SAVE WILLIAMSTOWN News pre August 2014

What the Greens will do - Port Phillip Woollen Mills

Tue, 11 Nov 2014 23:10:41 +1100

Colleen Hartland is standing for MLC Western Metropolitan
Simon Crawford is standing for Williamstown

Greens Policy
Greens Policy PPWM.pdf
"The Greens have supported the Save Williamstown campaign since it began a few years ago.

We oppose high rise development at the Port Phillip Woollen Mill site at Williamstown, as we feel it is inappropriate for the low rise residential location and not fitting with the character of the neighbourhood. For the remaining 60% of the site that has not yet received approval, the Greens will support applications by the Hobsons Bay City Council to set a height limit.

The Greens are also very concerned about the site's proximity to the Mobil Point Gellibrand tank farm, which is a Major Hazard Facility. Greens MP Colleen Hartland has campaigned for greater safety for residents from these facilities for some 25 years, as both a community member with HAZMAG and a politician. Time and time again, we have seen major hazard facilities in the western suburbs explode or catch on fire, spewing hazardous smoke into the neighbourhood. Yet there are no buffer zones on these sites. In comparison, wind farms, which have been proven not to cause health issues, currently have a 2 km buffer zones. This is quite concerning and inconsistent.

With Colleen's long history working on the issue, you can trust the Greens to keep their promise to motion for a parliamentary inquiry into major hazard facility buffer zones and residential areas. This will help clarify what a safe distance is for residents from these facilities."

Colleen Hartland MP Western Metropolitan Region
colleen.hartland@parliament.vic.gov.au 03 9689 6373
colleenhartland.org
facebook.com/colleenhartland.

Heritage Council says no State Registration for Oriental Pre Separation Heritage 1850-1851 Building

Sat, 8 Nov 2014 23:25:08 +1100

Historic Williamstown pub to be demolished, found to have 'no state heritage value'
The Age
Alana Schetzer
November 8, 2014 - 12:45AM

“Australia's oldest three-storey pub is to be demolished after a government department declared it held no heritage significance at state level.
The 19th-century Oriental Hotel in Williamstown has been the focus of a community-led campaign for the past 12 months to save it from the wrecking ball. An appeal to the Heritage Council of Victoria failed, with experts finding it was of local but not state significance.
It followed a decision by the state's planning tribunal almost 12 months ago to grant a permit for the pre-Victorian building's demolition, citing its poor condition.
The Heritage Council of Victoria committee found the pub, which was built in the 1850s, did not meet any of the criteria for state significance
regarding its historical or architectural features.
"The three-storey building has undergone numerous alterations which changed or removed significant architectural detail," the committee said in its decision.
The building is registered on Hobsons Bay Heritage Overlay.
Save Williamstown spokesman Godfrey Moase said the decision was "tragic" and vowed to pursue any legal avenues left to save the The Oriental.
"For a good period of time in the early days of settlement, it was the tallest building in Melbourne," he said. "People would come and watch ships coming in from the bay.
"These buildings get knocked down because they can make money. What's happening is criminal."
The building is owned by Evolve Development, co-owned by former Fairfax chairman Ron Walker. The company plans to build a six-storey, 83-dwelling apartment complex.......”

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/historic-williamstown-pub-to-be-demolished-found-to-have-no-state-heritage-value-20141106-11ho67.html

Article with electronic version comments
Click here

Williamstown Port Phillip Woollen Mill: ‘No tower’ pledge by Labor

Fri, 7 Nov 2014 11:10:15 +1100

Hobsons Bay Weekly
By GOYA DMYTRYSHCHAK 6 Nov 2014

http://www.maribyrnong.starweekly.com.au/story/1814012/williamstown-port-phillip-woollen-mill-no-tower-pledge-by-labor/

A Labor government will restrict high-rise
development on most of the Port Phillip Woollen Mill site at Williamstown, incumbent MP Wade Noonan promised residents at a candidates forum last Thursday.
Mr Noonan vowed that if his party won government on November 29, it would approve any planning scheme amendment put forward by Hobsons Bay council for the 60 per cent of the mill site that has not yet received approval.
The pledge came as the Heritage Council determined it would not include the development site’s Oriental Hotel on the heritage register. Built about 1850, the Oriental is Williamstown’s second- oldest building and believed to be the state’s first three-storey hotel.
Evolve Development plans to demolish it to build a six-storey, 83-dwelling apartment block – part of its much bigger development plans over several blocks of Williamstown.
Evolve has gained planning approval on appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for the first two stages of its development, most recently for a 128-dwelling 10-storey tower and 41 three-storey townhouses. Mr Noonan said the latest decision set a precedent, and now the “sky is the limit” for the developers.
He said the council had assured him it “wouldn’t waste a minute” if given the chance to restrict high-rise development at the site.
“Let me put this in its purest terms – if Labor wins the election, and if the Hobsons Bay City Council come forward and they want to change the planning controls on those parts of the site that haven’t been the subject of a successful application to date, Labor will accommodate that by way of a planning scheme amendment.
“That will ensure, for example, that the height limit – which was recommended to be a mandatory height limit of 25 metres in the centre of the site – will be accommodated.”
Mr Noonan said a Labor government would also order an inquiry into appropriate buffer distances between residential development and major hazard facilities (MHFs).
The mill site is next to Mobil’s Point Gellibrand tank farm, which is classified as a MHF. Liberal candidate Alan Shea did not attend the candidates forum. Evolve did not respond before deadline.

Landlords hit by glut of apartments

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 10:34:04 +1000

Australian Financial Review
Michael Bleby 21 AUG 2014

http://www.afr.com/p/business/property/landlords_hit_by_glut_of_apartments_TyeuZS5jx2nrxr0Yo1MxaI

• Falling rental yields point to price pressure
• Robert Harley | Rental boom days are over
Jason Plevras paid $600,000 for a two-bedroom apartment in Melbourne’s Southbank last May. The off-plan unit was one of 237 in the 15-storey Sunday Apartments on Coventry Street that went on the market around the same time.
The real estate agent assured him he would have no trouble finding a tenant, Plevras says. “I remember when I was signing the contract to buy, I made clear that I was worried we won’t be able to rent it,” the 33 year old says.
“They said ‘renting will never be a problem. You’ll always have tenants’.”
He waited three months before advertising the unit. His starting price was $600 a week, but that went down to $525 before it rented. It’s been a “yo-yo” of tenants coming and going ever since Plevras says.
“Because it’s so competitive, we’re almost putting anyone we can in.”
For Plevras, the news is not good. The pressure on prices will only grow as more stock comes to the market. Weekly advertised rents have fallen 3.6 per cent in Docklands and 6.4 per cent in - Southbank over the past 12 months while they have stayed still in the central business district, RP Data figures show. Over the past five years, rents in Docklands have fallen 8.6 per cent......

.....In Melbourne, the New York-style incentives that have started to creep into the soft market, such as offering the first month rent-free, will grow as investors and their agents seek to draw tenants into dwellings without affecting all the other rents in the same building, says buyers’ advocate Paul Osborne.
“Investors will be caught in a very competitive market needing to offer pricing discounts to lure tenants,” he says.
Central Melbourne has over 17,000 new apartments in the pipeline and 5260 are under - consideration for development approval, the city disclosed last week when it passed a resolution asking Planning Minister Matthew Guy to impose a $900-per-apartment levy.
“There’s chronic oversupply,” say Margaret Lomas, a founder of property consultancy Destiny. “There’s an increasing demand for inner-city living, but the supply is going much faster than that demand.”
Without rental growth or capital growth, the prospects for many investors are bleak, Lomas says. “What normally comes next after this, as those people become more and more distressed financially, they begin to need to sell as well.
“Then you’ve got the double whammy of not achieving a rental yield, but you can’t achieve anywhere near the price they’ve paid to go in. You start to see them dumped. Prices topple.”

SW Comment:
Nelson Place Village development now called Waterline Place
http://www.evolvedevelopment.com.au/media/20130227TheHeraldSun_Developer_fury_at_selfish_residents.pdf
is offering high density high rise apartments and townhouses in Pt Gellibrand Williamstown next to Mobil’s Major Hazard Facility & about 11km from the city centre with a half hourly evening train service which finishes about midnight. Will these factors make this development very difficult to sell and rent.

Recently VCAT overturned Hobsons Bay Council’s refusal to issue permits and now council must issue permits.
The issues raised at VCAT
• lack of rail services to Williamstown particularly after midnight;
• lack of parking in the area particularly when events occur at Seaworks and in Nelson Place Williamstown;
• apartments having to be designed with special provisions for noise from nearby heavy industries of ship building and fuel importation by ship - internal noise level in the proposed dwellings is be reduced & tested to 45dB ie the noise allowed when doors and windows are closed;
• because of danger of explosions from vapour clouds, apartments are to built to 3.5 kPa overpressure and townhouses in the advisory area to 6 kPa. VCAT chose the advice of the Safety Expert engaged by the Developer and refused to take the advice of the State Government Authority Worksafe who said a vapour cloud explosion could cause over-pressures of 8kPa on the site. Worksafe advised against residential development based on this development being relatively close to the Mobil Pt Gellibrand Major Hazard Facility and a similar distance to buildings impacted in the 2005 Buncefield explosion in the UK. The difference between 3.5kPA versus 8kPA is windows shaking and possibly breaking versus structural damage to buildings which may cause them to collapse. Regarding the danger of boilovers from the crude oil storage tanks, the developer’s expert said these were noisy events and it would allow about 8 hours to evacuate the buildings. There are about 5 boilovers per year internationally.  VCAT has made such a strange planning decision if the state government has any responsibility for people safety and the safety of nearby residents in the shadow of the apartment tower.

Even the location in heritage Williamstown may not be sufficient to attract investors in a market which is obviously experiencing a glut according to the AFR article..

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Liberal MLC Quote of the Week... see Port Phillip Woollen Mill fight could end in court

Sat, 9 Aug 2014 09:24:45 +1000

“Western suburbs Liberal MP Bernie Finn said the only promise the Coalition had made was to give planning control back to local councils.”

SO VCAT MAKES THE DECISION AND FORCES HOBSONS BAY COUNCIL TO ISSUE PERMITS.. HARDLY GIVING PLANNING CONTROL BACK TO LOCAL COUNCIL....

Those who have read 1984 by Orwell will know these versions of newspeak!!

Get real Mr Finn and your quieter colleague Mr Elsbury who is also doing Mr Matthew Guy’s dirty work against the Williamstown community.

Hobsons Bay Star Weekly
By Goya Dmytryshchak
6 Aug 2014
Port Phillip Woollen Mill fight could end in court

“Hobsons Bay council has not ruled out a Supreme Court challenge to prevent high-rise development on the Port Phillip Woollen Mill site at Williamstown.
As reported by Star Weekly, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has approved a 128- dwelling, 10-storey tower and 41 three-storey townhouses for Nelson Place and Kanowna Street.
Hobsons Bay mayor Sandra Wilson said VCAT’s decision – which the council opposed – could only be appealed on a point of law. “The council is considering VCAT’s decision.”
The development site is opposite Mobil’s tank ‘farm’, which is classed as a major hazard facility (MHF). The oil company says the development threatens its future in Victoria.
The Save Williamstown lobby group has called for a statewide moratorium on construction near MHFs to protect residents.
Mobil spokeswoman Melanie Saliba said allowing “inappropriate residential development close to major hazard and manufacturing facilities creates many issues for the business and residents”.
Williamstown Labor MP Wade Noonan blamed Planning Minister Matthew Guy for the 34- metre tower being approved.
“The Liberals made an ironclad promise to protect Williamstown from high-rise developments. They’ve clearly broken that promise,” he said......”

http://www.maribyrnong.starweekly.com.au/story/1807918/port-phillip-woollen-mill-fight-could-end-in-court/?nav=Y2F0X2lkLzEx

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Australia needs to be more self-sufficient if it is to survive a fuel crisis and it does not need residential development too close one of the last remaining refineries.

Wed, 18 Jun 2014 23:39:11 +1000

Written on the 27 February 2014 by The Conversation
http://www.acapma.com.au/articles/running-on-empty--australia-s-risky-approach-to-oil-supplies.html

It might sound unlikely, but Australia’s fuel gauge is worryingly low. We’re one of the world’s top energy exporters, but our stocks of liquid fuels – such as the oil on which almost the whole transport sector depends – are far from healthy.
Australia’s worsening liquid fuel security problem was detailed this week in the latest instalment of a report prepared for theNational Roads and Motorists' Association.
A year after the issue was first raised, there has been no action to address the growing risks, both logistical and financial, of keeping so little fuel in the tank.
Lack of refinement
According to the report, refinery closures coupled with growing demand for petroleum have increased Australia’s dependency on imported refined petroleum products. As a result, oil- dependent sectors such as transport, mining and agriculture are vulnerable to supply-chain......”

