DCSCA-initiated Lake Lorne track now open!

On Sunday 20 May 2016, DCSCA was represented at a small ceremony to officially open a new walking track around Drysdale's Lake Lorne.

It has taken five years to create the track. The then-President of DSCSCA, Roger Lavingdale, presented the idea of the track to the City of Greater Geelong council in 2011; and the council accepted a masterplan for the project in 2012.

Since then, there has been close co-operation and consultation between the council and the various community groups with a stake in the lake's future, including DCSCA, which has been involved closely throughout the project. 

(Picture: L to R Heath Lavingdale, Doug Carson, Merryn Lavingdale, CoGG City Services Manager Will Tieppo and Drysdale Rotary Club President Caroline Rickard.)  

DCSCA Treasurer Doug Carson was one of the speakers at the ceremony; here is what he said:
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When I first became involved as a member of the Drysdale Clifton Springs Community Association in 2003, after having moved to the Bellarine in 2000, I was struck by the awareness and passion of a few people, one of them being Roger Lavingdale. He was always looking to put new ideas up for discussion. He was a committee member then, became Vice President in 2005 and 2006 and President in 2007 and 2008 and held those positions very successfully. In the latter part of that time, I was the Association's Secretary and I vividly recall many meetings at his home in Eastwood Court, talking about how to improve the area.

One of these improvements was a walking track around Lake Lorne. Roger became frustrated at the time it seemed to be taking to get the proposal approved, but we just had to wait until all the stakeholders involved agreed on what had to be done. I don’t think anyone really realised just how many stakeholders were involved, and how much planning was needed, e.g. avoiding underground services, dodging trees - the list went on and on. At one stage Roger was heard to mutter, “Give me a bloody bobcat and I’ll put the damn thing in myself!"

However, people at the City of Greater Geelong persisted in working through all the issues and over the past three years we have seen the gradual construction of the Lake Lorne walking track. It will be a lasting legacy to the memory of our mate Roger Lavingdale. On behalf of the Drysdale / Clifton Springs Community Association, I am very pleased to pay my respects to Roger, and thank Drysdale Rotary Club for initiating this day as we commemorate this track and the seat in his honour.  

It works! Locals try out the new track.

Lake Lorne - some background
The area known now as Drysdale - and especially the land around its three waterholes - was a favourite wintering place for Wathaurong people. The name Bellarine derives from the Wathaurong word "Bella Wein" ("a place where you lean on your elbow beside a campfire") and is thought to refer specifically to the waterholes. The inland site provided shelter from cold coastal winds and the lakes provided birds, fishes and plants to eat.

Corroborees were held in the area and archaeologists have found large deposits of shells, animal bones and artefacts in and around the waterholes. Wathaurong traditions and heritage are maintained by Wathaurong people living in the area today.

In the 1830s, in the early days of European colonisation of the area , the term "The Waterholes" referred collectively to what are known now separately as Lake Lorne and McLeod's Waterholes.

In 1872, the Bellarine Shire Council named Lake Lorne after the then Governor of Victoria; and the other two lakes became known as McLeod's Waterholes, probably after Dr. Angus McLeod, principal of the Free Presbyterian Church and School and an active participant in local affairs.

It was also in 1872 that the settlement known as Bellarine or West Bellarine was named Drysdale after Anne Drysdale, a local squatter.

(Sources:
Photos - The Voice; historical background - Lynette Willey [2010] The Waterholes: a history of Drysdale on the Bellarine. Bellarine Historical Society.)

Bellarine Peninsula misses out on ferry trial

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(Source: Herald-Sun)

Businessman Paul Little has announced that on May 16, it will start an eight-week trial of a ferry service between Point Cook and Docklands that won’t include a stop on the Bellarine Peninsula.

In the trial, a catamaran will ferry 400 passengers indoors from Wyndham Harbour near Point Cook, to Docklands' Victoria Harbour in the CBD in the morning peak time; and will return during the evening peak time. Mr Little's Little Group has established a new company - Port Phillip Ferries – to run the service, which will take around 70 minutes each way. The new company wants to reduce the travel time, which it says is due to low speed limits on the Yarra River.

