Call to drop green wedge auditorium

By Tania Martin
THE Shire of Yarra Ranges Lyster Ward councillor Samantha Dunn has called on Planning Minister Rob Hulls to pull back two projects as they contradict the green wedge planning principal.
Cr Dunn said this is a warning to all planners that commercial proposal will not be approved by the council if they are in a green wedge zone.
She said the council was sending a clear message that if a business is commercial and the proposal is within a green wedge zone, then they should not bother applying.
At the council’s meeting last Tuesday night, Cr Dunn led the charge to have the proposals for the Mt Evelyn 2600-seat auditorium and the Lilydale funeral parlour, currently under consideration for planning scheme amendments, to be withdrawn.
Cr Dunn also called on the council to advise Mr Hulls that the Yarra Glen supermarket proposal is to proceed with the exhibition of the amendment, on the condition that the proposed development is not in the green wedge zone.
Cr Dunn said at the moment, the supermarket development has a small section, a proposed driveway, which is contained within the green wedge zone.
Green wedges are open landscapes set aside more than 30 years ago to concern rural activities and significant natural features and resources between the growth areas of metropolitan Melbourne and the outer suburban areas.
Chirnside Park Ward councillor Ken Smith said that the previous council had allowed for the three developments to be exhibited with the planning scheme amendments and that process should continue.
Cr Smith said the minister could make a decision tomorrow and that any recommendation the council makes would be redundant, as the proposal would come back to the council for further comments from residents.
He also raised concern over the fairness to the applicant of this decision to withdraw the council’s original recommendation.
Cr Smith said it was the wrong way to go about business and that it would be an abuse of the process after the former council made a decision on the applications.
He said he failed to see the reasoning behind withdrawing the applications from the Minister as they would either come back before the council or be dismissed by the minister.
Walling Ward councillor Len Cox said that he agreed with the move to withdraw the applications, but also insisted if the council was to take this action on the three applications, it needed to be consistent on all green wedge proposals.
Cr Dunn said it was important to send a message to the wider community that non-agricultural proposals in a green wedge area are not encouraged or supported by the council.