SW Comment
In 2014 Australia has only a small number of refineries and Altona Refinery which includes Pt Gellibrand fuel importation is one of the few remaining viable facilities.

How viable will it be if the Port Phillip Woollen Mills over development within 400m of the Major Hazard Facility is permitted? To even consider development of 800 dwellings for 2000 people so close to the fuel importation and crude oil storage and pipes is totally irrational and runs the risk of interfering with the protection of an essential supply chain for Victoria and the whole nation.

Read what the NRMA report says:
http://www.mynrma.com.au/media/Fuel_Security_Report.pdf

http://www.mynrma.com.au/images/About-PDF/Fuel-Security-Report-Pt2.pdf

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Reform locks up our suburbs

Sat, 14 Jun 2014 11:32:21 +1000

The Age
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/reform-locks-up-our-suburbs-20140614-3a4l4.html

&

Plan Melbourne series: winners and losers
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/plan-melbourne-series-winners-and-losers-20140621-3al86.html

“A city bristling with three times as many high-rise towers as today. Twenty-storey apartment buildings along commercial strips in the suburbs. Continued sprawl on Melbourne's fringes, where there are few services and little transport. And a sea of single-dwelling housing in a low- rise middle suburbia, swaths of which have reached the end of their utility but will be uneconomic to redevelop.
Welcome to Melbourne's housing future under the Napthine government's new planning policy.
Released in draft form last October, Plan Melbourne, with its new residential zones - Neighbourhood (where development is highly restricted), General (where some low-rise development is possible) and Growth (where medium and higher density is permitted) - comes into effect in three weeks.
The Sunday Age has made a special investigation, comparing the ambitious scope of the policy, including its stated aim to enable the construction of at least another 1.5 million dwellings, with its imminent reality.
Over three weeks, we will examine how the reality of Melbourne under the new zones will be very different from the development regime of the past decade - and what it means for you. Plan Melbourne will mean fundamental changes to how neighbourhoods look, and to the value of many people's homes.
House prices in suburbs close to the city, and older suburbs in the south-east will continue to rise as the wealthy flock to their amenities - transport, schools, hospitals - and historic streetscapes, planning experts say.
But elsewhere, the growth in home values is predicted to flatten as subdivisions decline, and many owners are unable to unlock the value of their land.
Meanwhile, Melbourne's population is predicted to grow significantly. Where will they be accommodated? In high-rise towers in the city and in commercial areas in the suburbs, and on the urban fringe.
If that seems like a win for the not-in-my-backyarders and save-our-suburbs activists who feared neighbourhood amenity would be destroyed by medium-density development, their celebrations may be tempered by the reality that their housing value has also been reduced - a key asset in ......”

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Don’t forget the NEED BEFORE GREED Rally

Sun, 13 Apr 2014 13:00:14 +1000

Starting 1pm at Commonwealth Reserve on Sudnay 13th April..”

21st April is the deadline before Heritage Victoria closes submissions on the Oriental Hotel.
The demolition of the Oriental Hotel is not yet a done deal. The Heritage Council of Victoria still has to decide whether to accept or object to the recommendation to demolish the Oriental Hotel. Submissions close at 5pm April 21st.
Part of the reason we need to have the #needbeforegreed rally on April 13th is so we can show the Heritage Council how much our community cares about the historic Hotel. You can RSVP for the rally on Facebook and invite your family and friends.

Some of our wonderful volunteers will be putting together a more formal Save Williamstown Inc submission to the Heritage Council. However, if you want to make your voice heard directly we've also set out a simple three step process for you to submit as well.

1. H ere is a Heritage Council submission form with all the necessary details added in for the Oriental. You can download it and use it to put in a formal submission yourself.

2. If you would like a copy of other submissions for an idea of what to say have a look at what Council have put in. The main thing is to say why you feel the Oriental is significant for all of Victoria.

3. Print off your submission, sign it and send it by post or email it to the details already on your submission form.

Catch you at the #needbeforegreed rally on Sunday 13th April 1pm at the Commonwealth Reserve. Together we can do this.

Original nomination for the State Register was by Save Williamstown Inc. The nomination is supported by Hobsons Bay Council

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Williamstown development too close to fuel tanks, says Worksafe

Mon, 10 Feb 2014 22:33:27 +1100

Herald Sun
February 10, 2014
David Smith

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/west/williamstown-development...o-close-to-fuel-tanks-says-worksafe/story-fngnvmj7-1226823773656

“WORKSAFE Victoria has joined Mobil in saying a proposed Williamstown residential development is dangerously close to fuel tanks.
Evolve Development plans to build more than 800 high-rise apartments and townhouses on the site of the old Port Phillip Woollen Mills site.
Hobsons Bay Council and many Williamstown residents oppose the development, which is the subject of hearings at VCAT.
Last week, Mobil told VCAT it was concerned the development could hinder the operation of the Gellibrand tank farm, where hazardous chemicals are stored.
“Gellibrand Marine Facility is an essential asset for the Mobil Altona Refinery and a vital link in Victoria’s fuel supply chain,” its statement read.
“Over 60 per cent of the crude oil processed at Altona Refinery is received via the facility and there is no alternate discharge point for marine supplied crude feedstock.”
Worksafe also advised housing should not be built so close to the facility.
Worksafe’s submission said there should be no housing within an outer planning advisory area, including Kanowna St, part of the proposed development site.
It said this would “increase exposure to the future residents of the dwellings to a potential incident at the Gellibrand Tank Farm”, which has “the potential to be dangerous to life and health’’.
Save Williamstown spokesman Godfrey Moase said Mobil and Worksafe had validated the safety concerns of residents.
“It’s incredibly irresponsible to try and push such a high density residential development so close to a major hazard facility,” he said.
He called on the State Government to develop a policy to ensure housing was not built close to major hazard facilities.....”

Note by SW
Good to see the authorities speaking out.
Worksafe quote thee relevant cases, Sandbar and High St Newport are well known but the case of 462 Melbourne Rd Newport makes interesting reading because the member said it was within the Outer Planning Advisory Area and thus did not meet the threshold and he refused without even considering the specific plans. This case involved 2 houses on a block being redeveloped into 8 dwellings.. which is considerably less than the number of dwellings contemplated in Stage 2 of the PPWM site.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2012/1846.html

New housing estate too close - Mobil’s concerns reported in The Age as VCAT starts to hear Stage 2 Application

Tue, 4 Feb 2014 08:14:33 +1100

The Age
February 3, 2014
Richard Willingham

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-housing-estate-too-close-20140202-31v3w.html#ixzz2sIPfzwWR
“Too cosy: Mobil warning over new Williamstown development.
A Williamstown residential development is dangerously close to Mobil's Gellibrand plant and could jeopardise operations and fuel supply to Victoria, the company has warned.
Evolve Development plans to transform the old Port Phillip Woollen Mills site into a residential centre including high-rise apartments and townhouses. It already has approval to build 120 apartments and seven townhouses.
Mobil's Altona refinery is spread over several locations, including the Gellibrand Tank Farm and Point Gellibrand Wharf, which are near the proposed development. The tank farm is a major hazard facility.
A VCAT hearing this week is due to a hear an appeal from Evolve after the local council did not approve stage 2, for 40 townhouses and 130 apartments.
In a statement of evidence, Mobil says it is concerned that development may impede the access of emergency services to the Gellibrand site.
''The area can be heavily congested and high-density residential encroachment, without appropriate upgrades to road sizing, has the potential to impede the safe evacuation of residents,'' it says.
It also warns that an emergency would create extra anxiety in the area that would see a greater demand for emergency services to deal with large masses of people, rather than the primary incident.
Mobil also has concerns about noise and light restrictions from new residents hampering its operation, possibly making the use of Gellibrand Wharf economically unfeasible.
''Any restrictions on berth usage would reduce Mobil Altona Refinery's throughput and threaten the refinery's ability to provide the Victorian marketplace with refined fuels, including petrol and diesel for road users and jet fuel for the airport,'' the Mobil statement says.
Evolve managing director Ashley Williams - businessman Ron Walker is a partner in the project - said the application had complied with all the planning controls implemented when the precinct was rezoned in 2012....”

Note by SW
Unfortunately a VCAT Practice Day Decision on 1 November 2013 required Mobil to remove “Safety” and presenting a “Safety Expert Report” from its VCAT Statement of Reasons if it failed to allow the developer’s legal team to see the Safety Case.
The Statement of Reasons is a document completed by all objecting parties prior to the VCAT hearing which sets out the grounds on which objections are to be made. Like “Terms of Reference”, this can constrain what is presented in verbal and written submissions in the hearing.
Mobil initially refused to produce the Safety Case and thus had to remove Safety from its objections, only to have the next Practice Day hearing 15th November still require it to produce the Safety Case to the Developer’s legal team and later to the Developer’s Safety Experts.
The Safety Case is an 8000 page highly confidential set of documents which is prepared by Mobil as a licenced Major Hazard Facility operator to be approved by Worksafe on a 5 year cycle. The last one was in 2012. It is confidential because it contains information covered by the anti-terrorism legislation and since 9/11 many countries in the world have legislation which makes documents such as MHF Safety Cases highly confidential.

Report witheld to 'profit rich men', says Save Williamstown group - updated

Sat, 25 Jan 2014 00:42:49 +1100

Hobsons Bay Weekly
BY GOYA DMYTRYSHCHAK
30 May, 2012 12:00 AM

“THE Save Williamstown group has accused Planning Minister Matthew Guy of withholding a report for 18 months because he knew its contents would stymie Liberal heavyweight Ron Walker's residential development at Williamstown.
Mr Guy last week rejected a recommendation in the Ports and Environs advisory committee report to impose a ports environs overlay (PEO) over the Port Phillip Woollen Mill site.
Evolve Development, half owned by Mr Walker, is part of a company planning to build more than 400 dwellings (NOW 800) including four (Now THREE) towers at the site, which is near Mobil's fuel tank farm.
Mobil supplies about half of Victoria's fuel.
Last year, Mr Guy rejected another advisory committee's recommendation to cap building heights on the entire mill site.
State Williamstown MP Wade Noonan criticised Mr Guy's rejection of the Ports advisory committee's recommendation to put a PEO over the whole mill site.
"They're saying that there should be a more cautious approach taken in relation to simple things like how do you evacuate more than 1000 people, potentially, from a series of towers," Mr Noonan said. "It doesn't make any sense to me to put the biggest, most highly intensive development within an area that this Ports and Environs advisory committee report is now saying you should not do."
Save Williamstown spokesman Godfrey Moase said every day the report's recommendations weren't implemented was another day the community remained at risk. "Apparently the operations of the Point Gellibrand major hazard facility don't deserve to be taken into account in the decision-making process for a major development in Williamstown," he said.
"Never before have I seen a state government actually put the lives of residents at risk by ignoring the advice of its own experts so that a handful of rich men can make additional profits.
"The level of disregard for the safety of our community the minister has displayed is personally upsetting."
Evolve managing director Ashley Williams dismissed Mr Moase's comments as nonsense...
...He said Mr Guy had been forced to choose between two different recommendations for the site and had imposed a design and development overlay (DDO), which imposed "far more rigid and demanding controls than proposed under the ports environs overlay".
"[Mr Guy] quite clearly says ... 'I've acted on the advice of another advisory committee and put in place far more stringent requirements in a DDO.'

"The controls we've got on the site are quite cumbersome and respond to the extensive submissions made to both advisory committees.
"This is just more misleading anti-development propaganda from Save Williamstown......”