An adult return fare will cost around $20 during the trial, while the normal cost will be $25 for an online booking and $29 if bought on the day, with discounts for seniors, children and concession cardholders. Parking at Wyndham Harbour marina will be included in the fare and ferry passengers will have free wi-fi access.

 

Still no ferry for the Bellarine

When Mr Little first floated his plan for a ferry service in October 2015, it included a stop at Portarlington, but Mr Little said more work was needed to allow ferries to berth there. "We'd be very happy to run the ferries out of Portarlington if the demand was there", he said.

The infrastructure for a Portarlington ferry stop will be completed in the months after the Port Phillip Ferries trial. The 2016 state budget includes money for Stage Two of the $15m ‘safe harbour’ at Portarlington, which includes docking for ferry services and is due to be completed in the 2016-2017 financial year. The budget also includes $107m to build the long-awaited Drysdale bypass which, once complete, will make a Portarlington ferry a more attractive option for people from the western Bellarine who commute to Melbourne.

Begging the question

Point Cook residents who have to spend hours a day travelling to and from jobs in the city would welcome a ferry between Wyndham Harbour and Melbourne’s CBD. Similarly, Bellarine Peninsula residents forced to commute to Melbourne would welcome a ferry between Portarlington and the CBD – either as part of the proposed Port Phillip Ferries service or in addition to it.

However, such ferry services solve a problem that shouldn’t have been created – insufficient business and jobs for the expanding population of Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula. The City of Greater Geelong has actively encouraged the creation of ever more housing estates, home to many thousands of residents, without ensuring that there are jobs to support them. The result is the creation of 'dormitory towns' as an increasing number of people on the Bellarine joining commuters from Geelong on the hours-long commuter trek to and from central Melbourne.

For example, when the Curlewis ‘growth area’ on the outskirts of Drysdale is completed, it will house  around 16,000 people, yet the area is virtually deserted during the day (apart from builders and tradies building more houses), because so many of its residents are commuters. The only jobs are at the small shopping centre, with its Woolworth supermarket and a handful of ‘speciality’ shops and even these will be at risk as the Leopold shopping centre expands from its present 5,000m² to 65,000m² by 2021. (See “More shops, no vision” [13 October 2013] on this blog.)

Creating a jobs drain

An expanded Leopold shopping centre will drain custom from elsewhere on the Bellarine, just as shopping centres in Waurn Ponds and Corio Village have drained custom from central Geelong. The shopping centres provide some new jobs, but most are relatively low-skilled, low-paid and with very limited career paths. Why are there no plans to provide other sorts of jobs?

CoGG's drive to expand the population of the Bellarine must be accompanied by plans to expand and diversify employment. As a rule of thumb, a new job should be created for each house built. That would at least start to match economic growth with population growth.

Good or bad for local democracy?

Like many residents of the Bellarine Peninsula, DCSCA members are concerned that the state government's plan to replace the City of Greater Geelong council with an administrator could be bad for local democracy.

Today (12 April) the Victorian state government intends to table the review of a Commission of Inquiry into the governance of the City of Greater Geelong council; and then introduce legislation sacking the whole council – the mayor and the twelve councillors – and appointing an administrator to run the council until the 2020 elections.

The Government has sufficient support in the Lower House for its bill to pass easily, but the bill may take longer to pass the Upper House, where the government needs the support of either the Coalition, or the Greens and at least two crossbenchers.

If the legislation passes, Geelong council will be the sixth Victorian council to be sacked since the Kennett government amalgamated more than 200 Victorian councils to 79 in the 1990s. The others were Wangaratta (2013), Brimbank (2009), Glen Eira (2005), Nillumbik (1998) and Darebin (1998).

No strategic vision?

One of the reasons the Commission gives for sacking the council is that it has failed to develop a strategic vision for Geelong. However, the council lost control of its strategic planning in August 2015, when Victorian planning minister Richard Wynne took over planning decisions in Geelong for major projects over 5,000 square metres.

