Darebin Appropriate Development Association

Protect our community

Campaigns

People for Preston Market

We live here, we shop here and we vote here!

Vision

Preston Market is a unique and treasured place in our community. It has long been a spot where people from Melbourne’s north gather for the pleasures of shopping and eating, a place to enjoy chance encounters with friends and neighbours. It’s looking a little tired and worn but last month’s proposal to build it up to 28 storeys is way over the top. We would like to see the market grow into a vibrant community hub where people come together – not a soul-less windswept shadowland that we avoid. Redevelopment is an opportunity to make Preston Market a showcase site for Darebin – a community space that will attract people from all over Melbourne and beyond. We can make it a meeting place we can be proud of that reflects what we love about our neighbourhood:¬ diversity, inclusiveness, vibrancy, colour and movement.

Who are we?

People for Preston Market is a group of Darebin residents concerned about the plan to increase the building height of the market to 28 storeys – that’s more than 100m!

Membership of the group is open. To join us contact Jim Buckell at jimbuckell@gmail.com or 0415 490 366.

We plan to meet before council meetings (every second Monday) until further notice to lobby councillors and put our ideas on the table.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/554340934669993/

Background on the developer’s proposal

The application to Darebin Council by the market owner Salta Properties to increase the permitted height of buildings under the planning schedule from 10 to 28 storeys was tabled at council on June 16 2014. Council is expected to consider the application soon, probably in August, when it will open a consultation period for submissions. Details of the Salta proposal can be found in the council minutes here (scroll to page 35).

The proposal includes two large footprints of 28 storeys (about 113 metres) taking up the majority of the site. See image below:

NB: This is not a development application. It is the first step towards a detailed development proposal.

What we would like to see

At our first meeting we set three aims:

1. Keep the existing height limit
To oppose any increase in the existing height limit of 10 storeys. This is three storeys higher than the tallest building in Preston, Bell City on Bell St at the corner of Hotham St at South Preston.

2. To develop and promote our own vision for the market
A place where people in our diverse community can gather for shopping, meeting, for eating and drinking with welcoming, inclusive and accessible facilities including:

  • A market which strengthens and amplifies all the good aspects of the existing space, with ample space for stallholders, shoppers, communal eating and meetings places
  • Green space (critically important with the shift to more medium-density housing)
  • A commitment to sustainability and renewable energy built into the proposal (ie solar panels on the roof like South Melbourne market; rainwater collection; and waste minimisation)
  • Formal and informal meeting places including a neighbourhood centre
  • Play areas for children
  • Performance and art spaces
  • Space for small and micro-businesses to operate
  • Open space such as a plaza
  • Any proposal for residential units to include social housing to protect our diverse community

3. To work with council and other agencies on a visionary market development:
As Preston Market is a unique and treasured place in our community, we would like Council and government agencies to work with all stakeholders ¬– the community, the market traders and the developers ¬– on the development of the site. We would like to take the opportunity of a development proposal to make Preston Market a showcase site for Darebin, a place that will attract people from all over Melbourne, a meeting place we can be proud of that reflects what we love about our neighbourhood. True, the market is looking a bit tired and worn. We’ve been hearing about the idea to transform Preston Central for almost a decade now, and it’s overdue. But we don’t want to risk it becoming a windswept shadowland. We would like to see the market grow into a diverse, vibrant and colourful community hub where people gather to enjoy the pleasures of shopping, food and meeting others. To achieve this, we would like council to consider the following:

• Extending the usual one-month consultation period to six months to consider the application by the developers
• Developing an extensive community consultation program to canvas all stakeholders: residents; shoppers; traders; nearby businesses and workers; commuters; and the developer
• Engage the expertise of experienced placemakers and community planners to assist in this process

Founding members:

Jim Buckell
Thornbury
0415 490 366

Mark Tregonning
Preston
0421 335 775

To join us contact Jim Buckell at: jimbuckell@gmail.com or 0415 490 366

Minister Guy Zoning Question Letters

Dear DADA folk,

Thanks to all of you who made a submission on rezoning.  I am still concerned that Darebin Council will not move to protect our loved neighbourhoods from over-development.

I think a next step is to alert the Planning Minister, Matthew Guy to our concerns and ask him to not sign off on the Darebin proposal unless it includes at least 50% coverage of the Neightbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ).  This is best done individually though I will also send a letter from DADA and am planning a meeting with the Minister on May 13th.