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/279237/report-withheld-to-profit-rich-men-says-save-williamstown-group/?nav=Y2F0X2lkLzE=

Note by SW
How are Mr Guy and Mr WIlliams going to explain what they said in 2012 if there is a catastrophic incident which ends up with community casualties and with a Royal Commission investigating why this planning went SO WRONG.... This requirement was NOT more stringent Mr Williams and is was NOT what the PPWM Advisory Committee recommended. In fact they said a skin of business commercial light industrial was more appropriate on Kanowna St under health and safety controls for workers but that is something else that you have ignored in briefing your architects. The Emergency Evacuation Plan (EEP) you had prepared spoke of construction worker evacuation policies NOT residents and you were supposed to get that rewritten. How can 4 bedroom houses and 9 storey apartment blocks were people are elderly, people are sick at home, people are sleeping, there are young children, there are elderly infirm... there are people who have drunk too much alcohol or taken a sleeping tablet and are very very fast asleep. People at work under Worksafe H&S regulations are not in any of the situations above. The EEP even said some had to wear red hats, some yellow and some white and they needed to update their training every 6 months. So the only way may be that Evolve/NP Development has to budget for staff to look after these dwellings for the next 50 years or more... unlikely when profit today is a motive.
 MR GUY MIGHT ARGUE AT AN ENQUIRY THAT HE WAS JUST ANOTHER MINISTER WHO DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HIS DEPARTMENT WAS GETTING UP TO OR MAYBE HE WILL TAKE THE SAME KIND OF BLAME THAT HE LIKES TO ATTRIBUTE TO JUSTIN MADDEN FOR REZONING RESIDENTIAL WITHOUT COMMUNITY CONSULTATION.

MAYBE HE WASN’T AWARE THAT THE EMERGENCY EVACUATION PLAN WHICH WAS TO BE REQUIRED IN THE PPWM ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT FOR PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE SITE HAD BEEN WHITTLED DOWN IN A LATE CHANGE NOT SHOWN TO HOBSONS BAY COUNCIL (OR THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING) BY THE STATE PLANNING DEPT JUST 4 WORKING HOURS BEFORE SPECIAL ENTRY IN THE GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. THE PPWMAC’s EEP FOR THE WHOLE SITE WHICH EXTENDS ABOUT 200M FROM KANOWNA ST WAS CHANGED TO ONLY 25 M FROM THE KANOWNA ST EDGE OF THE SITE IN THE FINAL GAZETTED VERSION ie That was Planning Law now enacted 1 December 2011.

At a meeting with Mr Guy in December 2013 organised by Mary Drost an SW representative quizzed him about this very issue .. A set of documents was presented to the minister. He said “look at this” pointing to the highlighted text in the document below. He said he did include the recommendations of the Port Phillip Woollen Mill Advisory Committee required reports in his review of the Ports and Environs Committee recommendations

The Minister has accepted the recommendation of a separate advisory committee on a proposal for the site and has applied a Design and Development Overlay (DDO) on the land. There is a stringent list of requirements under the DDO that addresses the interface of the port without the need for an Environmental Significance Overlay. These requirements include noise attenuation measures to limit internal noise levels to a maximum of 45dB; specifications for development within the WorkSafe Planning Outer Advisory Area to ensure buildings can withstand appropriate overepressure levels; a Construction Management Plan; an Acoustic Report; an Emergency Evacuation Plan; a Wind Report, and a Traffic Impact Assessment Report.

So according to the Minister himself in May 2012 - an emergency evacuation plan was required... not some subset of an EEP but one across the site.

When shown what the PPWM Advisory Committee had recommended as published by the minister with the planning scheme amendment C86 on 25th November 2011 - he said “yes” the Emergency Evacuation Plan had been recommended by the PPWMAC

Only problem was, Mr Guy, after sending the draft DDO11 to Hobsons Bay Council and then saying it would be gazetted with no changes - someone made some pretty extensive changes the DDO11 just a few hours prior to Gazettal - after that consultation with council - to something which clearly benefitted the developer - certainly not the new residents of the dwellings or the existing residents whose safety would be compromised by large numbers of new residents living near a major hazard facility. Density may have been removed from the Planning Scheme but density of people is very much a factor in SAFE Working Conditions. Who authorised it? Mr Guy? Mr David Hodge of Ventnor issues who was still in the Planning Dept in 2011? Ms Jane Monk Executive Director who has delegated powers in the Minister’s absence? Mr Guy’s Chief of Staff Meg Bartels also involved with Ventnor issues? or someone else who had the power to write planning law. The Ombudsman’s office said we had to find out if the minister decided it or a staff member before they could accept a complaint as the minister is exempt.

We can see from its properties that the pdf change was on the afternoon of 30th November 2011 just in time for a Special Gazette publication with one item only on 1 December 2011. Another interesting fact because the Government Gazette usually includes several to many items.

Yet 5 months later in May 2012, the minister is giving his reason for not making a Port Overlay on the PPWM site and not including Pt Gellibrand in the decision from the Ports and Environs Committee provision Ministerial Direction 14, that he had included the recommendations of the PPWMAC in DDO11 for the PPWM site.
Ministerial-Direction-No.14-Ports-Environs-31-May-2012.pdf
The map of Port of Melbourne with the legend over Pt Gellibrand speaks volumes! Anyone who wants to research this will find all these bona fide documents show that the minister either knew what had happened and was misquoting his own advisory committee; or he didn’t know what had happened and was duped by bureaucratic process.
Whatever - we are actually talking about people safety and that is something which was discussed at length in the PPWMAC and PEAC and the decision that came out of the planning department after proper community consultation is VERY STRANGE INDEED

VCAT accused of inconsistency on residential overshadowing

Mon, 20 Jan 2014 14:46:14 +1100

The Age
KEN HALEY ■This Sunday Age series on VCAT is a result of an investigation by Swinburne University
journalism students.

“Fighting for the light: Fitzroy resident Carol Skinner is angry with VCAT's decision to allow a two-storey development next to her home. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui
Opponents of inner-suburban development projects in Fitzroy and nearby Brunswick East have accused the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal of ignoring residential codes designed to ensure development does not overshadow their properties.
VCAT last year approved a six-storey, mixed-use complex in Albert Street, Brunswick East - a thoroughfare of late-Victorian terraces featuring wrought-iron facades. All together, 64 residents objected to the building - comprising 120 flats, four offices and 124 parking bays - claiming it would blot out sunlight and ''visually overwhelm the surrounding low-rise houses''.
In a September decision that also took into account the vexed question of overshadowing, VCAT rejected a plea by five residents of Westgarth Street, Fitzroy, not to allow a second storey to be built on one of Melbourne's oldest houses.
Greg and Joy Emmett, who own the terrace at 63 Westgarth Street - built in 1850, before the gold rush, and extended in the 1970s - wanted to add an extra storey. Neighbours on both sides protested the extension would alter the neighbourhood's character and rob them of sunlight.
VCAT acknowledged the residential code's ''site coverage'' provisions would disqualify the Emmetts' proposal but said on small inner-suburban lots ''a higher site coverage is often reasonable''. Site coverage refers to the proportion of a lot on which building can take place.
The complainants' diagrams showed that at 3pm on an average day, sunlight at 65 Westgarth Street would shrink to a 13-square-metre patch. (This is one-third of the minimum-sunlight specification in ResCode.)
The tribunal upheld the Emmetts' right to build, despite conceding the lower penetration of sunlight was not in compliance with Yarra City Council's own residential code.
VCAT also accepted the proposal would increase site coverage at 63 Westgarth Street to 78 per cent, far exceeding the 60 per cent permitted under the code......
.......Planning Institute Australia president Brett Davis said VCAT was well known for giving state policy greater weight than a council or community might wish. He said a VCAT member's individual values could affect outcomes.
The site falls just outside Brunswick's Major Activity Centre (MAC), where many buildings similar to the proposed structure are situated. VCAT declared the multi-storey development would ''consolidate and intensify ... the MAC''.
A VCAT spokeswoman said overshadowing was assessed by councils, and the tribunal only got involved if there was an ongoing dispute.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/vcat-accused-of-inconsistency-on-residential-overshadowing-20140118-311rs.html

Williamstown's Oriental Hotel: OK for demolition angers residents

Wed, 18 Dec 2013 15:05:31 +1100

Hobsons Bay Weekly
By Goya Dmytryshchak

(Thank you Goya for accurate reporting of the situation)
 “The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) last week approved the demolition of a Williamstown hotel even as the building is being considered for state heritage listing.
The decision reversed Hobsons Bay council’s refusal to allow the demolition of the Oriental Hotel.
Evolve Development was given the green light to pull down Williamstown’s second-oldest building and possibly the state’s first three-storey brick hotel (circa 1854) to build a six-storey, 83-dwelling apartment block.
A spokeswoman for the Save Williamstown residents’ group, Charmian Gaud, described the ruling as “devastating”.
“We think the Oriental is actually of national heritage significance,” she said.
“The oldest three-storey Georgian hotel in Tasmania – it’s 1829 – is on the Heritage Tasmania list and it’s also on the national heritage register.
“And then there’s another one, the Orient in Sydney; again, it’s on New South Wales heritage [list] and the national register.”
Evolve managing director Ashley Williams said he was pleased that VCAT recognised the Oriental was beyond repair and also the significance of the site as an area highly suitable for urban renewal.
“The decision also sends a strong signal to Hobsons Bay council that it should start to process future applications in accordance with the planning scheme rather than as an ad hoc response to local political pressures.
“As noted previously, the request for Heritage Victoria to consider the registration of the Oriental for state listing is a last-minute, futile attempt by Save Williamstown to further delay progress on the site.”
Hobsons Bay mayor Sandra Wilson said the decision marked a sad day for Williamstown, but the developers needed to satisfy the conditions of the planning permit before commencing any demolition.
Heritage Victoria (HV) spokeswoman Tanya Wolkenberg said HV and the Heritage Council of Victoria had both received an application for an interim protection order (IPO) for the hotel to stop demolition.
“Both Heritage Victoria and the Heritage Council have decided not to issue an IPO as the place is not in immediate or imminent threat.
“Under the Planning and Environment Act 1987, demolition cannot proceed without a planning permit.....”

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/1793851/williamstown-s-oriental-hotel-ok-for-demolition-angers-residents/?nav=Y2F0X2lkLzEx

Does the Developer care about the nearby community ASBESTOS ALERT - Port Phillip Woollen Mills

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 10:16:10 +1100

NOW the Asbestos team moves in.. when the air has been polluted with dry dust.

Having spent MONTHS clearing the site - going beyond the VCAT decision about Archaeological research whenever MANMADE SURFACE is disturbed - another reason why care should have been taken on MAN MADE SURFACE and STRUCTURES...

Why did HBC use SECONDARY CONSENT to change the VCAT decision without notice to the objecting parties.. They did not need to - this site should have been handled properly and respectfully

2 months of clearing and carrying materials in open trucks past Schools and Child Care Centres because Worksafe OH & S wouldn’t allow workers to climb and cover the massive trucks...

NOW the Asbestos team moves in.. when the air has been poluted with dry dust.

Where is Council and EPA and Worksafe and WHY haven’t nearby residents been warned and streets closed off..

Pictures to prove the clearing is done and after the fact Asbestos removal... THE WRONG WAY ROUND ... they should have found and removed under proper conditions - the asbestos first

Many of us have walked past - what inhalations did we have and on what dates.. Digital photos will record those times and moments for future reference. Storms in the last two months have blown material to houses all around and on the transport routes..
What about the customers of the Titanic Theatre Restaurant.
Why are there no protection covers over everywhere they suspected Asbestos.. This is a product that even a miniscule amount can lead to health issues in the long term future.

Construction Approval by VCAT Stage 1a Corner Nelson Place and Ann St including demolishing the Oriental - No Adaptive Re-use of Heritage Buildings

Fri, 13 Dec 2013 15:04:01 +1100

VCAT has ordered that all four applications are approved with virtually no change to what the developer put forward.

Full VCAT decision: Decision Stage1A.pdf

The issue of safety from the fuel importation ships was treated as insignificant despite being presented with the Quantarisk Report which included a QRA and stated that an explosion on the ships or the pier would impact up to 1.4 km (includes the WHOLE PPWM Site. At the time of the Quantarisk Report 1992 when a quantatative risk assessment was done on Pt Gellibrand for similar residential proposals on there were 3 main findings, that the land was only suitable for car parking and open space and the density of the population on the peninsula should be reduced. At

TERRIBLE VCAT DECISION - APPROVAL TO DEMOLISH the Oriental Hotel - the 1854 oldest building in Williamstown after the Time Ball Tower

Wed, 11 Dec 2013 21:33:57 +1100

OLD HERITAGE WILLIAMSTOWN SCREAMS IN PAIN
NEXT YEAR THE ORIENTAL HOTEL WOULD BE 160 Years old and on FRIDAY the demolition crew will move in and raise it to the ground...

UNLESS HERITAGE VICTORIA WHO ARE ASSESSING IT FOR The STATE HERITAGE REGISTER LISTING ARE ABLE TO PROTECT IT WITH AN INTERIM HERITAGE ORDER....

