The magnificent elm on Alexandra Parade, west of Wellington St was felled due to a project by Melbourne Water to replace the cover of the Alexandra Parade storm water drain.

The elm is on Yarra’s Significant Tree Register, but that was not enough to save it. The tree was an outstanding specimen and also made a significant contribution to the landscape due to its prominent position. Large trees also trap deadly particulate pollution from diesel engines. It particles gets trapped in the leaves until they washed down in the rain. Better than getting trapped in your lungs.

In 1977 the Citizens Against Freeways set up a barricade on this reserve at Gold Street. They  successfully stopped the Eastern Freeway being extended west of Wellington St towards Carlton. 

In 2017 Melbourne Water started planning for a project to replace the deck over the main drain under Alexandra Parade, to allow heavy vehicles to drive over it safely.

During the planning stage, the 3068 Group advised Melbourne Water that the elm was of particular significance.  Melbourne Water advised in a bulletin that:

Trees along the median listed on the City of Yarra’s Significant Tree Register will be protected, although some pruning may be necessary. The project team has developed a construction methodology to minimize the works footprint and redesigned the deck near significant trees to reduce the number of trees removed. A qualified arborist will be on site and tree protection measures will be in place.

We were saddened to learn that due to a trench being dug one metre from the tree, the project’s arborist has advised that the tree is unstable and should be removed.

trench, subsequently filled, about 1m south of the tree trunk and opposite a root flare.

The 3068 Group requested an inspection by an independent arborist, John Galbraith to see if the tree could be saved.

Unfortunately, Mr. Galbraith’s advice was that the tree would be hard to stabilise and would deteriorate in any case due to the extensive root damage. The tree has also been lopped severely by the project. Mr. Galbraith’s advice was to replace the tree.

The 3068 Group has asked Melbourne Water that a possum guard be attached to the tree before it is felled so that any possums will self-relocate (we don’t know where as there are not that many trees left). We have also asked that a wildlife inspection be performed before and during the felling process to check for nests in the hollows. We also requested that the timber be salvaged for use in park benches. These requests have been accepted.

We also request that a specimen of the same species be planted in the same location, and a row of elms be planted along Alexandra Parade when the project has completed. Melbourne Water has provided a planting plan but won’t plant elms in the Alexandra Parade reserve. They have offered to purchase five elms, but they could end up anywhere in the City of Yarra, and probably not in Collingwood which has the least open space of any suburb in Melbourne.

We are still unclear how so much root damage could be inflicted on a significant tree during an ‘exploratory’ dig. The tree was not placed in a protected zone as is normal practice during building works. The arborist was only called after the damage was done.

Melbourne Water has been relatively transparent about the project and the loss of the tree. Looking at the final works, it would infringe on the drip line and root system of the tree even if best practices were followed. But questions remain, Like why they advised the tree would be safe, and why it did not have a protection zone.

The drain cover and stump of the old tree. June 11, 2018There are a number of significant trees on Alexandra Parade apart from this elm.  Melbourne Water has mapped them 170912-Alexandra-Parade-Main-Drain-bulletin-FINAL

Mature oaks on Alexandra Parade, west of Hoddle Street will not be affected by the Streamlining Hoddle Street project

Melbourne Water are also undertaking the M41 Merri Creek to MCG water main renewal. This project replaces a water main through Edinburgh Gardens and George Street Fitzroy. Both are sites of historic elms.

George Street Fitzroy

The maps released so far do not show the works in sufficient detail to assess what trees will be impacted. m41_community_feedback_summary.pdf 

We are losing significant trees throughout the city for many reasons. We just learned at a panel hearing that the entire Fitzroy Gas Works 4.6 hectare site is to be denuded of all trees so it can be decontaminated.

Another significant tree, a beautiful Box Elder, was felled in Gold Street opposite the primary school just two months ago, along with many others. If the State government and the developer had been open to changing their plans to incorporate the tree they could have saved it.

