By Mikayla van Loon
Yarra Ranges Council held a special meeting last week to hear submissions from the community after requesting feedback on two issues.
Eleven public submissions were received on the draft budget for 2022-23, while 38 submissions were received both for and against the sale of four parcels of land to help purchase 150 Cambridge Road.
The blocks of land considered for sale include 182-184 Cambridge Road, Kilsyth, 9A Wannan Court, Kilsyth, 16 Ellis Court, Mooroolbark and 9A Tinarra Court, Kilsyth.
Of the submissions 27 were in objection to the sale of the various blocks of land mostly in relation to the overdevelopment that could occur and the value of each block as open space.
Submitters were given the opportunity to speak to their submission on Wednesday 15 June, showcasing a variety of concerns.
The first submitter to take to the stand was Paul Baker, speaking about the sale of 9A Tinarra Court.
Coming from a construction background, Mr Baker said he has been volunteering to establish a not-for-profit housing opportunity to address the rental and housing crisis in the area.
Mr Baker said he represented a collective of individuals needing affordable housing and made his submission on their behalf.
“There’s an existential crisis at the moment around the world in housing affordability. There’s a rental crisis where many of the people I’m here representing can’t get into new rentals because they don’t have a six figure salary and landlords don’t look at that and don’t care about rental history,” he said.
“The main purpose of our submission was to open the doors of conversation for this land or others in the future around the possibility of developing a project in the shire.”
Having lived in Ellis Court for 50 years, Barry and Jill Jackson said they did not believe the council had an unbiased opinion when it came to the sale of these parcels of land and were not considering the value these open spaces hold for local residents.
Mrs Jackson spoke at the meeting and said 16 Ellis Court had previously had two attempts to remove its ‘reserve’ status which had been successfully opposed by residents on the grounds of its benefit to the community and environmental significance.
“We need this land, we need to preserve what we’ve got,” she said.
“If this land is sold, it will be a loss of tree canopy and the proposal that this will be offset with planting at 150 Cambridge Road is not a substantial argument.”
Recording various bird sightings including the endangered Powerful Owl, as well as being home to a number of Indigenous trees and native grasses, Mrs Jackson said this land should not lose its reserve status.
“Why destroy something we’ve already got.”
Other submissions referenced the necessity of small open spaces to provide quiet, passive areas as dual occupancy and unit type living continue to impact the urban parts of the shire.
It was raised at the meeting that residents living near to these blocks of land were discouraged by Yarra Ranges Council’s use of the terms ‘underutilised’ and ‘vacant’ when referring to the land in documents and requests for feedback.
Councillor Len Cox, seconded by Councillor Tim Heenan moved the recommended motion to take into account the submissions from the community to prepare for the time in which the council will decide the individual fate of each parcel of land.
Cr Cox thanked each of the submitters for their input and said it was interesting to hear what everyone had to say.
“I’m very impressed by the genuine concern that you’ve all shown tonight for the block or the blocks that you’ve been interested in and it has been well worthwhile hearing your submissions and believe me, these are very difficult decisions for council to make,” he said.
“We don’t like selling land either, we really don’t, it’s just the issue of 150 Cambridge Road came up… and it’s a chance the council will never get again.”
The decision to sell or keep these open spaces will be made at a public council meeting in the near future, where submitters will be able to speak on the matter once again.