(click to view larger)

1854 (Cox’s Family Hotel)

1863 (Barkly Arms Hotel - see Adams on the facade)

1871 (Barkly Hotel)

1904 (Oriental Hotel see Oriental on the facade)

Mid 20th Century (Oriental Hotel)

1990s (Willy Tavern)

VCAT decided on 10th December and Save Williamstown received the notice at 3.30pm by email on the 11th December. Without email we would have received the notice in the mail probably tomorrow and the developer can demand that Council issue a demolition order within 3 days of the VCAT notice - ie Friday 13th December - the blackest Friday the 13th. Interestingly last Friday, one of the demolition workers told someone who told a resident of Williamstown: “the Oriental is to be demolished next week and it has asbestos in it....”
We wonder how the demolition worker knew before the VCAT decision was published. In the old days typewriters talked....

The fact that the nomination for the State Register of Victoria is currently being assessed by Heritage Victoria is apparently of NO importance to the VCAT decision
DecisionStage1A.pdf clause 211 of the decision:
“We conclude that the building is of local significance. We place no weight on the application to Heritage Victoria. That application will need to run its course.“

Although VCAT acknowledge there is heritage value in the 1854 Hotel in Williamstown and it is the oldest hotel in Williamstown - there is no reference to it being part of class of early Colonial Georgian Hotels of the 1850s in the State of Victoria (or the colony as it was then). This was the establishment period of Victoria and the others hotels in Portland, Geelong and the city are two storey not three storey.

At the VCAT hearing structural experts said it would cost $1.5 to $2 million to restore - half the cost of a house on The Strand and with the potential to have a number of apartments in the adaptive reuse of an EXTREME heritage building.... in a large development worth $300million surely the developer can give a little credence to heritage buildings in the place of first settlement.

Why demolish a building that next year would have been 160 years old. What do we gain but out of place monstrosities too close to heavy industry to allow comfortable lifestyle to new residents. Some of them will be pokey little holes of barely 45 sq m. At least if extreme heritage is to be replaced you would think it would be a worthy replacement!

Developers obviously do not care about Williamstown’s heritage - they told Hobsons Bay Council Special Planning Committee Chairman - see you in VCAT when the Mayor pleaded with them to restore this building following the Leslie Alves report which changed the date to 1854. Developers come from out of Williamstown, probably living in eastern suburbs mansions and their purpose is to make money probably not even meeting first home buyer needs but advertising in asia to sell to investors....

Well, as they say once history is destroyed - you will never get it back....

The developer told VCAT the hotel was in a bad state of repair when they bought it in 2005 but Council had photos in from 1999 which showed a fine solid building. They even admitted that they had never tried to restore it. It was evident that little maintenance of windows, pipes, roof or even locking the doors had been attempted since they bought the hotel - resulting in water intrusion and now according to the developer is now beyond repair.

Hasn’t anyone seen Grand Design.. a gantry on the outside while the walls are stabilised, then a steel load bearing structure on the inside and to which the walls are tied and then the gantry can be removed. Result a stable building and any rooms inside are supported by the steel load bearing framework... the simple solution which the structural expert engaged as a witness by Save Williamstown said is done on MANY buildings in Melbourne. This was not even reported in the VCAT decision. WHY DO COMMUNITIES WASTE MONEY ON EXPERTS THAT ARE NOT EVEN LISTENED TO?

The questions raised by objectors about whether the developer’s Expert Witness had considered the gantry method and an internal steel structural frame for adaptive reuse of the building as listed in the Design and Development Overlay objectives - not reported. The expert admitted it was a known method used in restoration. He also admitted that three (or higher) storey buildings generally need a steel structure whereas two storey buildings are often have wooden beams. Thus the steel structure costs would be an off-set on the cost of the new internal dwellings. None of this even reported in the VCAT decision. VCAT does not appear to be the people’s court in this case but appears to comply with ALL that the developer asked.

Lets hope at least Heritage Victoria give this old dame in Williamstown a lease of life, list it in the state register and provide first an Interim Protection Order followed by FULL PROTECTION.

With nothing comparable in Victoria our research took us interstate. Comparable Hotels are the oldest 3 storey Georgian Hotel in Sydney - the Orient in George St, The Rocks, and the Knopswood the oldest three storey hotel in Salamanca Place, Hobart. They are in similar locations vis a vis original port areas of the two cities. They are both not only on their State Registers but also on the National Heritage Register. In the National Register, old photos are not even provided for the Knopswood and only one old photo for the Orient. Compare this with the Cox’s Family Hotel / Barkly Arms Hotel / Oriental Hotel starting with the Lithograph by Quarrill in 1854 and photos through 1863, 1871, 1904, 1950s up to 1990s - continuous photos which show little structural change to this Georgian building to today. AND in case anyone says this building isn’t ornate, isn’t pretty - well the fact is that Colonial Georgian buildings were plain, rough bricks often rendered - they are not like the 1880’s Royal Hotel just down the Nelson Place from the Oriental which misleadingly has written on it “Established in 1852” - it is not an 1850s building. This very ornate late Victorian Building (typical of its built era) totally replaced a small wooden pub and was built in the 1880s.

There is even a story revealed by the National Library Trove Archives of The Argus newspaper - 1867 with the arrival of Prince Alfred Duke of Edinburgh - the first Royal Visit. The Oriental was then called the Barkly Arms Hotel:

“The finest view to be had of the arrival and departure of the Galatea and flotilla is from the highly finished flat roof of the
Barkly Arms Hotel.
It is commodious and capable of accommodating 400 persons, who will be able to see the first approach of His Royal Highness. The hotel being 53ft high, it is consequently the most elevated situation in the colony and commands the most extensive view of the Harbour and Bay.
Retiring rooms for ladies and attendance.
Reserved seats can be secured by letter or otherwise.
Barkly Arms Hotel, Williamstown
R T Adams Proprietor”

That makes this hotel the equivalent of the Rialto or the Eureka tower in the 19th Century. No other hotel could advertise this elevation and view down the bay and of the procession.

(click to view larger)

(click to view larger)

Because the Oriental was misdated by Hobsons Bay Council as 1871, the Heritage Overlay Citation is wrong but it is still used by VCAT. Its real history should have been considered by VCAT not outdated citation material.

In terms of the construction in brick, this was not the usual material in Williamstown where most of the buildings were blue stone - the local stone or wooden, so the bricks for the Oriental most likely came as ballast in the ships which carried agricultural and other products between NSW and the colony.
 HISTORY IS FULL OF DISCOVERIES and this is the case in the Oriental’s history - it is morally wrong to destroy it...

Full VCAT decision: DecisionStage1A.pdf

Invite to Save Williamstown Christmas Party! Supporting keeping our “Family Friendly” Town

Sun, 8 Dec 2013 17:25:25 +1100

Join with friends, neighbours and relatives and meet others in the Williamstown Community and supporters from far and wide.....

2014 is going to be a big campaign year as the developer tries to impose 36m and probably up to 60m High Rise High Density Residential towers.

Fund raising to present the best case for quashing inappropriate development is vital. The site is a mixed use zone and the developer can design buildings which are respectful of our heritage, our industry and most of all our unique village atmosphere which the film makers love.

Christmas Party on Sunday 8th December 12noon to 4pm at the Lacrosse Club - near Williamstown Beach

DONATIONS NEEDED NOW
TO SAVE WILLIAMSTOWN FUNDS
PAYING FOR URGENTLY NEEDED
LEGAL SUPPORT
TARGET $50K
to donate just click here or email

VCAT decision on Archaeology overturned by Council Officers using Secondary Consent

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:25:44 +1100

VCAT Matter P785/2012 re: Demolition of the Former Port Phillip Woollen Mill Buildings Lots 1 to 9 excluding Lot 2 - January 2013 decision on austlii website  Conditions were appealed to demolish outer walls & replace with 3m wooden fence - ref no P385/2013 - determined by VCAT Member Baird 20th June 2013
PPWM Building Walls can be demolished and replaced by acoustic 3m fence
Demolition and walls allowed to floor level, and
Archaeological Survey condition is the same as in P785/2012 and states “Before works are carried out that would significantly disturb the man-made or natural surface or subsoil of the land, an archaeological survey and photographic record of significant relics and structures must be prepared by a suitably qualified archaeologist and submitted to the Responsible Authority. The archaeological survey and photographic record must be carried out in accordance with the requirements of Heritage Victoria and Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.”

The conditions remained the same until the developer’s planning consultant wrote to Council in August 2013 and asked for the Man-Made Surface to be removed from the Archaeologist condition. 8 days later without even letting the original objectors at VCAT know the conditions were changed and the developer started excavating.
See: https://greenlight.e-vis.com.au/hbcc/public/main.aspx?frm=uc_applicationDisplay_Open.ascx&appTypeId=1&mId=103&AppId=65225 30/08/2013 Amended Permit > Approve Amended Permit > Complete : Letter Sent to applicant

Also Council has failed to ensure Aboriginal Affairs Victoria requirements were followed ...
“The archaeological survey and photographic record must be carried out in accordance with the requirements of Heritage Victoria and Aboriginal Affairs Victoria”
The Developer had their expert witness in Stage 1A prepare an assessment of where heritage artifacts may be discovered without consultation with anyone else. That report was sent to HV to see if it met HV requirements and they stated it did but for AAV there was NO RESPONSE. The digging just started without the condition being met.

So the community works hard to protect the Williamstown Heritage and gets a good decision by Member Code, upheld by Member Baird and our own Hobsons Bay Council officers change the decision with no third party consultation under what is known as SECONDARY CONSENT - where is the democracy in that.

Parliamentary Debate - Residential Encroachment onto Major Hazards Facilities and Fuel Importation

Sun, 10 Nov 2013 15:09:47 +1100

Legislative Council Debate 30th October 2013

Following Hobsons Bay Council’s resolution in February 2013 as explained in the Mayor’s statement:
“...The Council will also work closely with local MPs to push for the assessments to help with safety and planning around major hazard facilities.
Mayor of Hobsons Bay Councillor Angela Altair said Hobsons Bay was home to eight major hazard facilities and careful planning was needed to ensure the facilities and the community could co-exist safely.
“We will continue to lobby the state government to address planning gaps around development near major hazard facilities, to provide clear direction and ensure consistency and community safety,” said Cr Altair....”

Local Member for Williamstown Wade Noonan delivered a petition to Parliament last week signed by local residents asking for a Parliamentary Enquiry:
The Petition of residents of Hobsons Bay in the State Seat of Williamstown Victoria draws to the attention of the House that within this electorate there are eight major hazard facilities. The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Assembly of Victoria initiate a Parliamentary into the appropriateness of allowing new residential developments within close proximity to these major hazard facilities and further request that a State Emergency Evacuation Plan is prepared for Point Gellibrand.

On 30th October the upper house of State Parliament the Legislative Assembly debated the matter:
Motion:
That this house —
(1) notes —
(a) the increased inner urban housing development in Melbourne close to major hazard facilities (MHF) including hundreds of new dwellings in the inner western region of Melbourne within 300 metres of a MHF;
(b) that since the 2005 explosion at a MHF in Buncefield, UK, where more than 40 people were injured, some seriously, thousands of people were evacuated, and property damage was recorded several kilometres from the scene, there has been increased recognition of the need for buffers for residential and other developments;
(c) that there is only limited guidance from WorkSafe Victoria to help planning authorities assess the risks of new residential developments close to MHFs and that this material does not consider the risks associated with shipping, including the discharge and loading of vessels at MHFs, such as Point Gellibrand in Williamstown;
(d) that the Hobsons Bay City Council, covering at least eight MHFs, has stated, ‘There is no clear state government planning policy around MHF in Victoria’, and has asked for an urgent risk assessment;
(e) that at least one MHF operator has raised concerns regarding the issues of people safety in relation to hundreds of new dwellings planned within 300 metres of Mobil’s Point Gellibrand MHF; and
(f) the local community, local councils, MHF operators and others are concerned about the adequacy of existing regulation concerning the risks imposed by housing developments close to major hazard facilities; and
(1) requires the Economy and Infrastructure References Committee to inquire into, consider and report by 11 March 2014 on the adequacy of existing planning and other regulations in Victoria to safeguard and protect residents living near major hazard facilities, including recommending any changes and improvements to buffers and other legislative and regulatory changes.
Moved Brian Tee ALP, supported by Colleen Hartlands Greens

This matter should for moral reasons NEVER be split on party lines but it was. The debate was lost as local member for Western Metro Region Andrew Elsbury slammed the initiative and essentially reneged on previous commitments. The community finds this strange when the council decision in February had been triggered by a letter from Andrew Elsbury after the Save Williamstown Rally at the Mechanics Institute in December 2012 when we raised the issues of the Quantarisk Report 1992 which included a QRA of Pt Gellibrand and concluded that the dangers from Ship Explosions was about 1.4km and the danger from Tank Explosions was about 450m. Sanely the report suggested a reduction in existing population densities and the PPWM land was only suitable for car parking and open space. Since that time the ships are managed under Flag States such as Marshall Is, Liberia, Cayman Is and are now 3 times as large as the ships owned by Mobil in 1992.