At the same time, the state government created the Geelong Authority to advise the Minister on key projects, implement major planning decisions, create jobs and drive growth in Geelong. Key projects for the Authority will include a new convention centre in central Geelong, the redevelopment of the Geelong Performing Arts Centre, the relocation of WorkCover and revitalizing the Geelong railway station precinct and Johnstone Park. The projects will be delivered by Places Victoria, the Victorian Government’s property development agency, which has the power to acquire, sell and swap land.

(Sources: http://architectureau.com/articles/vic-govt-takes-over-geelong-major-projects/ and http://www.places.vic.gov.au/precincts-and-development/geelong)

What future – and when?

Until the Commission of Inquiry’s report is made public and the state government introduces its legislation, we can only speculate about the implications of sacking the present council and appointing an administrator to run its affairs until 2020.

However, the legislation will have to address the Victorian Electoral Commission’s recent recommendation (to the Minister for Local Government) that the City of Greater Geelong should be reorganised in time for the 2016 elections. The present council consists of a directly-elected mayor plus twelve councillors, with each councillor representing a single ward. The VEC recommended reorganising the council into a directly-elected mayor plus eleven councillors representing four wards - three three-councillor wards and one two-councillor ward. (The whole Bellarine Peninsula would be one ward, represented by three councillors.)

Like the proposed council sacking, the VEC recommendation is based in legislation - a 2012 amendment to the City of Greater Geelong Act (1993). That amendment created the post of directly-elected Mayor of Geelong, resulting in a council of 12 councillors plus the Mayor for the 2012 council election. The amendment also required the VEC to recommend to the Minister for Local Government the most appropriate electoral structure for the council from the 2016 election onwards.

The state government’s sacking legislation would effectively overrule that 2012 amendment. It will be interesting to see how the government justifies doing this and denying Geelong's citizens the chance to vote for its council in October 2016.

Making developments consistent

On 29 February 2016, the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) made a submission to the Victorian government's Advisory Committee on Managing Residential Development.

The DCSCA submission consisted of 13 recommendations designed to increase:

* the  efficiency and consistency of residential development and of the planning process in general

* the attractiveness of new residential developments to existing and incoming residents

* the protection of the natural and built environment, for the benefit of  current and future generations.

Background to the Committee’s work

In July 2013, the State Government announced that it would replace the existing residential zones (Residential 1, 2 and 3) in all Victorian planning schemes with three new residential zones:

• Neighbourhood Residential Zone
• General Residential Zone
• Residential Growth Zone.

The State Government asked each local council to say by 1 July 2014 how it would apply the new zones in its planning scheme. If a council didn’t respond by the deadline, all of its residential land would be declared a General Residential Zone by default. On July 1 2014, the State Government introduced the three new zones. In the process, residential land was zoned “General Residential” by default in a ‘considerable portion’ of Victoria’s planning schemes.

Councils have applied the three new zones inconsistently, with much local variation. Consequently, in February 2014, the State Government established the Residential Zones Standing Advisory Committee to advise local councils how to apply the three new zones. The Committee produced a general report on the zones’ application, plus 25 specific reports in response to 25 proposals.

Purposes of the Committee

1.   To consider the process by which the new residential zones were implemented

2.   To review the current application of the zones that allow for residential development in the context of managing Melbourne’s and Victoria’s residential growth in a sustainable manner and improving housing affordability

3.   To advise on the level of evidence and justification needed when preparing relevant planning scheme amendments

4.   To recommend improvements to the residential zones

5.   To provide councils, the community and industry with an opportunity to be heard.

DCSCA's SUBMISSION

The Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association Inc. (DCSCA) has had extensive experience of the management of residential development in the local area, which it believes will assist the Advisory Committee in its work. It has distilled its experiences into this submission, which consists of thirteen recommendations.

Recommendations

1. Each Australian state government should have a public document outlining its vision for a sustainable state; and the Federal Government should have an equivalent document outlining its vision for a sustainable Australia.

These documents should address issues including demography, transport infrastructure, land allocation, water management, power generation and distribution and communication services.

2. Require developers of new residential areas to provide services in the first stages of its development, rather than providing them as development proceeds.

Such services include, e.g., education, health, sports, recreation, Emergency Services, public transport, shopping and community spaces.

 

3. Require the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning to consult pro-actively with the appropriate organisations and groups when considering any changes to residential development and re-zoning and respond in detail to each comment made in those consultations.

