Dual Occs in Coldstream:
Last night at the Council meeting all 6 applications for a second dwelling in Coldstream were approved by council by the smallest of margins, 5 for 4 against.
The meeting was attended by a large number of local residents and finished late into the night. By the time I left (about 11 pm) only 2 of the 6 applications had been decided. CORRECTION should read 5 applications.
The group presented the council with a petition of over 500 signatures.
Jeanett McCrae was passionate about what she believed in and tried her best to sway the feeling and votes of the councilors against the applications.
I believe the residents have the right to take the matter to VCAT themselves so this is not the end of the matter.
4 comments:
You'd better believe that this is not the end of it !!!! Councillors, AND THE MAYOR, who voted FOR these dual occupancies CONTRADICTED THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN POLICIES with their vote. As to their attitude :
VCAT overturned an earlier council decision, will do it again so it a pointless and expensive exercise ( !?!?!?!?! )
It's a "No Brainer", move to approve.
SHAME TO THE 5 IRRESPONSIBLE PERSONS who approved the applications.
Thanks to the 4 who fought with the community's wishes in the forefront of their minds AS WELL AS COUNCIL'S OWN POLICIES.
Shame to the Mayor and shame to those other councillors.
I would just like to clarify that there were five applications that went before Council last night concerning Coldstream, not six. Obviously the Councillors who voted to approve these applications have no respect for the policies they themselves have adopted and are unfamiliar and irresponsible in their positions as Councillors. Congrats to the four Councillors who DO LISTEN AND RESPECT THE COMMUNITY. As for the five who voted against the majority of the Coldstream Community, and at times spoke condescendingly, hopefully the people in your wards will one day be represented by Councillors who genuinally care. From what I saw, I don't think they gave a toss about Coldstream. So let the fight begin.............
It doesn't matter whether Council approves the applications or not. If the applications comply with the Planning Scheme and the proposed building complies with the ResCode, the applications will be approved by appeal to VCAT (as it should). It's a no brainer really. If you read the Council Planner's reports in the agenda, they quote the previous VCAT decision throughout. The councillors can try and save face by voting against these applications, but it'll just cost the Council to fight it at VCAT, yes, your and my rates at work.
There is an extreme shortage of housing all over Australia and they need to build them somewhere.
On another note, how many small businesses have stated in Coldstream and then had to close their doors due to lack of patronage. Yes, it's hard to compete with the larger chains, but with a bigger population in Coldstream, maybe, just maybe, we can get businesses booming again in our lovely little town. I've been a resident for nearly 15 years now and have seen a lot of small businesses come and go over that time. It has already been noted in a previous VCAT appeal that the population increase will not be that great anyway, so that could well be a very mute argument, but we have heaps of open space all around Coldstream for people to enjoy.
There was a plan a number of years back for a beautification of the entrance to Coldstream. We now have a couple of very nice stone walls and some plantings in front of the strip of shops in The Gateway and a recent planting along Maroondah Hwy, but nothing much else has happened. I think all of this was instigated or at least pushed by Di Moore when she was a Councillor. I can remember seeing the plans and being really excited that it would really change the face of the township that I call home and love.
The bottom line is you can object to these applications all you want, if they comply, they'll be approved, as they should be. The applicants are going to make sure their applications comply so they can't be refused. Who would be so silly as to lodge an application to try and bend the rules?
What a lot of selfish people we have living in the area!
Thank god for the council approving these dual occupancies - where are all the DESPERATE houseless people going to live (we do have a housing shortage, you know) - oh, not in your back yard, right? - because you like listening to birds or you bought into the estate 5000 years ago and don't wan't anything to change or your grandchildren might get run over by the sudden influx of traffic that an extra 4 or 5 houses will bring to the estate. Who are you kidding?
The Mayor and councillors DID NOT CONTRADICT THEMSELVES OR THEIR POLICIES with their vote -if you'd bothered doing a Title search on these properties you would realise that. All properties went to the Council Meeting with approval from the Shire's Planning Department.
So shame on you for sounding like uneducated fools
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