However despite the concerns expressed less than a year ago - it seems Mr Elsbury may have been talking with colleagues and decided to support the party line. It was noted our other Western Metro Region MLC Mr Bernie Finn was not present and sought a pair.

The disappointing result of such a reasonable request can be seen in the Hansard Proof of 30th October sitting.
Hansard Council 30 Oct 2013 MHF debate.pdf

SAVE WILLIAMSTOWN COMMENT:

The Politicians will rue the day that they made SAFETY a party political divide. As Mobil stated - they have raised the issue of PEOPLE SAFETY in a sensible manner and the panel and others should clearly understand. No matter what this developer may try to argue, the Mobil fuel importation is an integrated facility of BOTH the Mobil Tank Farm for which they are responsible and Port of Melbourne responsibility for overseas ships berthing at Pt Gellibrand. The ships carry 120,000 Tonnes of Crude Oil or Petrol or other hydrocarbons from next year which makes then equivalent to a very large MHF in their own right. They will take 10 days to discharge fuel through the Tank Farm system.

Does this State Government really want to jeopardise the supply of fuel to the Victorian Economy by supporting one developer’s high rise apartment plans.

3 storey apartment in the line of an explosion - Texas 2013
Blast Zone Damage to 2000 ft (609 metres)

Developers need to listen to what Heritage Victoria recommends re Preservation of the Oriental Hotel

Thu, 31 Oct 2013 18:55:29 +1100

1854 (Coxes Family Hotel)

1863 (Barkly Hotel)

1871 (Barkly Hotel)

1904 (Oriental Hotel)

Mid 20th Century (Oriental Hotel)

1990s (Willy Tavern)

Hobsons Bay Weekly
Port Phillip Woollen Mill site: No half measures for historic hotel

By Goya Dmytryshchak
15:44:PM 29/10/2013

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/1792081/port-phillip-woollen-mill-site-no-half-measures-for-historic-hotel/?nav=Y2F0X2lkLzEx

“Renovate or detonate? That’s the question hanging over Williamstown’s former Oriental Hotel on the Port Phillip Woollen Mill development site.
Heritage Victoria is investigating whether the hotel should be included on the state’s heritage register, while at the same time Victoria’s planning tribunal is deciding whether it should be demolished.
In February, Hobsons Bay council refused the demolition of the 1854 hotel, which is Williamstown’s second-oldest building and possibly the state’s first three-storey brick hotel........
.........Heritage Victoria executive director Tim Smith said an officer would inspect the hotel and then he would make a recommendation on whether to include the place on the register.
Mr Smith’s recommendation will be put on public notice and the community will have 60 days to make a submission.
VCAT was expected to hand down its decision as early as next month.
Evolve director Ashley Williams accused residents lobbying to save the hotel of delay tactics. He said people were being misled to think the hotel could be saved. “The reality is that the fabric of the building doesn’t even warrant a Hobsons Bay listing, let alone a state listing.
“This is a last-minute effort by the objectors to further delay the redevelopment of the site.”
Save Williamstown spokeswoman Charmian Gaud said the building was a rare example of a Victorian colonial Georgian hotel that had led to Heritage Victoria accepting a nomination for state heritage listing.”

Response to Ashley Williams in the above article:

Save Williamstown presented EXPERT structural evidence at he VCAT hearing.
To save and reconstruct the hotel:
1. Put a temporary steel gantry around the outside. Hire this
2. Secure the walls to the gantry and repair to the stage where it is safe to enter the building
3. Place a permanent steel structural framework inside the building which is load bearing
4. Complete the repair of the walls
5. The cost if the internal steel structure is designed to be load bearing for the new uses becomes an off set on the cost of the apartments or community rooms inside the building
6 When the walls and structural load bearing inside is complete, remove the gantry from the outside

Leaning Tower of Pisa principle as long as the structure for load bearing is sound - walls do not have to be plum

Cost around $2 million in a $300million project!!!

Developers need to respect heritage property not demolish it!

Aboriginal Heritage Regulations interpreted to say Reclaimed Shipyard land has culturally significance

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 20:57:59 +1000

Is it BIZARE or are VCAT and Aboriginal Affairs Victoria just not prepared to be rational and fair minded when it comes to protecting aboriginal cultural heritage...... How can land which was reclaimed in 1880s 50 years after white settlement with NO aboriginal cultural sensitivity be marked by administrators in AAV as sensitive.

AND then VCAT support this morally wrong decision.

In reality land within 200m of Nelson Place which was the original high tide watermark is should be protected by the AH Act. With history around Cecil St and Nelson Place of Aboriginal Ceremonies, Law Making and Punishment being documented Letter of Support from Prof Ian Clark.jpg Professor Clark is lead author of The Yalukit-Willum First Peoples of Hobsons Bay - published by Hobsons Bay Council.

Also it is highly likely that a main campground for the first peoples of the Yalukit-willum of the Boon Wurrung tribe was at Pt Gellibrand probably on the PPWM site where 7 fresh water wells pre 1865 have been located.

But according to VCAT NO significance exists and the evidence of Aboriginal elders not listened to because the Aboriginal Heritage Council has refused to confirm the tribe as a Registered Aboriginal Party. Even the purpose of the Act to protect Aboriginal heritage seems to be overturned.

This is the letter of the Boon Wurrung elder about this wrongly defined matter.
Letter of support CHMP Boon Wurrung Elder.jpg

This case has destroyed the community’s faith that VCAT will at least have fair hearings and that legal principals of fairness and justice before the law will prevail.

This is what the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs had to say:
Aboriginal Affairs Minister comments about Pt Gellibrand.jpg

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2013/1648.html

Planning for the worst -Matthew Guy in the firing line

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 00:36:53 +1000

Brisbane Times
Bruce Guthrie

“....Matthew Guy has big plans - for the city, the state and, perhaps most of all, himself. And he's wasted no time putting many of them in place. As Planning Minister - with ambitions to be premier - he's reshaping the CBD and has signed off on many new developments, even a new suburb or two. He's a man in a hurry.
Which makes his botched rezoning of a 24-hectare Phillip Island farmlet disturbing on many levels. It wasn't so much a plan that came unstuck, as one that was unhinged from the very beginning.
Two years after his embarrassing flip-flop over the property at Ventnor, Victorian taxpayers last week funded confidential, multimillion-dollar payouts to a local landowner and a developer to make the mess go away.
Trouble is, we don't know how many millions it cost to buy silence. And that's a disgrace. If there were valid reasons to keep the details private, I might begrudgingly accept the secrecy surrounding the settlement. But this was a political decision, pure and simple, to save the reputations of Guy and a bunch of blueblood liberals in the run-up to an election.
As The Age's Royce Millar noted when he broke the story last week: "The deal prevents a courtroom grilling for some of the party's most senior figures, including federal frontbenchers Greg Hunt and Andrew Robb, and former premier Ted Baillieu, on their knowledge of one of the murkiest planning affairs in Victoria's recent history.
Most of all, though, it spared Guy, who rezoned the land against the original advice of his department and its lawyers, the local Bass Coast shire, and two independent planning panels after lobbying by local Liberals and a kitchen-table chat with the owner of the property who stood to make millions if it was rezoned residential.
While Guy denies having anything other than a brief discussion with the owner, the farmland was rezoned soon after. It was a breathtakingly stupid move that could have led to hundreds of units being built in an area with little infrastructure.
All this from a man who's made no secret of his desire to reshape planning across the state. How many other decisions will come back to haunt us in other ways?
Not surprisingly, there was an outcry at Ventnor. So much so that just a fortnight after the rezoning decision, Guy overturned it, reportedly because of pressure from then premier Ted Baillieu and local federal MP Hunt, who publicly took credit for convincing Guy to rethink.
If the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) had retrospective powers, I have no doubt there would have been a push to refer the Ventnor affair. In the absence of such powers, there have been calls for a public inquiry...”

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/planning-for-the-worst-20130824-2sim9.html

SW Comment We’re certainly not able to have a chat over the kitchen table with Mr Guy about the stupidity of the Woollen Mills decision which involves safety not cows, but it seems some party faithful in Ventnor have better access.

Caltex's Newport terminal show its biggest new tank would be just 150m from Spotswood homes

Tue, 3 Sep 2013 00:14:10 +1000

HOBSONS BAY LEADER
FIONA O'DOHERTY
SEPTEMBER 03, 2013 12:00AM

PLANS for the expansion of Caltex's Newport terminal show its biggest new tank would be just 150m from Spotswood homes.
The tank is one of eight new tanks planned, doubling terminal capacity.
If approved, it will contain 44.1 megalitres of diesel.
Caltex has lodged an application with EPA Victoria and Hobsons Bay Council. The site now has 12 tanks.
Greens MP Colleen Hartland said 150m was an inadequate buffer zone to protect residents in the case of an emergency.
“Shell in Newport has raised safety concerns about residential development in such proximity to these major hazard facilities,'' she said.
"Yet Caltex, also in Newport, seems to have no problem with putting residents within a couple of hundred metres of the same hazards.
"VCAT has also ruled to prevent hazardous facilities being located adjacent to housing in the case of Shell, so I feel confident that if the local residents took this case to VCAT, the outcome would be favourable."
Caltex spokesman Sam Collyer said the recommended buffer distance was 100m, so its location was well within acceptable standards.
He said the proposed upgrade would ensure the fuel needs of

Victorians were met without compromising amenity or safety for neighbours.
The EPA will decide on the application by September 23.
The council has referred plans to the EPA, Melbourne Water and Port of Melbourne Authority before assessing
A public meeting on the plans will be held at 5.30pm, Wednesday, October 2, at 411 Douglas Pde.
See the plans at epa.vic.gov.au/our-work/ licences-and- approvals ...”
...
Daniel McKinnon of Australia
POSTED AT 9:17 PM SEPTEMBER 03, 2013
The Government is grossly negligent. They refuse to put in place any proper framework for managing buffers between major hazard facilities and housing. It's a scandal and a disaster waiting to happen. A major incident will dwarf Black Saturday when it comes to human impact. When the fuel terminal at Buncefield, England, exploded in 2005 the blast measured 2.4 on the Richter scale and was heard in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Buncefield facility was similar in size to Spotswood. That disaster happened in a commercial/industrial area at 6am on a Sunday. This stroke of luck meant that there were no deaths. However, a Google search on this disaster is very revealing. From Wikipedia: "Several nearby office blocks were hit so badly that almost every window, front and back, was blown in as the explosion ripped through them. During the working day, these offices would have been full of people, and
many deaths may have resulted." This is just not good enough. Governments are scared to upset heavy industry or residential property developers. But the common folk are taking all the risk to their safety, and the impact on their home values. 100 metres is a sick joke.

SW Comment More hydrocarbons too close to homes. This state needs some laws to protect residents when industry encroaches and industry when residents encroach.

Port of Melbourne ‘at risk of fire’ Wade Noonan asks questions in Parliament

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:20:35 +1000

HOBSONS BAY WEEKLY
By BENJAMIN MILLAR
Aug. 28, 2013, 12:53 p.m.

Residents and businesses are being put at risk due to inadequate firefighting capabilities at the port of Melbourne, according to an experienced mariner.
Captain William Korevaar, who has 30 years’ ex- perience in the industry, including 20 as master on firefighting and emergency support vessels, has written to Police and Emergency Services Min- ister Kim Wells and WorkSafe warning of his concerns.
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan has told Parliament he has met Captain Korevaar to discuss the risks associated with shipping tankers berthing at Mobil’s major hazard facility at Point Gel- librand.
“Captain Korevaar’s very clear concern is that if there were to be a major fire incident involving dangerous goods in the port, such as on a tanker in the river, at Point Gellibrand, Holden Dock or Coode Island, there would simply be inadequate capacity to control those fires if shore-side resources could not gain access, failed or were inadequate.”
In his letter to WorkSafe, Captain Korevaar stated that none of the four main tug boats in the port of Melbourne complied with Australian standards.
“Of even greater concern is that the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) cancelled an agreement with towage providers for firefighting support in June, 2013,” Mr Noonan said.
He said the lack of binding arrangements between the port of Melbourne and the MFB defied recognised industry standards.
Port of Melbourne Corporation head of corporate affairs, Peter Harry, said the MFB was a fire- fighting agency, unlike the PoMC.
“While we work closely with MFB on joint exercises etc, the MFB are better placed than our- selves to determine what firefighting resources might be necessary.”
Mr Noonan told the Weekly the revelations raised “very serious concerns” about the risks associ- ated with Williamstown’s Port Phillip Woollen Mill redevelopment, where up to 800 new high- rise apartments and 2000 new residents would be “just a few hundred metres from where 100,000-tonne tankers transfer their hazardous cargo through Mobil’s tanks and pipelines”.
“These concerns have been raised separately with the Minister for Planning on numerous occa- sions but, given his cavalier attitude, he refuses to engage in this issue.”
He cited “a near disaster” at the Point Gellibrand facility in 2009 when a cargo arm broke away from a ship in bad weather and spilled crude oil directly into the bay....”