Such organisations and groups include, e.g., the EPA, Emergency Services, the CFA, the Education Department, Worksafe, VicRoads, the TAC, water and power suppliers, local indigenous groups, public transport operators and user groups, local recreational, sporting, environmental and community groups.

4. Require the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning to encourage new developments to be environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Features contributing to environmentally friendly and sustainable development include significant open space; scenic trails, footpaths and cycle paths separated from traffic; existing significant trees and wildlife corridors, plus control of invasive species and vermin; protecting water courses from extra/polluted runoff; mandatory solar panels and water tanks at each property.

5. Require the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning to devise and implement a standardised procedure (e.g. a designated computer programme) for assessing any planning applications; and require each local council in Victoria to implement this procedure.

This will help to ensure that councils assess planning applications consistently.

6. Require developers of new residential areas to provide footpaths and cycle paths (ideally separated from road traffic) as a high priority; and to avoid compromising any existing cycling infrastructure.

7. Review the planning requirements for service stations containing hazardous materials and discontinue the “3,000m² exemption rule” applied currently to the petroleum industry.

As the internal combustion engine declines and disappears, so too will petrol stations, many leaving ugly, toxic sites that will be expensive to clean up. Planning policies should prepare for this.

8. Require each local council to give an Environmental Classification to each planning application it receives.

The classifications would be based on specific criteria, e.g., storage of hazardous materials; proximity to a water course, dam or coastal high water line; demonstrable risk to groundwater, flora or fauna. Suggested Environmental Classifications:

            “Low” - meets none of the specific criteria

            “Sensitive” – meets one of the specific criteria

            “Highly Sensitive” – meets two or more of the specific criteria.

9. Require the EPA to assess all “Sensitive” or “Highly Sensitive” planning applications; and approve such applications only with EPA approval.

10. Require an applicant who receives EPA approval for a “Sensitive” or “Highly sensitive” application to do no work on the site until the EPA and the council approves a Site Environment Management Plan (SEMP) for the site.

 

11. Amend the Planning and Environment Act 1987 Section 52 Notice of Application to require additional notification to specified bodies when a planning application is contentious.

Examples of contention include potential inconsistency with local planning policy and/or potentially increased risks to groundwater, flora, fauna and people. Risks include storage of hazardous materials; proximity to a water course, dam or coastal high water line; proximity to a major intersection, an area of congestion or a school.

Information about a planning application should be sent to the owner/s and the resident/s of the nearby properties; signage giving that information should reflect the significance of the application; and signage should be displayed until the application is approved/rejected, when the sign should be amended to include the decision.

12. Amend the opening paragraph of the Victorian Planning Provision Clause 65 General Provisions Decision Guidelines to read: “Because a permit can be granted does not imply that a permit should or will be granted.”; and require the responsible authority to list on its signage about an application any relevant local and state planning policies.

13. Require each council to provide on its website information that is easily accessible by the community about each planning application, its environmental classification and its status (approved/rejected); and to leave this information on its website for 10 years after an application has been approved/rejected.

2016 Festival "Best yet"

--> The sixth annual Festival of Glass was the biggest yet, presenting a greater variety of events over a longer period.

2016 Festival of Glass Expo

Festival events happened over the two weeks between February 14th and 27th and included new features to spark visitors’ interest, as well old favourites.

From 1 February, people started searching businesses in the area for ‘Tiny Treasures’ – glass ornaments that are clues in a Treasure Hunt with dozens of prizes. Twenty-one local businesses participated, each placing a poster in its window identifying it. People who completed their Treasure Hunt firm placed them in - you guessed - a treasure chest at the Festival Expo on Sunday 21 February to receive their prize.

 

“Each year’s Festival introduces new features and this year’s is no exception”, said Festival Convenor Doug Carson. “This year saw the first ever Treasure Hunt, with twenty one local businesses sponsoring and displaying pieces of glass art. This was a unique blend of commerce and art that we plan to continue.”

Each day, something new

On Sunday 14 February, around thirty people attended the Bellarine Historical Society’s historic bottle workshop at Drysdale’s Court House Museum. They brought with them their old bottles and some learnt to their pleasure that their bottles' had not just sentimental value, but monetary value, too!

