Minutes of the Community Focus Council Meeting of the Greater Geelong City Council held at the Council Conference and Reception Centre in City Hall, 57 Little Malop Street, Geelong commencing at 7:00pm.
Jenny Bantow
Sanja Van Huet
Vick Perrett
Councillors:
S Asher (Mayor)
A Aitken
K Grzybek
B Harwood
E Kontelj
S Mansfield
J Mason
P Murnane
P Murrihy
R Nelson
T Sullivan
M Cutter (Chief Executive Officer)
R Leonard (Director Governance, Strategy and Performance)
The Chair declared the meeting open at 7:00pm.
Council acknowledged Wadawurrung Traditional Owners of this land and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People who are part of the Greater Geelong community today.
Nil.
Councillor Grzybek moved, Councillor Sullivan seconded –
That the Minutes of the Community Focus Council Meeting held on 10 March 2020 be confirmed.
Carried.
Nil.
Public questions submitted by midday on the day before this meeting have been answered directly by email. Submitters were also acknowledged by the Mayor, but to limit the time that the Councillors spend in the chamber due to the risks associated with COVID-19 the questions and answers were not read out during the meeting. A copy of the questions and answers are provided below.
Jennifer Bantow asked:
Re Planning Permit Application PP-623-2019 135 Fitzroy Street Geelong, partial demolition, construction of forty dwellings, including seven apartments, multi-lot subdivision, and reduction to the car parking requirement. The definition of the application above does not state this entire site is under the City of Greater Geelong Planning Scheme Heritage Overlay, and that it includes two storey dwellings. This site is locally known as the 'Big Shed' in South Geelong.
The entire block is under Heritage Overlay 931. This is not a 'partial demolition', it is demolition of almost the entire site leaving the footprint and minimal structural elements only of one building.
This site is within an area currently being considered by the City of Greater Geelong Strategic Planning Department. The South Geelong Railway Station Urban Design Framework Plan is in progress, and due to be completed soon. The South Geelong Railway Station Urban Design Framework includes consideration of the area in which this site sits, and the heritage values of surrounding residential predominantly traditional single storey homes.
This application is to be heard at a Planning Committee of elected Councillors meeting on Thursday 23 April 5.30pm. Even though this process is a Statutory Planning process and the other is a Strategic Planning process, does Council agree that a high density development like the one proposed should form part of the concurrent Urban Design Framework?
Response:
Thank you, Jennifer, for your question.
There are existing adopted policies and strategies to provide guidance in assessing this application. One of the key findings of the Settlement Strategy is to increase infill development by 50%. The Settlement Strategy and Housing Diversity Strategy identifies this area for modest infill development and encourages a mix of densities to create different characters and to cater for a variety of resident needs.
The strategic planning in this area through the urban design framework will continue to support substantial infill development in the precinct and not impact on the heritage overlay that already applies to the site. The strategic planning urban design team have provided input on the assessment of the application alongside the strategic planning work.
This application can move forward while strategic work is underway for the South Geelong Urban Design Framework and can be assessed under existing policies in the planning scheme.
Re interactive small meetings, such as Planning Committee meetings, and Heritage Advisory Committee meetings. As an alternative to live streaming, on some occasions, could Council please consider using interactive technology, such as Skype or Zoom, for small meetings such as Planning Committee meetings and Heritage Advisory Committee meetings, so that interested citizens are enabled to be heard directly by their elected representatives?
Response:
The Advisory Committees are an important part of policy and project development for the City’s initiatives. The various advisory committees are continuing using online video conferencing tools as you suggest. For large gatherings and public meetings such as section 86 committees, Council meetings and Planning Committee these are being live streamed.
The next Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday 23 April 2020 and will be available to view on the City’s live stream service. Submitters will have the opportunity to write a further submission to the planning committee members in the lead up to meeting to ensure continued public participation.
Sanja Van Huet> asked the following:
I give Council the benefit of the doubt that Councillors and Mayor did not intend to 'muzzle' its constituents right to have a public say, by not reading out the questions to Council during its live streamed and recorded meetings.
However, in good faith, could this please be rectified, so that any public comments and questions can be heard by all parties listening to the meeting, and that Council’s answers to the questions can also be put on verbal public record. If the question is deemed important enough to ask, it deserves the right to an appropriate verbal answer.
Response:
Thank you, Sanja, for your question.
You have raised an important issue. This Council did not take the decision lightly when it chose not to read out both the questions and answers at the last meeting.
This is a challenging time for all of us – and we are all having to make concessions in response to the coronavirus crisis. As a Council we are still coming together to make important decisions for the community and we have to take precautions in doing so. We are maintaining a distance of 2 metres between Councillors and are attempting to limit the time we have together in the chamber to ensure that we keep each other safe in these uncertain times.
This Council is committed to transparency, and every question that was submitted for the last meeting, together with an answer, was published in the minutes on the City’s website. The same will happen for tonight’s meeting.
Vicki Perrett asked:
The amended climate emergency motion passed on 24 September 2019 included an action to write to state and federal environment ministers to advocate for significant action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. * Were these letters sent? * Did Council receive responses? * Did the responses acknowledge the need for urgent action to address climate change and outline policies which would support Councils to achieve this objective? * Will Council release their responses to the public?
Response:
Thank you, Vicki, for your question. I am currently following up on the status of these letters. The City has always recognised the importance of reducing emissions and is driven by in the Council’s Zero Carbon Emission Strategy.
We understand Cr Aitken thinks Council should suspend the 2020-2021 Grants programs. While there is uncertainty surrounding events in autumn and winter, it is premature to halt the grants program altogether, knowing these funds provide vital support to local community groups. The budget allocation for Environment and Sustainability grants is only around $60,000. How can Council justify removing these small grants while at the same meeting they are deciding whether to allocate millions more dollars to their Christmas festivities when they could only find $200,000 towards addressing the climate emergency?
Response:
Thanks again, Vicki, for this question. We are in extraordinary times right now, and I know it is important to this Council to direct its funds to where they are needed the most to support the community.
A review of the grants program will be conducted over the coming months to ensure that the allocation of grants is effective, taking into account the current pandemic.
Nil.
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