl Avenue would “act as the catalyst to bring all parties to the round table”.

Councillor Evans suggested it was a good time to negotiate now, while the state election campaign is on, but Cr Smith claimed this was not possible as government departments are currently in “caretaker mode”. In reply to a question from Cr Morrison she envisaged the rezoning issue would not be resolved until early in the new year.

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At the Monash Council's November 12 meeting the Federation Park committe tabled three questions concerning the council's position on open space.

In their reply the council stated that:

“Should the Government indicate willingness to donate the surplus school land to the Monash community as public open space, Council would be prepared to manage and maintain the space for use by the general community.”

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Bracks “open space” policy

The Bracks Labor government recently released their plan for “the growth and development of the metropolitan area” in a document titled “Melbourne 2030 - planning for sustainable growth”. An important aim of the plan is “to ensure that Melbourne retains the qualities that people enjoy about it”.

The document outlines “9 Key Directions” for Melbourne's future development. Direction 5 “A great place to be” includes the following policies:

Policy 5.6: “Improve the quality and distribution of local open space and ensure long-term protection of public open space”

Policy 5.7: “Rectify gaps in the network of metropolitan open space by creating new parks and ensure major open space corridors are protected and enhanced”

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