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/1736674/port-of-melbourne-at-risk-of-fire/?src=rss

SW Comment Let’s hope that if there were ever an explosion or fire at the tanks or the ships the prevailing wind wasn’t from the south east or all fire fighting capability would be lost and Williamstown would be engulfed in noxious fumes.

Planning for the worst -Matthew Guy in the firing line

Sun, 25 Aug 2013 00:27:43 +1000

Micro living in the big city is not for everyone

Mon, 19 Aug 2013 00:37:03 +1000

The Age
by MARIKA DOBBIN - 19/08/13, 3:00 AM

“....They are tiny apartments about the size of a standard car parking space. Studio flats for sale in central Melbourne and Footscray are as small as 15 square metres.
''Micro-apartments'' are a trend in the world's Western cities but not everyone is in favour of them.
Most are less than 18.5 square metres, including separate bathrooms. They typically come furnished, sometimes with built-in beds and other amenities. Few come with parking.
A host of them for sale in Melbourne cost $115,000 to $165,000. All have a single small window and a kitchenette the size of a broom cupboard. The smallest was 11.2 square metres plus a closet bathroom, built several years ago at 268 Flinders Street, in the city.
Agent Barry Plant pulled it off the market on Friday saying it was ''unsellable'' for the reserve of $160,000. Banks would not lend for it despite a new tenant just having moved in, an agent said....”

http://m.theage.com.au/business/property/micro-living-in-the-big-city-is-not-for-everyone-20130818-2s51z.html?skin=iphone

SW Comment Will the Former Port Phillip Woollen Mill Development have some of those and even better they will have to close their one window onto Nelson Place to avoid being woken by noise from the shipyards and the fuel pumps at the MHF. That’s 21st century quality living. The government must set minimum standard and do that soon.

Tavares near Orlando Florida Gas Plant Explosions

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:28:09 +1000

Sky News

http://news.sky.com/story/1122013/florida-gas-plant-explosions-workers-found

“......Nearby residents were evacuated
Seven workers had initially been taken to hospital, some with serious injuries, after emergency crews were called to the Blue Rhino propane processing plant.
The explosions were strong enough to blow the roof off and were felt by residents living up to 10 miles away from the scene, although no neighbours were injured.
Firefighters' efforts were hampered when more fuel containers exploded as the flames spread. They are starting to contain the flames and the cause of the explosions is being investigated.......
....."Although there were other containers that could have exploded, it seems we've escaped that possibility ."
Lake County Sheriff Department spokesman Lt John Herrell later said the evacuation zone around the scene had been reduced from a mile to half a mile.....”

SW Comment Another hydrocarbon explosion with a 1.6km exclusion zone later reduced to 800m

Expansion boost for bay ferry bid

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:57:57 +1000

Hobsons Bay Weekly
By Laura Little July 25, 2013

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/1661436/expansion-boost-for-bay-ferry-bid/?src=rss

“HOBSONS Bay residents could be swapping car trips for ferry rides into Melbourne within two years following expansion of Wyndham Harbour.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy last week announced plans to add about 150 houses and 500 people to the Werribee South marina development to improve viability of a proposed ferry service from Werribee to the CBD. The government says the ferry will stop at Werribee, Altona and Williamstown.
Mr Guy said Wyndham Harbour was one of the most significant developments for the western suburbs since World War II and the expansion was a key part of a future ferry service.......”

SW Comment So is 2000 people at the Former Port Phillip Woollen Mill Development going to improve viability so much that the Werribee South viability becomes a liability! I guess Evolve have also been discussing possibilities with the government.   I think we may become seasick with all of Mr Guy’s brilliant ideas! 90 minutes journey to work from Werribee, Altona will apparently miss out and Williamstown has the slow leg along the 5 knot limit Yarra. However if it is cheap (and commuter travel has to be value for money) is should compete for the tourist dollar with the expensive ferry Williamstown / Southgate which may lose viability.

Oldest Hotel in Williamstown - Cox’s Family Hotel became Barkly, became Oriental. Proven to be 1854

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 10:19:10 +1000

Hobsons Bay Weekly
By Goya Dmytryshchak

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/1628974/oriental-hotel-hearing-finds-1854-link/?src=rss

Oriental Hotel hearing finds 1854 link

“WILLIAMSTOWN residents have claimed a small win in the battle to save Victoria’s oldest three-storey brick hotel.
Residents and Hobsons Bay council are fighting a developer who wants to demolish the Oriental Hotel, on the corner of Nelson Place and Anne Street, and build a six-storey, 83-dwelling apartment block.
Following a 10-day major case hearing, the developer conceded the building dates back to 1854.
Evolve Development had previously claimed the pub dated back to 1871. But the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last Friday heard that surveyor measurements in 1854 were taken in links, not feet, supporting the case of the council and residents.......”

SAVE WILLIAMSTOWN comment:
Our oldest standing hotel should be protected. Although a plain building this does not mean it is not significant. It represents the early Victorian architecture which was still influences by plain Georgian architecture as found in the old hotels in Tasmania. It is also possibly the oldest three storey brick hotel in Victoria with the National Trust website stating that the Eastern Hill Hotel (previously the Belvedere) which is currently 3 storey, did in fact start its life as a two storey building.
http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/search/nattrust_result_detail/67221

Developers should not be allowed to destroy such important heritage buildings in Williamstown.

AND it does happen in Australia - Petrol spill - no fire - 1000m exclusion zone - 130K litres spill in Botany NSW

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 09:37:35 +1000

SBS News
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1788228/Three-in-hospital-after-major-fuel-spill

Failsafe system halts Sydney fuel leak
A potential inferno and environmental disaster in Sydney has been averted, with a retaining wall preventing a broader spill of 2 million litres of fuel.

A failsafe measure has prevented a potential inferno and environmental disaster in south Sydney after 130,000 litres of fuel gushed from a Caltex terminal.
A retaining wall, known as bunding, contained the spill from a tank containing a total of two million litres of unleaded fuel at the Banksmeadow site.
Two workers were carrying out maintenance about 1.30am (AEST) on Friday when a malfunction occurred on a valve, dousing them with fuel.
Fire crews responded and shut the valve but 130,000 litres surged into the outdoor containment area surrounding the tank and bounded by the retaining wall.
The area measured about 25m by 50m, NSW Fire and Rescue said.
Paramedics treated the two workers at the scene before taking them to Prince of Wales Hospital in stable conditions.
A firefighter exposed to the fumes took himself to hospital, suffering a headache.
Hazmat crews applied a thick blanket of foam to the spill before Caltex workers devise a plan to pump the fuel back into tank.
"It (foam) stops the fumes from the petrol mixing with air and forming an explosive mixture," Fire and Rescue Superintendent Tom Cooper told reporters at the site.
"Petrol is very volatile at low temperatures and when it mixes in the right concentration with air you do have a problem."
Six fire trucks and crews responded to the initial incident.
But the job was so large two crews from Sydney Airport fire service were called to help and additional foam was brought in from nearby Kernell.
Police established a 1000m exclusion zone just after the incident before scaling it back to 500m........”

SW Comment
This spill is about 100 tonnes...
How dangerous are fuel importation ships at Pt Gellibrand with 100,000 tonnes of petrol?

Just one tanker... accidents happen in Australia too... Road blocked after fuel tanker rolls

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:03:13 +1000

The Age
by Isaac Johanson - 11/07/13, 5:31 PM

http://m.theage.com.au/victoria/road-blocked-after-fuel-tanker-rolls-20130711-2psmb.html

Road blocked after fuel tanker rolls

“A fuel tanker has overturned and is leaking petrol blocking a main road south of Melbourne.
Frankston-Flinders road and the Westernport highway intersection at Tyabb is blocked after the tanker rolled at 3pm on Thursday.
Country Fire Authority are on the scene and say the tanker, holding 39,000 litres unleaded petrol, is leaking.
"We are currently putting foam on the leak to stop sparking and the council has been requested to bring soil to stop petrol leaking," a CFA spokeswoman said.
The driver escaped unharmed. No other cars are believed to be involved.
The CFA spokeswoman said that it would probably take hours until the area is cleared.
Vicroads is warning motorists to avoid the area........”

Save Williamstown comment:
And QUESTIONS...
Is Westernport really an alternative to Pt Gellibrand for fuel importation by ship and when? If fuel importation by ship were to change to Westernport from Williamstown, will road tankers need to drive during the nighttime through the leafy suburbs of Toorak or Brighton to avoid the tunnels of CityLink? Who is going to answer these really valid questions of risk and safety?

Classically Safety Authorities neglect the dangers of what they refer to a transportation situations. They stop their consideration at “Tanks with Bunds”. That is until there is a catastrophic incident and then they all duck for cover saying they never knew this or that could happen and they did all the right thinks.. Well do they?

No one wants to calculate the dangers of the fuel importation by ship even though ships with over 100,000 tonnes of hydrocarbon will be berthed for 10 days at a time at Pt Gellibrand from 2014. It is about time the government looked realistically at these dangers and stopped residential encroachment onto such facilities. The ships in port would qualify as a Major Hazard Facility in their own right and Port of Melbourne should start looking after the safety needs of nearby communities, before it is too late. Their own safety document says that at Pt Gellibrand pier there is a risk of Fire or Explosion - the community wants to know what are the calculations from a QRA by the Port - how far could a fireball travel from the fuel arms which connect with the ships. Back in 1992, the calculation from a QRA done by Quantarisk was 1460 metres.
http://88-167-53-117.rev.bulletproof.net/environment/~/media/Global/Docs/SEMP.ashx

Crude Oil today explosion in transportation Quebec

Sun, 7 Jul 2013 18:55:20 +1000

News.com.au report
http://www.news.com.au/world-news/train-carrying-oil-explodes-in-quebec-town/story-fndir2ev-1226675423699

“Smoke rises from railway cars that were carrying crude oil after derailing in downtown Lac- Megantic, Quebec. Picture: The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson
AT least one person is dead and many more are reported missing after a train carrying crude oil derailed in Quebec, Canada, sparking explosions and a major fire.
Up to 1000 people in the small town of Lac-Megantic were forced from their homes in the middle of the night as the blaze ripped through the town centre.
Witnesses say the eruptions sent residents scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that lit up the night sky. Quebec provincial police Lieutenant Michel Brunet has confirmed one person has died.....
.....Flames and billowing black smoke could be seen more than 12 hours after the derailment, which involved a 73-car train.
"When you see the centre of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," an emotional Mayor Colette Roy Laroche told a televised news briefing.....
....."On a beautiful evening like this with the bar, there were a lot of people there," said Bernard Demers, who owns a restaurant near the blast site. "It was a big explosion. It's a catastrophe. It's terrible for the population."
Demers, who fled his home, said the explosion was "like an atomic bomb. It was very hot. ... Everybody was afraid".
Charles Coue said he and his wife felt the heat as they sprinted from their home after an explosion went off a couple of hundred metres away.
"It went boom and it came like a fireball," he said.....
......Media reports said as many as 60 residents of the small town were missing....
.....Police and firefighters secured a perimeter around the area, where about 30 buildings continued to burn........”

