Moondarra Residents Group in Berwick, Victoria | Community organisation

Moondarra Residents Group

Locality: Berwick, Victoria

Address: Moondarra Drive 3806 Berwick, VIC, Australia

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• Environmental conservation organisation

25.01.2022 UPDATE ON VCAT HEARING Yes the applicants have appealed to VCAT against Councils decision to refuse the planning application. A preliminary VCAT hearing has been set down for the 8th July 2016. This VCAT hearing is limited to resolving a procedural matter and the full merits hearing will occur on the 3rd November 2016. These hearings are set by VCAT and subject to change. The Council's refusal was based on the objection of Melbourne Water. The Casey Council confirms that t...heir position remains to not support the application based on Melbourne Water concerns. Melbourne Water have confirmed they are preparing to defend their decision to VCAT. We will post further details as they become available.

24.01.2022 Did you see this story in the local paper? Casey Council’s double-storey dilemma 27 July 2016 11:34 AM .... By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS A DEVELOPER is fighting Casey Council’s refusal of a 12 double-storey house development on the banks of a Berwick Springs floodplain. The site 75S Moondarra Drive is on the west side of the drive, between houses to the east and the wetlands, which is part of the Melbourne Water-controlled Ti Tree Creek retarding basin. Casey Council refused the development in April, primarily due to the objection of Melbourne Water. Among the water authority’s criticisms was the reduction in the retarding basin’s flood storage capacity due to the development’s inadequate setback. The council also noted that the site was subject to Aboriginal cultural heritage, but the developer Grandrise failed to lodge an Aboriginal cultural heritage plan. Grandrise has since lodged an objection to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. In a preliminary hearing this month, the tribunal’s member Susan Whitney adjourned on the question of whether an Aboriginal cultural heritage management plan was required. It was not in dispute that the proposal to construct 12 dwellings on the subject land triggered the requirement to prepare a (plan) as the subject land is within an area of cultural heritage sensitivity and the activity is deemed to be a high impact activity, Ms Whitney noted. Ms Whitney ruled Grandrise couldn’t rely on an earlier archaeological survey of a larger tract of land that includes 75S Moondarra Drive to be exempt from lodging the cultural heritage plan. She adjourned the hearing to allow Grandrise to decide on whether to pursue its opposition to the cultural heritage plan on the basis of alleged significant ground disturbance on the site. Note: We have asked Cam to do a follow up story detailing the impact a development like this would have on our street. Helen

22.01.2022 Did you know that this land is not part of the parkland on Moondarra Drive as everyone believed, but that it is privately owned? We are now shocked to find that a developer has applied to build 12 two storey town-houses on this land! Can you see the pole & chain fence in the foreground? Why did the Casey Council put this up when it is private land? AND why do the council workmen always cut the grass there? How much of our rate money has been spent on maintaining this private property? No one from the Council wants to give me an answer! Help to preserve our parkland for our children and our future by lodging your objection to this planning proposal with Casey Council, before it is too late! Send an email to [email protected]

19.01.2022 Glen Wright has started a Facebook page to help prevent crime in our estate. Please check it out and support it. By being observant, we can all help each other!

15.01.2022 Sights in Moondarra Drive

14.01.2022 This Saturday at 10 am! A Protest Gathering and Media event..We have have raised the battle flag.Tan Tan Taraaah! The Chieftans are marshalled, the troops have been summoned. We are steeled for battle! For it's not the size of the dog in the fight that counts... BUT the SIZE OF THE FIGHT IN THE DOG ! We stand ...against drooling, greedy and unchecked, over- development and rapacious, environmental vandalism. Against THIS... We have drawn a line in the sand. They-- shal...l-- not -- pass ! " We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; WE SHALL NEVER SURRENDER " Winston Churchill. Come and join us at 10am on Saturday 17/9/16 opposite 72 Moondarra Drive, Berwick for a Photo Shoot for the local paper. Bring your family and friends, the more the better! Look for the Southern Cross flag.

06.01.2022 Activity on the block

04.01.2022 We have been advised that the developer has applied to VCAT to have Casey Council's decision to reject a planning permit for 12 two storey units, overturned. Casey Council and Melbourne Water will defend their decision in court. As further details become available, I will post them on this page. Surveyors were on the property yesterday and put in marker pegs with little flags. This morning a bore hole digger was there to do soil samples. They are certainly making a move to build on the land! We MUST stop this developement, it will change the whole ambience of Moondarra Drive and the lovely lakeside environment, to say nothing of the negative impact on our environment! Here are a few photos to show you what is happening.

03.01.2022 We are delighted to advise you that at last night's Casey Council meeting it was announced that a Planning Permit would NOT be issued for this development. Wonderful news for all of us! Whilst the developer could still go to VCAT to lodge an appeal to this decision, the Council will defend their decision in court. What a GREAT outcome! Thank you all for your support by lodging an objection and special thanks to Melbourne Water for their advice to the council to reject the P...lanning Application. To view the Agenda for the meeting, please go to: http://www.casey.vic.gov.au//minutes/PC_Agenda-12-04-2016 The development is item 1.4 on the agenda and runs from page 79 to page 110. The letter from Melbourne Water recommending planning approval be denied is on page 99, and the responses to the objections that were raised by all of us are on pages 102 & 103. The agenda makes interesting reading! I would like to thank all of you for lodging objections with the Council and the encouragement you have given us. There was also a LOT of hard work done behind the scenes - writing letters to Councillors, mailbox deliveries, phone calls, meetings etc. Special thanks to Ron, George, Brian and Anne for their participation and help and an extra special thank you to Amelia, John, Len, Leo & Christina, who walked the neighbourhood collecting signatures and dropping flyers. Without these people we would never have achieved this result. I will keep you advised of any future developments.

01.01.2022 The Casey Council will be voting and making a decision as to whether to approve this development next Tuesday April 12. If you have not yet submitted an objection to Council, please do so immediately. Every objection will have an impact on the council's decision. Don't let developers build a second dense townhouse complex in Moondarra Drive and impact our parklands! Email the council on - [email protected] Please include the following: Planning Application: PinA00679/15 Location: 75s Moondarra Drive, Berwick, Lot A PS 723914T

01.01.2022 We have some wonderful news to share with you! Late on Friday 16/9/16, we had a phone call from Melbourne Water advising that they were currently negotiating a price with the owner of 75S Moondarra Drive and that Melbourne Water would buy it. The property would then become part of the lake reserve and park. We could not have hoped for a better outcome! When my husband - Brian Millgate - initially contacted Melbourne Water, they were not even aware that a planning permit ha...d been applied for to build 12 two storey units on this land. They came out to inspect it and agreed that this development should not go ahead and they wrote to Casey Council advising that the planning permit be denied. The developer went to VCAT to lodge an appeal and going by VCAT's past history, they probably would have given approval, even with a lesser number of units, as happened further down Moondarra Drive. All the effort we all put in by the objections lodged to Casey Council have certainly been successful! A BIG Thank you to all of you who lodged objections and to Ron Estens, Anne Antenucci, Amelia & John Zheng and family, who did the leg-work with letterbox drops and taking surveys. Thank you also to our Casey Mayor - Sam Aziz for his advise and encouragement. Last Saturday we were to have a Protest Photo Shoot with the Berwick News, instead we had a Victory Photo Shoot after I announced the wonderful news! It goes to show that there is value in lodging objections. People Power Won!!!