Respected transport planner William McDougall presents a critical appraisal of Victoria’s recent approach to transport infrastructure investment in Melbourne and Victoria.
Growth will bring enormous transport problems, but policy is in tatters because politics has replaced planning.
New strategic planning approaches desperately needed for Melbourne’s transport future.
Talk Presented to The 3068 AGM.
The 3068 Group Committee will host a public meeting from 7:30 – 9.30 pm with guest speaker, William McDougall, discussing Melbourne’s transport dysfunction and frenzy of road construction.
William McDougall is a transport planner with 40 years’ experience. He has advised Labor and Liberal state governments in Victoria on projects including Rod Eddington’s transport plan; the Rowville, Doncaster and airport rail links; the Metro Tunnel; and the West Gate Tunnel. He also led the landmark 1999 Northern Central City Corridor Study that found the East-West Link tunnel was not actually necessary.
Bagung Magali/Waa-Community Room,
Bargoonga Nganjin North Fitzroy Library,
182 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North
Tuesday 25 September 2018 7:30 pm
All Members of The 3068 Group and the public are welcome to attend this event.
Also of interest: Forum on North East Link project
The Whitehorse Council is holding a public forum on Tuesday 11 September to discuss the Victorian government’s proposed North East Link project. The forum is scheduled to commence at 6.30 p.m. and to conclude at 8.30 p.m.
The venue is the Whitehorse Centre which is at the rear of 379 -397 Whitehorse Road, Nunawading (Melway 48 G9). The Centre is seven minutes walk from Nunawading railway station . RSVP at https://whitehorsenelforum.eventbrite.com
Guest speakers will include: Robert Clark MP, Member for Box Hill, Samantha Dunn, MLC, Member for Eastern Metropolitan Region Dr John Stone, Senior Lecturer in Transport Planning, University of Melbourne, Michelle Giovas, Warringal Conservation Society and Friends of Banyule and Chris Trueman, Whitehorse Active Transport Action Group
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)
The 3068 Group laments the demolition of the 1911 Star Lyric Theatre. We made submissions to Yarra City Council, objecting to the demolition of the theatre at 239-247 Johnston St, Fitzroy. While other cities protect their heritage and adapt it for new uses, Yarra council in this as in so many cases, was not prepared to fight the developers with their consultants, the State government and VCAT, and its own planning department. No one would stand up for the theatre, so down it comes.
It was one of the most up-to-date theatres for picture shows in the State when opened in 1911. [The Argus, November 6, 1911, p.15]
It was the last of four theatres registered in Fitzroy in 1920:
Although 13 cinemas may have operated in Fitzroy and North Fitzroy over the years, it was also the last of the “Lyric Group”. In 1921, other “Lyric Theatres” were at:
Seating capacity was reported to have been 2,300. The theatre was of historic importance for its intact pressed metal ceiling and Warren trusses, with a span of 14.6m, and a height of nearly 14m.
“The arched trusses are innovative in Australian terms, though the use of bolted rather than riveted joints is if anything old-fashioned. They are essentially Pratt trusses in shape intermediate between parallel chorded (or concentric) and crescent shaped. The concentric form was well known in the second half of the nineteenth century, at New York Central Station and elsewhere, and the crescent shape was used by Eiffel for two-hinged arches at Oporto and Garabit, but neither type has been reported in Australia, much less the somewhat ungainly compromise of the Lyric Theatre. In Australia this example is followed by the true crescent shaped Warren truss arches, in timber, of the Manufacturers’ Pavilion, Sydney Showgrounds, c 1937, by Trenchard Smith & Maisy [demolished], then by the steel Warren truss arches of the ‘Igloo’ aircraft hangars of the 1940s”.
– Professor Miles Lewis AM, Faculty of Architecture, University of Melbourne. Correspondence with The 3068 Group, Nov 2013.
“The new Lyric Theatre in Johnston street Fitzroy, was opened in the presence of a crowded house on Saturday night. The building, which has been erected at a cost of £10.000, has a seating capacity of 2.300. The mayor of Fitzroy (Councillor T. M’Mahen), in declaring the the theatre open, said that it was one of the most up-to-date theatres for picture shows in the State. The proprietary were to be congratulated on their enterprise. He congratulated the architects (Messrs. H. B. Gibb and Finlay) and the builders (Messrs. Lockington and Sinclair) on the fine result they had achieved. The pictures shown on Saturday night de-lighted the large house. A particularly good film was a representation of “Faust.”
– The Argus November 6, 1911, p15 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11629737
There is a website by Janine Evans, devoted to the former theatre.
In October 2016, Rone staged an exhibition in the space prior to its complete demolition.
https://www.r-o-n-e.com/empty-project
The photographic record of the exhibition includes a 3D interactive capture of the interior of the former theatre.
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
Queens Parade Clifton Hill, looking southwest at sunset, December 18, 2016, Photo By 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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7. THAT the Victorian Parliament ban developer contributions to political parties and politicians.
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
The 3068 Group 