Yarra’s planning department gave a permit for a building to be built within the drip line of a significant elm on private land. The planning department says it ignores Yarra’s Significant tree register because it does not form part of the planning scheme!  The same department has also resisted any amendment to incorporate the register into the scheme, despite long efforts by some councilors. Getting a tree onto the register takes around a decade. Nominations get lost in the mail.

Last year, Darling Gardens lost the last remaining elm that was on the National Trust Register. The tree was struck by lightning and became unstable. The other registered elm was destroyed by a council path some decades ago.

Near Rushall Station, the management of the Old Colonists Society removed a large number of poplars. This distressed many of their residents. The trees were on private land but overhung the bike path. Close by, Yarra Council plans to remove mature trees on the Merri Creek escarpment for a new bike path.

Most of the world’s cities lost their mature elms to Dutch Elm Disease. Melbourne has a unique and extensive collection dating from the nineteenth century.

They need to be recognised to be protected.

A 160 year old elm tree in the Fitzroy Gardens, The Age, Thursday 3 April 2008.

Further reading in The Conversation: Smart city planning can preserve old trees and the wildlife that needs them.

One of the uses for the Internet is to publish documents that the government no longer wishes you to see, even though they were paid for by the public. For example, the only place you can access the landmark Northern Central City Corridor Study or the influential Eddington East West Link Needs Assessment is on YCAT.

The following document was originally published along with the Fitzroy Gasworks Amendment documentation, and then republished in an abridged form. it appears to be an internal strategy document.

So to aid researchers and submitter to this amendment, and to see how Stakeholder Analysis is done, here is the original document.

Fitzroy-Gasworks-FEP-2.7-Phase-2-community-engagement-report-Nation-Partners-14-December-2017

The Age reported this as The government report these Victorians were never meant to see (March 20 2018)

Our first committee meeting at the new Bargoonga Nganjin library that we and others in the community worked so hard to establish.

Bargoonga Nganjin. Photo by Buxton Construction

Dear Members and Friends,

It is with sadness that I advise that Julianne died on Friday morning.

A true warrior for parks, heritage and the environment. Julianne was a formidable opponent of the East West Link, and the force behind Protectors of Public Lands and Save Royal Park.

The funeral is planned for Friday. 

Sincerely,

Chris Goodman

The 3068 Group invites all members and supports to attend tonight’s Council Meeting (Tuesday 22nd November) to add your support to the following important motions that were endorsed  at a public meeting last Thursday.

The 3068 Group joined other Yarra community groups to convey their anger and alarm about the scale of development going on across Yarra, which is intrinsically linked to the destruction of heritage, neighbourhood character and public amenity. These are the real values of Yarra that money can’t buy. Our cherished historic shopping streets that are such an important part of Yarra’s identity and culture are being eyed off by developers who see an unbounded potential.

While their profits are limitless, prices spiral in a speculative land boom that returns little if anything to the community.

Bridge Road, Proposed Development

At the meeting, residents called on the Minister for Planning to place bounds on the maximum height that is allowed in shopping strips and in Mixed Use Zones and to introduce mandatory minimum provision of affordable housing into large developments.

https://goo.gl/photos/KR1pu75y1MPWH4qq8

Prof. Buxton addresses the public meeting at Fitzroy Town Hall Nov 17th 2016

Limiting development to five stories would still allow Yarra’s population to more than double, with all the change that brings. Allowing 17 storey towers in historic residential and retail areas is leading to land prices that force developers to extract more value to pay for the increased land. Mandatory height limits would dampen this speculative boom that is fueled by international investment.

Professor Michael Buxton addressed the meeting of over 200 residents and remarked how nowhere else would this situation be tolerated, that Yarra is “under siege”. Professor Buxton has warned that Yarra has lost a lot of its heritage already and urgent action is needed.

