Minutes of the Community Focus Council Meeting of the Greater Geelong City Council held virtually by Zoom and broadcast on the City's website on 8 September 2020, commencing at 7:00pm.
Jennifer Lloyd
Lee Crawford
Belinda Moloney
Monica Winston
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 (Acting Director Governance, Strategy and Performance)
The Mayor declared the meeting open at 7:00pm.
Council acknowledges Wadawurrung Traditional Owners of this land and pays its respects to all Elders past and present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People who are part of the Greater Geelong community today.
Cluncillor Sullivan on behalf of Council and the Portarlington community expressed sincere sympathy to Billee and Patrick Greaney on the loss of their toddler Anna, who was tragically taken from the Portarlington Pier on Thursday, 3 September 2020.
Councillor Murrihy expressed sincere sympathy on behalf of Council to the family of Mr Richard Morris, a current and long-standing member of the Geelong Major Events Committee, who passed away on 31 August 2020. Mr Morris was also Chair of the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation and was recently inducted into the Waterski and Wakeboard Australia Hall of Fame. He was also a former Geelong Football Club board member where he served from 1977 to 1982.
Nil.
Nil.
Councillor Aitken moved, Councillor Mason seconded -
That the Minutes of the Community Focus Council Meeting held on 11 August 2020 be confirmed.
Carried.
Nil.
The following questions were submitted prior to the Council meeting from Jennifer Lloyd, Lee Crawford, Belinda Moloney, Monica Winston Responses addressing the concerns raised have been provided via email.
Jennifer Lloyd submitted the following:
My husband and I are thrilled to have recently moved into our new home at Mt Duneed. Previously we were residing in Wyndham. In this council we could put our food waste in our green bins. I have studied the information on your site, including the reasons why I cannot do so here. Your site does say that you will be reviewing this decision to see if it can be viable. This is a passionate plea to please consider this so that we do not have to contribute to landfill with materials that can be composted. It is a very important environmental issue for me and, I'm sure, for many in Greater Geelong.
Please could you review this and make it possible for food waste to be put in the green bins?
Thank you for your question Jennifer:
The City is currently reviewing options to minimise food waste going to landfill, this includes household service delivery options as well as processing of the collected material. We are planning to implement a trial food organics collection service this financial year.
Lee Crawford submitted the following:
In the 2017 Barwon Heads Structure Plan, City of Greater Geelong strategic planners made the unprecedented decision of accepting an online petition from SBHA, as 599 individual submissions. Planners chose to call them pro forma submissions and referred to them as written submissions. There is no information or guidelines available on council website regarding the use of online petitions in Planning. Planners could not advise me on how to obtain the information. I made email contact with a senior planner who said there were no clear guidelines. A standard petition received by the planning department is counted as one submission.
Thank you for your questions Lee:
How were SBHA able to use an online petition in the BHSP submission process, when information was not available to anyone else?
Information about Amendment C375 was freely available on the Geelong Australia website.
Is it appropriate for planners to give equal weight to submissions received petition form, as to a person who has provided written a submission?
No petition was received. Submissions were received from individual submitters via a Google App, as well as written submissions being received. All submissions are considered on their merits.
Having set a precedent for the use online petition in planning, will the council ensure information and guidelines is made available to all City of Greater Geelong residents?
No precedent was set, all submissions to a planning scheme amendment are considered under Section 22 of the Planning and Environment Act.
Why did City of Greater Geelong planners accept incomplete submissions? Pro forma submissions included - submissions without full names, submissions without street names, submissions without suburbs or towns, submissions with email addresses only, and people who send multiple submissions?
All submissions were accepted and considered at a Council meeting.
Is it appropriate the submissions from the SBHA petition, to be referred to as written submissions, when there was one written submission supported by 599 names?
The submissions were electronically written by individual submitters.
Belinda Moloney submitted the following:
Why does item Number 9 "a review of planning policies and processes to support UN Sustainable Development Goals" take 5 years’ time to complete and why is there no action or target set based on this review?