I have attached 2 letters and am asking that you simply, print sign and post to the minister.  If you prefer, use them as a starting point and add your own concerns.  Alternatively, you can add your digital signature and email to matthew.guy@parliament.vic.gov.au

Thanks to Laara and Chris for their editing and input.

If you send off a letter before the May 13th meeting date it will add weight to my direct request.

You support is much appreciated.

Maria

DADA

Email + Post

The word is Minister Guy gets so many emails, they are hardly read and we will have more impact by posting a letter to the Spring Street address.

If you can afford the print and postage please consider doing that as well as sending an email.

New Darebin Zoning Regulations | Submissions

Dear DADA Folk,

We have until Thursday the 17th of April to make a written submission regarding the application of the new zoning regulations in Darebin.

It is critically important that you participate in the feedback on draft amendment C144 to help ensure that you get the zoning protection you desire in your street/neighbourhood.  The right zoning protection in your neighbourhood will alleviate the ongoing vigil of planning applications and rounds of objections and VCAT appearances to try and prevent over-development in your streets.

Because your neighbourhood has its own specific characteristics that you appreciate and want protected a personal submission is appropriate to detail those in a way the DADA submission doesn’t.

I have attached the DADA submission in case it is of some help, cut and paste from it as you like, no need to reinvent the wheel.

If you are prepared to talk to the panel then I don’t think it is necessary to submit too much detail in writing, just broad points should be fine that you can flesh out later in person.

If you can’t make a panel presentation you might want your written submission to be more detailed.

Make your written submission at: http://www.yoursaydarebin.com.au/new-residential-zones-draft-amendment-c144

For most of us the key issue will be protection from over-development under the Neighbourhood Residential Zone (NRZ).

Look up your street on the map; and see if in the draft it is protected.

I have attached a document, AN50, which outlines criteria for application of the NRZ so that you can decide if your street qualifies.  Even if it doesn’t strictly qualify you can argue that council does have flexibility in applying the criteria and so your street should be considered.

If you are near a school you should push protection for that reason alone – see the DADA submission.

Contact me if you have any questions. Good luck.

Maria

DADA

UPDATE

Monday 14th April 2014

Dear DADA folk,

Thanks to those who have sent me feedback on the DADA zoning submission.   As it hasn’t yet been submitted I have been tweaking in the light of that feedback.

I added a slide on Schedules to include tighter regulations on landscaping and tree replacement:

1. Schedules should insist the inclusion of a landscape plan with the planning application so that planners, councilors and objectors can see a more compete picture of the development planned.

2. To stem the ongoing loss of canopy vegetation due to over-development in Darebin, schedules should mandate the replacement of substantial canopy trees at a rate of one for every ten years of life of the tree removed.

I also upped the request for the School Protected Zones to cover 5 blocks around schools and take out the statement about not crossing a major road.

Cheers,

Maria

DADA

22 Sylvester Grove, Preston

Dear DADA folk,

Our friends at Ikonomidis Reid are at it again.  This time with a development  proposal for 22 Sylvester Grove, Preston which seeks to remove a three bedroom house with a magnificent old Magnolia tree in the front yard and other established trees in the backyard to build three, 2 bedroom units.

A partly filled objection form is attached.  Please help by filling in your details and emailing or posting before Monday the 14th of April.  The addresses are at the top of the form.  If you CC me in when you email or reply that you have sent I can keep a track of the numbers, which helps to convince council of a need to reject.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,  Maria

DADA

Round 3 WIN | 48 Murphy Grove

I am so happy to report that in the matter of 48 Murphy Grove it is round 3 to us, the objectors.  Yeah!!!

Firstly, thank you so much to the folk that were there to support me and all objectors. They can tell you how nervous I was.  Also thanks to those of you who sent on my call for help.

A representative of the developer spoke and then I had 5 minutes, I used a bit more.

Following some informed questions from the councilors to the planning officer,  Councilor Bo Li suggested an alternative recommendation to reject the proposal on a number of grounds, some we had suggested plus some of his own and Councillor Trent McCarthy added some further grounds.  This proposal was seconded by Councilor  Julie Williams.  Put to the vote the new motion to reject was passed 6 to 2 with only Councilor Vince Fontana and  Councilor Oliver Walsh voting against.  We clapped loudly and Councilor Fontana asked for standing orders, which means he wanted the minutes to reflect the vote.

Good news for us all.  Keep fighting.

Maria

DADA

See original call for help