By KATH GANNAWAY
YARRA Ranges’ O’Shannassy Ward Councillor Jim Child has defended the council process in relation to a permit application for a 42.4 metre communications tower in the town’s recreation precinct.
Some 30 objections have been received by council as of late last week and the Mail has been told a number of them call for better and earlier notification for permit applications that have the potential to impact on the entire community.
Yarra Junction resident Peter Ferguson was instrumental in organising a community meeting on 24 November, which he told the Mail was attended by 20 residents and businesspeople concerned about the proposal.
“The general thrust of the meeting is that people are very concerned about the lack of consultation prior to this notice coming out just on Christmas,” he said.
“There were concerns about the structure, a giant 42-metre tower being built in a very sensitive area in the middle of a recreation and community hub, and the effect it will have on the character of the area and the skyline.”
He said a very important point on which there was unanimous consensus was that no-one was against telecommunications towers as such.
“It’s where they are placed and we feel that the recreation reserve is a totally inappropriate location when there is a tower just 1.2 kilometres away at the RSL club,” he said.
“Council knows this (communications tower) is a divisive issue, and it’s a contentious issue right around the world so let’s actually lay it all out before the community before they go through this process where it creates problems and uncertainty, not after.”
Cr Child said there was no difference between the process for informing the community about different types of planning applications.
“We are following everything we are supposed to do,” he said.
“You’re asking us to get a crystal ball out of the cupboard to say this is going to be some sort of community concern here.
“We are following a process and I think it’s great that we are getting this response.”
“That process is there for anyone to engage in and it will be there right up to the point when the decision is made – whether it’s supporting or objecting (to the application).”
In response to inquiries by the Mail, Yarra Ranges Director Planning, Building and Health, Andrew Paxton, has supplied the following information.
Letters were sent by mail to about 300 owners and occupiers of properties within a 200-metre radius of the proposed location.
The application was lodged in June. Further information was required before the application could be advertised, which was not received until mid-October.
There is no set policy at Yarra Ranges Council that differentiates between a project that is of community interest.
Mr Paxton said the notification requirements of a planning application were legislated through the Planning and Environment Act.
The application will be decided at a council meeting in the new year.
All objectors to the application will be advised about the council meeting date, as well as the consultation meeting planned for the new year.
Council’s communications department also advised that as part of the process, signs had been erected on the site and the application had been advertised in the local paper (but did not say when or which paper it appeared in).
The council was also unable to confirm that user groups, some of which are in council-owned properties, such as the cricket, football and netball club, users of the Yarra Burn Centre, the Yarra Centre, were notified.
At least two groups contacted by the Mail, the Upper Yarra Museum and Koha Cafe, and the nearby Yarra Junction Community Opportunity Shop, told the Mail they did not receive notification.
In response to Mr Ferguson’s call for more publicity early in the process, Cr Child said any community member, and the Mail, had access to information.
“No-one is hiding anything. The signs went up and the application is there, on public display at Lilydale and at Yarra Junction, available to everyone.
“If there was even a hint of it going to delegation (to be decided by Council officers) I would have called the application in (for decision by councillors),” Cr Child said, adding that he was more than happy with the process that is in place.