Thank you for your questions Belinda:
Please refer to the Environment Strategy Action Plan 2020-2022 as this supporting document contains all relevant actions planned to be undertaken over the next 2 years. The Environment Strategy Action Plan 2020-2022 includes the action: “Periodically review and update the planning scheme, and other strategic documents, so local policies achieve industry best-practice in addressing climate change impacts.”
A 5 year timeframe for completion of this significant body of work is reasonable considering this action potentially includes assessment of multiple UN development goals and potential changes to the local planning scheme as well as other council strategies and policies. As an example of the due process required to undertake some of this work, planning scheme amendments often include background research, reports and stakeholder engagement to build an evidence base to support a planning scheme amendment prior to formal amendment process commencing. Once this research phase is completed, the formal process of undertaking a planning scheme amendment can often require public exhibition periods, updating and drafting of new content, assessment by a planning panel, before being endorsed by Council and then the State Government Minister for Planning.
Why does this strategy avoid addressing the impact of large, polluting organisations such as fossil fuel companies, supermarkets selling environmentally-unfriendly packaging, and the construction industry, when there should be actions listed to tackle these issues?
The Environment Strategy 2020-2030 includes a goal to:
“Become a zero carbon emissions city region” and includes a range of actions to reduce the use of fossil fuels and accelerate the use of renewable energy.
In 2021, the City will be part of a group of 47 Victorian Councils who will be sourcing their electricity through a renewable energy Power Purchase Agreement. By doing this, the City is sending a clear message to large energy retailers of the urgent need to reduce emissions and invest in renewable energy sources.
The Environment Strategy also includes “1.2e. Pursue financial divestment away from fossil-fuel-aligned investments.” In relation to "supermarkets selling environmentally -unfriendly packaging”, the Environment Strategy also includes a Goal to: “Contribute to a circular economy by reducing waste”. The aim is for the City to contribute to a circular economy by leading and supporting the community to actively avoid waste and increase re-use and recycling of products and materials.
The development of a Prevention of Single-Use Plastics Policy is also being considered for endorsement at tonight’s Council meeting. This policy demonstrates the City’s commitment to addressing the impact of environmentally-unfriendly packaging and single use plastics.
For further information relating to a circular economy and reducing waste please refer to the City’s recently adopted Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy
In relation to your question and the impact of “the construction industry” the City introduced the Sustainable Buildings Policy to improve sustainability throughout the full life cycle of Councils buildings, from concept and design, through to decommissioning. The policy sets minimum standards for all new Council buildings – 5 star GreenStar.
The most recent example of this is the design of the new Civic Accommodation where the new office will achieve one of the highest standards of sustainable design with a 6 Star Green Star Design and As-Built Rating as well as a 6 Star NABERS Energy Rating. Building to these standards requires the construction industry to adhere to strict measures.
The City also recently amended the planning scheme to include the Environmental Sustainable Design (ESD) Policy – this policy requires parts of the residential sector and commercial buildings to achieve higher standards for sustainable design and aims to reduce negative impacts on the environment, while improving the health benefits and comfort of buildings for occupants. The Environment Strategy includes actions to further strengthen sustainable building policies and practices in the municipality.
Monica Winston submitted the following:
Does the proposed Environmental Management Strategy set a target of Net Zero Emissions and becoming Climate Ready across the entire city by 2030?
If not, why is there no date that includes all of council's influence and not just Council operations?
Does the proposed Environmental Management Strategy include regenerating ecosystems as a way of doing this?
Thank you for your questions Monica:
Council has set the following target in the Environment Strategy of
“GOAL 1: BECOME A ZERO EMISSION, CLIMATE-READY CITY REGION”.
In addition to the Environment Strategy we have set an action to “Adopt a climate change response plan by 2021”.
The climate change response plan will set target dates for Council operations and areas of Council influence. We will be seeking community feedback on emissions reduction targets, and the Climate Change Response Plan will be designed around these.
In the Environment Strategy we have committed to establishing a carbon sequestration target to be achieved through revegetation gains. Detail of what this target will be and how it will be achieved will be detailed in our Climate Response Plan and Biodiversity Strategies which are currently being developed.
Nil.
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