Although streets such as Smith Street and Bridge road enjoy heritage protection, the destruction, it has not slowed the destruction of those streets by high rise developments opportunistically encroaching on the street’s, stealing its amenity for their own resale. Queens Parade is next, with two 17 storey developments received. In the Dummett Crescent triangle, bounded by Hoddle St, Queens Parade and Heidelberg Road, the 3068 Group has fought (unsuccessfully) 8 storey developments that morphed into 14 storey developments. Now there is a 17 storey development, that if approved (like all the others) will lead to a new escalation.

Meanwhile, large vacant lots abound in the municipality, such as the land between Hoddle Street and the railway, occupied by a cement warehouse, storage and plumbing supplies, where developers won’t place residential development as they would have to create the environment instead of stealing it.

The coalition of community groups that hosted the public meeting included Fitzroy Residents’ Association, Collingwood andAbbotsford Residents’ Association, The 3068 Group, Protect North Fitzroy’s Skyline, and Walmer Street Action Group. Also present were members of the Collingwood Historical Society, Fitzroy Historical Society and four councillors.

The extraordinary meeting and collaboration of community groups sent a strong message to Yarra Council and the State Government that the current regime is intolerable.

Add your voice at Tuesday’s Council meeting to increase the chances of real change at both the State and local level.

RESOLUTIONS TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE CITY OF YARRA COUNCIL

The following resolutions were passed at a residents’ meeting convened by the Yarra Residents’ Coalition at the Fitzroy Town Hall, on Thursday, 17 November 2016

STRIP CENTRE HERITAGE PROTECTION

1. THAT Council requests the Minister for Planning to introduce immediate protection for historic shopping streets through an interim amendment to the City of Yarra planning scheme, to alter the building and works requirements of the Commercial 1 and Activity Centres zones requirements to include:

a). a permit to demolish buildings

b). for new buildings and works that:

i. no building can be constructed within 10 metres of the frontage

ii. further than 10 metres from the frontage, no building can exceed 11.5 metres in height and

that the Minister approve the advertising of a concurrent amendment to apply to these requirements only to buildings constructed prior to 1939.

MIXED ZONE USE

2. THAT Council request the Minister for Planning to introduce immediate interim height control to the Mixed Use zone and General Residential Zones (Schedule 3) in the City of Yarra through the introduction of a Design and Development Overlay (DDO) specifying a maximum development height control of 13 metres and a development set-back of 10 metres and approve the advertising of a concurrent amendment to the planning scheme.

AFFORDABLE COMMUNITY HOUSING

3. THAT Council requests the Minister for Planning to amend the Planning Scheme for all relevant zones to adopt the practice that developments of more than 10 dwellings provide a minimum of 10 per cent of dwellings defined as affordable community housing, developed in association with an accredited housing association, on a sliding scale to 20 per cent for developments above 100 dwellings.

PUBLIC HOUSING PROTECTION AND INCREASE

4. THAT Council requests the Minister for Housing to protect the existing level of State public housing and increase it to address the government waiting list of some 30,000 people, including the homeless (as well as others in inferior accommodation) and to protect and improve the future rent and living conditions (including public open space) for existing tenants.

INCREASED OPEN SPACE

5. THAT Council requests the Minister for Planning that legislation be amended to require the open space contribution in a development to be proportionate to the number of dwellings.

APPOINTMENT OF HERITAGE OFFICER

6. THAT the City of Yarra appoint a Heritage Officer, independent of the Director of Planning, with responsibilities to include

a. promoting heritage within Council and the community

b. being available to residents to offer support, access to information and advice on heritage-related matters

c. provision of in-house expertise to Council on heritage matters and policy, including strategic planning

d. provision of heritage advice on planning applications, advice on heritage policy, including attendance at Internal Development Approvals Committee (IDAC) and other Council meetings.