Guy blunder to cost state heavily

Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:57:53 +1000

The Age
by ROYCE MILLAR - 27/06/13, 3:00 AM

“Victorian taxpayers are facing a costly compensation bill as the Napthine government seeks to keep its most damaging planning blunder out of the courts.
The government is in confidential negotiations over compensation with Carley Nicholls, the woman behind a contentious housing subdivision proposed for Ventnor on Phillip Island.
Fairfax Media understands escalating offers, now at more than $1 million, have been made to settle the matter, set for the Supreme Court on August 20.
Government insiders say they expect the offer to continue to increase as concerns mount about the possible airing in court of Liberal Party manoeuvring over the proposed development of the picturesque property that overlooks Western Port.
In late 2011 Planning Minister Matthew Guy approved rezoning of the 24-hectare farmlet for housing and then scuttled the approval amid protests from within his own Liberal Party, the local community and celebrity tweeter Miley Cyrus.
Ms Nicholls, the buyer of the site, is suing Mr Guy and the government over its backflip and she is seeking the reinstatement of the minister's initial rezoning approval........

.......Her claims are at odds with Mr Guy's recollection of events leading to his September approval of the rezoning
In his defence detailed in documents lodged with the court, the minister acknowledges the meeting at Ms Nicholls' seaside home but denies the Ventnor proposal was raised or even knowledge of Ms Nicolls' interest in the property.
The documents say Mr Guy acted ''in error'' in rezoning the land but had relied on the advice of ministerial staff.
Ms Nicholls told Fairfax Media she believed Mr Guy overturned his decision at the direction of the office of then premier Ted Baillieu, not on planning grounds......”

http://m.theage.com.au/victoria/guy-blunder-to-cost-state-heavily-20130626-2oxlr.html

Williamstown tower knockback, ‘catastrophe’ alert

Wed, 26 Jun 2013 00:52:46 +1000

Hobsons Bay Weekly
26 June 2013
By Goya Dmytryshchak

“AN 11-storey tower proposed for Williamstown has been knocked back as an oil giant warned of the potential for a catastrophic disaster.
Mobil barrister Peter Willis said the company’s ability to operate in the interests of the state – supplying half Victoria’s fuel – would be affected if a 137- dwelling tower planned by Evolve Development went ahead.
Mobil’s Point Gellibrand tank farm is next door to the site of the proposed development. Evolve’s plan for 41 three-storey townhouses on the Port Phillip Woollen Mill site was also rejected by Hobsons Bay council last Thursday.
The applications for 2-10 and 339 Nelson Place and 16-20 Kanowna Street form part of a much larger development that would add about 2000 people to Williamstown’s population.
A special planning committee meeting of the council, attended by a packed public gallery, unanimously rejected the development applications, part of which would fall inside a 300-metre safety buffer from Mobil’s tank farm and supply ships.
Evolve managing director Ashley Williams did not attend. His agent Lloyd Elliot told the panel that his client was not there because of “personal reasons”.
Mr Willis said Mobil operated for 96 to 110 hours continuously, and from 2015, when bigger ships would arrive, operations would increase to “170 hours continuously or just over seven days, day and night”.
Mr Willis told the panel Mobil’s motto was “nobody gets hurt”. “If things go wrong, they could go wrong catastrophically,” he said.
He said a pressure wave could be set off as a result of a disastrous event and all windows of a high rise would be susceptible to being blown out........”

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/1598693/williamstown-tower-knockback-catastrophe-alert/?src=rss

COUNCIL refuses the permit for 178 dwellings

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:17:51 +1000

Hot off the press

Tonight Hobsons Bay Council Special Planning Committee agreed with the Council Officers that the 178 dwellings including a 40 metre high rise high density tower should never be built in Pt Gellibrand. They spoke about the lessons we learned from West, in Texas when an explosion devasted the place and how we need to always be aware that Major Hazard Facilities do have hazards. They also questioned the audacity of putting for a plan which is part of an 800+ dwelling site and would house up to 2000 new residents, without at least considering some real community infrastructure input on the site. Mobil’s barrister explained clearly at the meeting that Mobil must have the right to operate its refinery in the interests of the people of Victoria and not have the safety compromised. He reminded the SPC that the motto of Mobil is NOBODY GETS HURT and putting residents in the Worksafe Advisory Area was not best practice. He also reminded the hearing that Mobil uses international standard of 400 from the tanks as the distance for explosions and that putting high rise towers only a couple of metres from the advisory area ignored the fact that one metre away things do not suddenly change to a safe zone. There was far too much glass in the design and the developer hasn’t taken obvious dangers into account.

So a very good decision by Mayor Angela Altair, Councillors Peter Hemphill and Paul Morgan.

BUT in the cynical exercise to beat it all, before the council had made a decision, the developer has taken the matter to VCAT and even obtained a date in September for the hearing. How can the 60 days rule apply when the developer didn’t even meet the criteria for the Emergency Evacuation Plan that the Operator of the MHF Mobil had to be consulted. Surely that is why the clock stops so that Developers with incomplete documentation can’t go willy nilly to VCAT - they should have to meet bare minimums before they are allowed to apply to VCAT.

Picture above - The hard hats say it all. The “draft” emergency evacuation plan would require residents to appoint Area Wardens, Wardens etc as Safety Personnel and require training.... etc. So 4 bedroom houses where there could be elderly parents, children arriving home from school etc would have these requirements.
“Residents are not an entity capable of organising in an emergency”

BIG FUNDRAISING DAY for Save Williamstown

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 22:52:55 +1000

15 June 2013
A day of Events for Save Williamstown - helping with fighting the high rise high density proposals on Pt Gellibrand.

9am to 3pm - HUGE Garage Sale - STARTING in Cecil St (at bay end) / Ann St / Kanowna St / Aitken St with most of the streets having house after house taking part in a Communal Garage Sale to raise funds/ Every purchase will help with 50% of sales going to Save Williamstown for our legal fighting fund

9am to 9pm - 12 Hour Silent Auction of items some worth thousands of dollars. Such as: a Barrister appearing for you in the Magistrates courts; a weekend in Point Lonsdale for the whole family; artworks and more.....
Auction results will be announced at the Soiree in Osborne St at 9pm but the community and anyone who isn’t attending the Soiree can send in a written Pre-Bid as long as it is emailed before 5pm.
Auction items viewing at the Soiree
Information about how to do an Auction Pre-Bid is available here Silent Auction Pre Bidding

6.30pm to 9pm - Soiree at Osborne House hosted by Rae and Bill Szuch - a fantastic fundraiser for Save Williamstown with food and music in the elegance of a heritage home in Osborne St.

Join Save Williamstown Inc as a Member or an Associate - ask for information at the events

SW COMMENT:
Come and join in with a fun and bonding day for
members of Save Williamstown

Emergency Consultation Needed in New Suburbs

Tue, 4 Jun 2013 13:10:10 +1000

Hobsons Bay Leader
3 June 2013

http://leader.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

“EMERGENCY services have urged developers and planners to consult them when building new suburbs.

Firefighters Union national secretary Peter Marshall siad it was sometimes hard fo rfire trucks to get through narrow streets in emergencies.

“Any inhibiting factors like cars parked in narrow streets are a problem. They do these things without consultation,” he said.

He said there should be a mandatory requiremetn in any design for emergency service vehicles.....”

SW COMMENT:
I wonder what they really think about 2000 people too close to a Major Hazard Facility. The redevelopment of the Former Port Phillip Woollen Mill Site may not be a “NEW SUBURB” but it is more compact with residential density 7 times Hong Kong and Manhattan.. Also there are huge implications for safety in a peninsula.

Councils to take on big projects (or does the Minister really mean VCAT)

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:47:30 +1000

The Age
Tuesday, 21 May 2013

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/councils-to-take-on-big-projects-20130520-2jwzk.html

“The state government will hand back planning powers to local councils for 21 significant sites across Melbourne including South Wharf and the Whitten Oval redevelopment.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy said local councils were best suited to manage local planning deci- sions and he would return powers to them for some strategic sites in the next few weeks.....
..... Eleven sites are located in the City of Melbourne and the rest are in metropolitan municipalities.
Municipal Association of Victoria chief executive Rob Spence welcomed the move, and said it would give the community greater input into local planning decisions.
''When matters are called in by the minister you lose that input,'' he said.
”

SW COMMENT:
This statement was also made about the Former Port Phillip Woollen Mill Site back in November 2011, but immediately after Guy appeared in the Herald Sun article saying he was handing it to council to decide... something contrary actually happened. Despite so called (or FAKE?) consultation with Hobsons Bay Councillors on the Planning Scheme Amendment C86 and DDO11, the DPCD substituted a different document into the Government Gazette which changed the safety requirements from those recommended by the Port Phillip Woollen Mill Advisory Committee Report and viewed by Councillors.

When Hobsons Bay Council asked the developer to co-operate with a Master Plan, we understand the developer said no, not unless we can do high rise. So now Williamstown community is battling a site split into 20 lots each with separate planning applications possible and professional reports which belie the fact that the total development is actually for about 2000 new residents or 20% of the Williamstown Population. And the mantra for the developer “SEE YOU IN VCAT”. They are not even thinking about protecting a heritage hotel on the site, first built in 1854 and possibly the old 3 storey brick hotel in Victoria.Heritage issues

So we would say to Mr Guy, how many well cashed up developers will accept council’s decision. Added to this VCAT fees for the community double from 1 June 2013 See VCAT fee rises

NEXT WEEK - VCAT fees more than double for community members fighting developments to $785.60

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:17:25 +1000

MEDIA RELEASE
The Hon Robert Clark MP
Attorney-General Minister for Finance Minister for Industrial Relations
Friday 17 May 2013

VCAT fee structure modified following community feedback

www.premier.vic.gov.au

“Attorney-General Robert Clark today announced that the Government has modified key elements of the proposed new VCAT fee structure after considering community feedback from Regulatory Impact Statement consultations
Objectors in planning applications will not be liable to pay any fees if they oppose an application to VCAT by a developer, and those bringing consumer, building or owner corporation claims worth less than $500 will continue to pay a fee only at the low “community fee” level.
As well, separate fees will no longer be charged for mediations, with user contributions to mediation costs instead being covered from commencement fees.
“The Government has listened and responded to key issues raised during public consultations,” Mr Clark said.
“At the same time, the new fee structure will restore a reasonable balance between taxpayer and user funding and provide VCAT with additional funds so it can hear more cases more quickly.
“Most fees payable by VCAT users will remain well below the full cost of VCAT proceedings, and many lists will continue to have no fee and low fee arrangements.
“Waiver and fee reduction provisions will also continue to apply in cases of hardship.”
“The previous Labor government failed to keep VCAT fees in line with the costs of running VCAT, meaning that an increasing and unreasonable share of the costs of running VCAT has been falling on taxpayers,” Mr Clark said.
Mr Clark said that after carefully considering the more than 250 submissions received as part of the RIS process that commenced in December last year, the Government intended to alter the new fee structure so that:
• fair trading, domestic building and owners corporation claims worth less than $500 will continue to pay a fee at the ”community fee” level, of $43.90 when the new fees take effect.
• separate mediation fees will no longer be charged, with a portion of the costs of mediation instead being recovered through an addition to application fees. A standard application fee in a planning matter will be $785.60 when the new fees take effect.
• fees for claims about non-compliance with or improper issue of planning permits will also remain at the “community fee” level.  As at present, an applicant seeking to overturn a decision made by a Council on behalf of the local community about granting a planning permit or the conditions attached to it will continue to pay the standard application fee.  The new fee structure will take effect on 1 June 2013. ”

SW COMMENT:
Well they decided to disadvantage objectors pretty quickly.....
How undemocratic this government is when often objectors are doing the right thing for the PEOPLE OF VICTORIA

Airport Zones and Port Zones provide reverse buffering & protect industries from residential encroachment

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:22:09 +1000

Homes under proposed runway's flight path
Updated Mon May 20, 2013 2:01pm AEST

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-20/homes-under-flight-path-of-proposed-runway/4700536?section=vic

“Three thousand homes could be under the flight path of a proposed third runway for Mel- bourne Airport.
The airport has released its preliminary draft master plan, which includes the proposal for a new east-west runway.
The new runway would be parallel to the existing one and be able to handle big planes like A- 380s.
The affected properties are mostly to the east of the airport.....”

SW COMMENT:
The Planning and Environment Act has a section on Melbourne Airport and a section on Williamstown Shipyards.. Both sections are specifically in there to PROTECT industry from noise and other complaints by residents whose homes are too close to those industries.

It was an illogical decision when Minister Matthew Guy refused to accept the recommendations about Pt Gellibrand being a Port Zone in the Ports and Environs Advisory Committee report. Maybe BAE Systems want the opportunity to close down and sell their land to housing developers but what does that do for industry in Australia, Victoria and Williamstown. Housing provides the place to eat the bread and butter but it doesn’t provide the income to buy the bread and butter because apart from the short impetus of the construction time, there is no continuous production from housing. We need our shipbuilding industry and we need our petrochemical industry all the time we keep using cars and other transport. Allowing NEW residential development which will complain about noise too close to BAE Systems and Mobil MHF is really crazy.