The Masterclass begins

On Friday 19 February, seventy-five people attended a glass art Masterclass at Leura Park winery, Curlewis. The audience enjoyed drinks and nibbles while they watched two master glass artists - Peter Minson and Mark Eliott - create replicas of the locally endangered Orange-bellied Parrot and Hooded Plover. The replicas were then auctioned, to support the work of local groups trying to conserve the birds.

Images of the birds were also created at the Festival Expo on Sunday 21 February at Christian College in Drysdale. More than four thousand visitors attended, and were offered chances to help create a mosaic of the Hooded Plover and a bead woven hanging of the Orange-bellied Parrot. The glass replicas, mosaic and wall hanging will tour the region in the next few months, publicising the birds’ plight and showcasing these different forms of glass art.

Expo visitors toured the 45 exhibitors, watched demonstrations and created some glass art for themselves. The Expo also features the Glass Art Awards ceremony, the Treasure Hunt draw, ‘Glass on Film’ (short films about glass) and a raffle for glass art collectibles.

Hot glass work for Seniors

The previous Saturday (20 February) saw another Festival first - an ‘outreach’ workshop for seniors at Drysdale's Senior Citizens Club. Around twenty people attended and had their first try at working with hot glass, under the watchful eyes of Peter Minson and Mark Eliott.

Hot glass for Drysdale's Senior Citizens

“We’re especially pleased with this year’s new features”, said Festival convenor Doug Carson, “because they’re the result of collaboration between the Festival and community groups. When new groups come on board, it broadens the Festival’s support base and offers the community new ways to be involved”.

Treasure Hunters set their sights on Drysdale area

Monday 1st February sees the start of a glass art Treasure Hunt - a new feature of the 2016 Festival of Glass.

21 local businesses are participating in the Treasure Hunt and each one has commissioned a piece of glass art and a small, hand-crafted glass ornament - a ‘Tiny Treasure’ – from local glass artists.
(Right:  Surf Junction's glass shell, commissioned from
Jacquie Campbell.) 

From February 1^st, each participating business will display its piece of glass art, together with its ‘Tiny Treasure’. A poster in its window will show that a business is part of the Treasure Hunt. Treasure Hunters will search each participating business for its ‘Tiny Treasure’ and receive a stamp on their entry form for each one they spot.

The Treasure Hunt will culminate in a draw for dozens of pieces of glass art at the Festival Expo on 21 February at Christian College, Drysdale.

Festival of Glass convenor Doug Carson said, “Everyone benefits from the Treasure Hunt. It brings customers to local businesses, it promotes local glass artists and it shows local people the beautiful things that artists make with glass. We hope that the Treasure Hunt will build a strong and mutually-beneficial relationship between the Festival, local businesses and local glass artists.”

Windswept but worth it!

DCSCA's new marquee had its first outing on Saturday 9 January at the annual Mussel Festival in Portarlington.

Janet Jenkin, Diane Schofield and Rick Paradise

The association was one of several organisations with connections to the local coastline that formed a display near the entrance to the Portarlington pier.

The display was coordinated by Bellarine Bayside, which hopes that the display will become a regular feature of the Mussel Festival.

Overall, the weather was quite benign, but occasional strong gusts of wind coming off the bay had stall-holders frantically retrieving the leaflets, brochures and flyers that they had laid out carefully and artistically! One marquee nearly ended up in the bay, but the DCSCA marquee acquitted itself well and at the last count, none of the volunteers from the DCSCA and Festival of Glass committees was missing!

Making ourselves known
The display formed an adjunct to the Mussel Festival proper and a steady stream of people walked past it or through it on their way to the Festival. The volunteers at the DCSCA tent promoted two new features of the Festival of Glass - the glass art Treasure Hunt, which starts on February 1st and finishes at the Festival Expo on Sunday 21 February; and the glass art Masterclass at Leura Park on February 19. There was a lot of interest, with people taking leaflets faster than the wind!

(For more information on the glass art Treasure Hunt  and the glass art Masterclass, see the Festival of Glass web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au)