BANNING OF DEVELOPER CONTRIBUTIONS

7. THAT the Victorian Parliament ban developer contributions to political parties and politicians.

CONCLUSION

Yarra Residents’ Coalition is determined that these resolutions will not be subjected to “death by committee”, which too many participants have learnt about from bitter experience when trying to achieve genuine change through Yarra Council processes. For this reason, we have decided to defer our request for the establishment of a committee under s86 of the Local Government Act, to demonstrate good faith in action being undertaken immediately to respond to the resolutions provided. This would include an Implementation Plan, as agreed upon between Council representatives and Yarra Residents’ Coalition representatives (and expert consultants as required), to be presented to the Yarra Council meeting to be held on Tuesday 6 December 2016. Put simply, we are asking that at tonight’s meeting, council agree to setting up this consultative mechanism with the YRC for its immediate action to progress the motions council endorses tonight with the first reporting of this consultative group, to be at council meeting of the 6th of December, 2016

7:00pm, Thursday, Nov 17th, Fitzroy Town Hall Reading Room, 210 Napier St, Fitzroy

Cr Jolly has responded to the article in The Age yesterday that contained a lot of unfortunate misinformation.

For those not on Facebook, below  is the full text of his post.

Tony Nicholson has been quoted in the herald sun saying

“I think it comes down to a question of values – whether you value the lives of disadvantaged elderly people above retention of a dilapidated building of questionable heritage,” he said.

Retention of the church will not devalue the lives of disadvantage people. It is not an either-or conflict. The director of BSL desperately needs better architectural advice. The ALP Councillors are now using this issue for cheap shots. It does not bode well.

3068 members are unanimous in wanting to see a good development that will ensure Sambell Lodge continues its important role in CLifton Hill housing the disadvantaged. 

Below is the full text of Cr Jolly’s recent post.

Chris Goodman, President, the 3068 Group
The narrative in today’s Age article (attached below) about an aged care facility in Clifton Hill is simultaneously simple, confusing and absurd. Apparently the socialists are against the poor while Labor Councillors stand up for more community facilities in the face of opposition from the rich elite.The real story is somewhat different.

The Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) owns some prime, unused real estate on the corner of Gold St and South Terrace, West Clifton Hill. For many years this land housed the fantastic St Andrews Kindergarten. Ten years ago the BSL kicked out this kindergarten saying they needed the land for development of an aged care facility. 

I was involved in a massive local campaign to save the kindy. Eventually we forced Yarra Council to physically lift the kindergarten building onto the back of an oversized vehicle and it was transported to Walker St, East Clifton Hill. It is now the much loved Walker St Community Kindergarten.

Back in West Clifton Hill, the BSL did nothing with the vacated site for over a decade. Apart from the empty space where the kindergarten had been, there is also an unused heritage-significant church and dozens of mature trees. 

Finally last year the BSL decided to develop the site as an aged care facility and presented plans to Yarra Council. Their timing was not coincidental. 

In 2014 the Federal government made changes to the aged care industry that boosted the profit rate of providers like the BSL. These included a one-off 2.4% increase in government subsidies, the deregulating of fees. and the lifting of restrictions on the accommodation bond that homes can levy on residents.

As a consequence, profits for aged care providers surged by 40% last year. The Age reported recently that “the average profit before interest and tax increased from $4497 per resident per annum in 2014 to $6278 in 2015. The profits for 2015 equate to $17.20 per resident per day. At the same time, the average bond – known as a refundable accommodation deposit – also rose by 40% – from $154,116 to $217,839. The deposit – which must be paid back after the resident dies – is effectively an interest-free loan to the aged care home operator.”

While providers made bumper profits, they simultaneously cut the time spent caring for residents in aged care facilities by 7% last year to an average of 2.8 hours a day, compared to the legal minimum of 4.5 hours in the United States.

In the face of these profit opportunities, the BSL finally decided to lodge a development application for the site. 

