DCSCA's Cost Appeal - getting the word out!

On November 2, the Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) issued a media release* to 17 local and regional media outlets, announcing the formal launch of its Cost Appeal to raise $5,500.

So far in its Appeal, the Association has written individually to 53 present and recent DCSCA members, to 34 local community groups and organisations and to the 13 City of Greater Geelong councillors, explaining the reason for the Cost Appeal, inviting them to contribute to it and asking them to pass-on the information to anyone whom they think might be interested.

Why an Appeal?
The reason for the Cost Appeal goes back to May, when DCSCA asked the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to overturn planning permission granted to Milemaker Petroleum to build a service station at the junction of Jetty Road and High Street Drysdale. VCAT dismissed DCSCA's case and ordered it to $5,500 in legal costs to Milemaker.

If DCSCA can't pay the $5,500, it faces further legal proceedings that could close it down, ending its years of community-building work.

DCSCA has invited each City of Greater Geelong councillor to contribute to its Cost Appeal, despite the fact that the association incurred the $5,500 legal bill as a result of trying to overturn planning permission granted by the council. However, as the association's letter to each councillor states:
"You may have voted in 2014 to grant planning permission to Milemaker, but this needn’t imply that you believe that DCSCA should pay Milemaker’s legal costs. This was certainly the position of Councillor Rod Macdonald who - together with local federal MPs Richard Marles and Sarah Henderson, local state MP Lisa Neville and 349 people who signed an online petition - supported DCSCA’s request to VCAT not to make it pay Milemaker’s legal costs. (Thanks, Rod!)"

* To read the media release, see "Cost Appeal media release" on this blog (2 November 2015).