Developer can’t alter heritage windows & only 4 people allowed at Marketing Suite at Britannia

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:29:00 +1000

Published on the Victorian Legal Database
Nelson Place Village Pty Ltd v Hobsons Bay CC & Ors [2013] VCAT 491 (10 April 2013)

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2013/491.html

ORDER
Under clause 64 in schedule 1 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 the permit application is amended by:
(a) Substituting 14 Kanowna Street Williamstown as the address of the land
Under Section 127 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 the application for review is amended by:
(a) Substituting 14 Kanowna Street Williamstown as the address of the land.
The decision of the responsible authority in relation to permit application no. PA 1224762 is set aside.
A permit is granted in relation to land at 14 Kanowna Street Williamstown. The permit will allow:
Use of the building for the purpose of a display/marketing suite, alterations to the existing building with associated demolition work, reduction of the statutory parking requirement and the provision of car parking spaces on other land.
The permit is subject to the conditions set out in Appendix A...

Conditions include:
.....
1. (d) The deletion of any change to the two windows facing Kanowna Street and adjacent walls
2. The use and development as shown on the endorsed plans must not be altered without the written consent of the Responsible Authority.
3. The use may operate only between the hours of 9am-8pm Monday to Friday and 10am-6pm Saturday to Sunday, unless otherwise consented to in writing by the Responsible Authority.
4. No more than 4 staff must be on the site at any one time, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the Responsible Authority.
5. The amenity of the area must not be detrimentally affected by the use or development for any reason including through the:
(a) Transport of materials, goods or commodities to or from the land.
(b) Appearance of any building, works or materials.
(c) Emission of noise, artificial light, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, vapour, steam, soot, ash, dust, waste water, waste products, grit or oil; or
(d) Presence of vermin.
1. The owner, the occupier and the manager of the site must make reasonable endeavours to ensure that people associated with the site do not create a nuisance or annoyance to a neighbour or otherwise disturb the amenity of the area.

SW COMMENT:
This VCAT decision supports the Heritage integrity of the 1911 Britannia Hotel building. Also the member made VERY strict conditions about the number of people present in the building. Only 4 staff are allowed and there is no mention of anyone else being allowed. Potential buyers from anywhere in Australia or Asia, Private Bankers may all want to gravitate towards this building when Evolve want to hold Off-the-Plan marketing parties in the rooms they have renovated to hold about 200 people.... but FIRST up to comply with this order, the written approval of Hobsons Bay Council is required. Council should be insisting on all the Emergency Evacuation Plan matters being properly adhered to otherwise is it really being the RESPONSBILBLE AUTHORITY and applying its responsibilities for the community under the OH&S Reguations.  
Also Council needs to consider safety matters documented under the HB Planning Scheme. Under section 65 of the planning scheme which the member refers to it states:

• 65.01 Approval of an application or plan

Before deciding on an application or approval of a plan, the responsible authority must consider, as appropriate:......

• The degree of flood, erosion or fire hazard associated with the location of the land and the use, development or management of the land so as to minimise any such hazard."

Shipbuilding jobs under threat

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:08:20 +1000

The Age

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/shipbuilding-jobs-under-threat-20130517-2jpxq.html

“One of Australia’s biggest unions fears up to 1100 workers at a Williamstown shipyard could lose their jobs and has raised concerns about the future of the country’s naval ship building in- dustry .
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Paul Bastion said he was deeply concerned about looming job losses at Williamstown naval shipyard, which is owned by BAE systems.
‘‘We are very concerned and it is not restricted to Williamstown,’’ he said.
Mr Bastion said contracts earmarked in the Gillard government’s defence white paper needed to be brought forward to preserve jobs and skills in the industry.
A spokeswoman from BAE said the shipyard was facing ‘‘the very real prospect of a ‘five-year valley
of death’.’’
There will be an absence of naval shipbuilding work in Williamstown from 2015 until at least 2020. The job losses are expected to occur by 2015....”

SW COMMENT:
The Budget might have brought some relief but we have to remember that BAE Systems owns the land of the shipyards and in the last few years has sold several parcels of land IN the Former Port Phillip Woollen Mill Site to Evolve. Therefore they have not been vigorously against the development. With Garden Is in Sydney the arrival of apartments and housing too close meant that nighttime work had to stop and the former major shipyards became a repair location with strict hours of operation. It is only the MHF at Pt Gellibrand which prevents this scenario in Williamstown where a fast buck on housing development is seen as preferable to a shipbuilding industry which has international and military work and was the birthplace of the Australian Navy.

Point Gellibrand: Industry against housing push around major hazard facilities

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:55:53 +1000

Hobsons Bay Weekly
By GOYA DMYTRYSHCHAK April 30, 2013, 4:53 p.m.

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/1468205/point-gellibrand-mobil-backs-housing-push-around-major-hazard-facilities/?cs=1468

“MOBIL has called on the state government to give "more serious consideration" to residential development near major hazard facilities (MHFs) like its Point Gellibrand tank farm.
The call came as Hobsons Bay Council representatives met Planning Minister Matthew Guy to discuss "how consistency, community safety and future development proposals can be balanced with the needs of industry".
Mayor Angela Altair labelled the meeting "productive". "The council is seeking clearer measures, including a review of planning processes and of state risk and safety management processes for MHFs."
She said Mr Guy indicated he would discuss the issue with Police and Emergency Services Minister Kim Wells.
As reported by the Weekly, in February the council asked the government and MHF operators to "urgently" assess risks at eight sites in Hobsons Bay. Mobil spokeswoman Melanie Saliba said the oil giant supported the council's call. "We support it in raising this issue with the government and look forward to state and local governments giving more serious consideration to the needs of industry and community well-being with regard to local planning and development matters in the future."....

....Williamstown state MP Wade Noonan said "recent global events should remind the state government how important it was to adopt a cautious approach to approving high-density residential developments within close proximity to major hazard facilities"...”

SW COMMENT:
At last the Government is holding some relevant talks on this issue. It should never have got to this stage. It should have been knocked back in 2009 when the Industrial Land Management Strategy was adopted and their Panel report said that Port of Melbourne, Mobil’s landlord, said “residential development is inappropriate”. How the Minister for Planning got a Ministerial briefing signed by David Hodge saying that:
“13. There is considerable strategic planning policy support to pursue a rezoning and redevelopment of the site for residential purposes.”
beggers belief.. Surely someone in the DPCD actually read the panel report.

River crossing on the Never-Never, LeadWest claims

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:40:39 +1000

Hobsons Bay Weekly

http://www.maribyrnongweekly.com.au/story/1500968/river-crossing-on-the-never-never-leadwest-claims/?src=rss

“MOTORISTS in the west could be waiting up to a decade before a second river crossing is built, according to regional lobby group LeadWest.
The state government last week announced it would spend $294 million over two years to begin building the eastern section of the east-west link. The decision disappointed LeadWest and western suburbs councils which had been lobby- ing for the western end to be built first.
LeadWest chief executive Anton Mayer said prioritising the eastern section of the 18-kilometre road project meant the west would be waiting until at least 2020 for a second river crossing. "The community will have to live with the impact of extra truck movements in the west unless other projects are introduced”...

.....Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury defended the decision to fund the eastern section first, saying it would benefit the west by diverting traffic from the M1 corridor.”

SW COMMENT:
And the government expects half a West East Freeway to be effective - starting at Citylink and forcing more traffic from the West (like most of the industrial traffic because the west is where most industry is!) onto the Westgate Bridge & Bolte Bridge route before it can access the East West Freeway.

Developer slams delays in Hobsons Bay

Mon, 13 May 2013 02:29:36 +1000

Herald Sun
24 Apr 2013
John Masanauskas city reporter

http://www.newspaperdirect.com

“A DEVELOPER has bitterly attacked local councillors for opposing major housing projects.
Evolve Development director Ashley Williams has accused councillors of bowing to pressure for political survival.
‘‘Even when reports are put in front of them that are supported by their own planning staff they elect not to support the planning officers but vote in accordance with the loud voice of objection,’’ he said.
Hobsons Bay Council is fighting Evolve’s bid to build up to 800 apartments and townhouses for its $200 million Nelson Place Village development at Williamstown.
The eight-year battle, to go before VCAT in June, is believed to be the state’s longest planning dispute....

......Mr Williams is concerned that Hobsons Bay is blocking Evolve’s attempts to demolish the 140-year-old Oriental Hotel, which he says is unsafe and should be replaced with apartments.
‘‘Ultimately, it’s just a big handball to VCAT and the cost goes up and the time delays go up,’’ he said.
Hobsons Bay mayor Angela Altair said: ‘‘The council always strives to make decisions that are in the best interests of the Hobsons Bay community’’....”

SW COMMENT:
A bit of honesty about how old this hotel is would help.. It was built in 1854 and is the oldest hotel in Williamstown and possibly the oldest brick 3 storey hotel in the whole state of Victoria.

Added to the fact it is very wrong for the developer to be explosing future residents to the dangers of living too close to a Major Hazard Facility. The Port Phillip Woollen Mill Advisory Committee said Mixed Use was more appropriate for the site and to pursue residential development encroaching on dangerous port facilities is a very valid reason to tell the developer to go away and think again. Councillors are obliged to think of their community.

Pipe bomb charge over Texas explosion

Mon, 13 May 2013 02:11:10 +1000

http://www.theage.com.au/world/pipe-bomb-charge-over-texas-explosion-20130511-2jel1.html

The Age
11 May 2013

“Texas authorities have opened a criminal investigation into last month's deadly explosion at a
fertiliser plant that killed 14 people and injured about 200 others.
The announcement came hours after a paramedic who responded to the explosion was arrested on a charge of possessing the components of a pipe bomb. Law enforcement officials would not say whether the charge was related to the blast.
Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said he had told the Texas Rangers to work with the McLennan County sheriff's office on the inquiry, which came more than three weeks after the explosion at the West Fertiliser Company plant outside West, Texas, about 30 kilometres north of Waco.
''This disaster has severely impacted the community of West and we want to ensure that no stone goes unturned and that all the facts related to this incident are uncovered,'' Mr McCraw said......”

SW COMMENT:
Vulnerable communities when MHF are too close to housing and terrorist groups and deranged individuals are able to trigger explosive events

History pared back to tower facades

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:47:49 +1000

The Age
12th May 2013

http://www.theage.com.au/business/property/history-pared-back-to-tower-facades-20130512-2jg89.html

“Facadism - a trend of using only the frontage of his- torical buildings in new developments - is making a return to Melbourne's CBD.
Three recent proposals would see some of Mel- bourne's historic buildings demolished (except for the brick facades) to make way for skyscrapers.
Critics of the trend that was popular in the 1990s say facadism is ''fake heritage'', ''anti-cultural'' and creates an ''ugly, pop-up book version'' of Melbourne's history.
Melbourne City Council last week endorsed plans for a 32-storey tower for Victoria University on Lit- tle Lonsdale Street behind the Royal Mint.
The project would demolish all but the front portion of the Women's Venereal Disease Clinic built in 1919.
The council's endorsement seemingly goes against its own planning policy that ''older buildings should be retained in their three dimensional form, not as two dimensional facades''.
Cr Stephen Mayne, who sits on the planning committee, said facadism was not ideal and the council was moving to heritage-list more buildings. ''It's a nod to heritage but not full-blown her- itage, so it is an architectural compromise that is sometimes difficult to avoid,'' Cr Mayne said.”

SW COMMENT:
The facade of the Oriental Hotel should be retained even renaming with its original name of Cox Family Hotel as it was an important land mark for those landing in Williamstown in the early Goldrush years before Station Pier was opened.

Developers offer top-end freebies

Mon, 6 May 2013 16:54:48 +1000

The Age
by MARIKA DOBBIN - 06/05/13, 3:00 AM

http://m.theage.com.au/business/property/developers-offer-topend-freebies-20130505-2j1cx.html

“Melbourne apartment developers are resorting to giveaways of free marina berths, $40,000 furniture packages and stamp duty rebates of up to $45,000 to attract off-the-plan buyers in an increasingly flooded market.
There were 23,325 new apartments granted planning approval in the 12 months to February, driven in part by interventions by Planning Minister Matthew Guy to approve a host of new skyscrapers.
It represented a 19 per cent jump in approvals from the year before, when 19,530 apartments were given the green light, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That compares with just 11,258 five years ago under the previous government and during the credit crunch.......”