While the cost of real estate in the surrounding area is expensive, not all locals are rich. The immediate area includes a public housing estate, elderly residents on fixed incomes, young people on low incomes trying to survive in an over-priced private rental market, and pensioners living in community facilities such as Sambell Lodge.

The BSL plans ignored the fact that the surrounding area is largely made up of single-story homes and the beautiful Darling Gardens. They proposed a four storey facility that would be the largest building ever constructed in this part of Clifton Hill.

To locals, it looked like the BSL was going from one extreme to the other by squeezing in the maximum number of units in an unimaginative block design with little open space The lack of concern for future residents was shown by the design of the top floor where the length of the travel plan to a fire escape was 43 meters, way over the 20 meter legal maximum.

Many locals fear the BSL intend to “flip” the land if their design is approved – that is sell it off to a private aged care provider. Rather than build a facility for the poor and vulnerable as today’s Age article implies they are doing, the design is more like that for a ” a luxury private aged care facility for resale to the private market” as the local residents group, 3068, put it. This is underlined by the fact that the design has a big increase in parking provision than the first design in 2014 (from 26 places to 35).

Hundreds of locals signed petitions and made submissions on this matter. Not a single submission opposed an aged care facility on this site. The local residents’ group, 3068, proposed an alternative design that would have been one storey lower, had less parking for richer residents, yet kept the same number of beds as the first design in 2014. No wonder locals resent the accusation of being NIMBY.

The Council voted 4-3 to say no to the current design of the BSL for this site. I asked the BSL not to rush off to VCAT but instead to sit down with locals, listen to their concerns and develop a better plan that would expand aged care without breaking local planning standards in such as extreme way. Unfortunately, BSL decided to go to VCAT where the matter will be dealt with later this year. 

If this bad design was tabled by a developer building expensive private units, almost everyone would say it was an over-the-top design. Because it was a proposal for an aged care facility it got a more sympathetic hearing, as it should. However, there is difference between bending the stick and breaking the stick. A design for an aged care facility doesn’t mean a free pass to ignore local amenity and planning rules – especially when there was an alternative design on the table that would have provided the same number of aged care beds as the initial 2014 plans.

I am happy to discuss this issue with anyone interested in rational debate on these complex topics.

However, I won’t be giving the time of day to those Labor Party critics who have opportunistically and hypocritically tried to use this issue to have a crack.

The Labor Party are in power in Victoria and control numerous Councils, including Yarra. If they were serious about boosting community services including aged care at a time when the State’s population is expanding rapidly, they would:

1. Massively expand public housing to eat into waiting list that now consists of 34,000 desperate people. Instead the last State Labor budget provided funding for fewer than 60 new units!

2. Change the State Planning Scheme to mandate that every new large development has a percentage of low cost housing.

3. Plan properly by ensuring that new areas like Fishermen’s Bend have childcare, schools, public transport, aged care etc built into future designs. Don’t repeat the errors of the Docklands. Unfortunately the Labor Planning Minister and Labor Councillors approve high rise tower after high rise tower consisting of tiny private apartments with little parking and no services to meet the needs of future residents.

These are some of the component parts of a socialist planning policy.

The debate around the BSL plans in Clifton Hill provided Labor with a rare opportunity to make a fake, hypocritical and opportunistic attack from the Left. Only the most naïve of people will be sucked in by their shenanigans. 

14.7% of Australians are over the age of 65 and that percentage is expected to rise to 24% by 2056. For private investors they see this as a market opportunity to house pensioners like cattle in expensive, tiny rooms with half the rate of care as the minimum mandated in the US.

A lifetime of hard work and paying tax should mean retiring workers are treated better. A socialist aged care policy includes government-funded, publicly-owned facilities with sufficient, decently paid and trained carers. 

I make one final appeal to the BSL not to rush off to the developers’ court, VCAT, but instead let’s talk with locals and tweak the plan so it respects the area and provides a better design for its future residents’ safety and amenity.

We can then attempt to put a revised plan through the Council planning process as quickly as possible.