Eighth Meeting of Friends of Erskineville
Committee Meeting opens at 7.30pm Present: Brett Mason Paul Howard Alastair Moir Julie Moffat Lyn Schmidt Amalina Wallace Penny Hardy Tony Ryan Tim Hiley Catherine Bass Jan Mercer Phillip Large Laura Starratt Brett Mason opens meeting. Tree Master Plan Arterra (Consultants for Council) will brief FOE at a later date. Locals should be encouraged to make a submission as this will be a good opportunity to influence what species of tree to have in your street. Traffic Survey Tim Hiley completed and tabled the draft Traffic Survey. Tim said the style and layout of the report is consistent with the type of report Council would be familiar with. It is obvious from surveyed comments that there are definite issues to be pursued particularly in the area of parking. Paul H emphasized that there is no consistency in the way traffic or parking changes are enacted and Council doesn’t look at the total picture. Brett M said the report could be seen as a ‘Trojan Horse’ to stimulate Council into producing a comprehensive traffic survey and action plan. Councillor McInerney indicated he is keen to see the report and will talk to Council officers to get things moving. It was suggested that Amalina W write up a press release. Copies of the report were handed around for people to review to get back to Tim with suggestions. Once edits have been made it will be formatted forwarded to Council and put up on FOE web site. Car Share Schemes Madeleine is preparing a letter to Council in response to their less than satisfactory answers to FOE’s concerns. There was a strong consensus that the Car Share companies were getting a sweet deal only having to pay the equivalent of a residents parking fee. Compare this with the premium restaurants are levied for using pavement space for seating. It was noted that the DA for Foodworks development on King Street made car park space available at rear in compensation for loss of open space. Not many people are aware of this. 16 Town Houses were built on what was a car park/open space. Play Ground on Green Bans Park There was further discussion about the development of a playground at Green Bans Park. The plan was never given over to community consultation. Julie M commented that Council would do better to find and develop new park sites rather than endlessly modifying existing ones. Energy Australia Restoration Works The standard of pavement and street restoration after completion of works remains unacceptable. A letter will be drafted to Energy Australia, Subakette, State authorities, Carmel Tebbit, Energy Minister, Lord Mayor and Councillors. Draft City of Sydney Plan Brett M summarized the main points raised during a meeting he and Alastair M had with Council Planners about the Draft City Plan. The main issue appears to be a difference in philosophy between Council and State Government on zoning. Council has zoned in some detail, areas according to house type in order to maintain consistency of street vista. In Newtown/Erskineville a street may have an array of different houses with different numbers of floors or frontages. For example, in a block of single storey houses an owner would not be able to increase his house to 3 storeys. The State wishes to have a more homogenised plan that would cover larger areas of the LGA. Council is objecting to this approach and wish to preserve the variety of looks within the village area. Council also wants to maintain Erskineville shops at a maximum of 3 storeys. It was noted that the tram shed site has the same zoning as King Street retail. Sub-committees A suggestion that sub-committees be formed to help run with particular issues like the Turtle Lane DA met with general agreement. Ashmore Estate Brett M outlined what the Council has envisaged for Ashmore Estate in the City Draft Plan. This will be a big development with a mix of uses (2 supermarkets/high rise residential etc) and likely to be controversial. Council has proposed a 9 storey limit. The State Government came back and decreed it should be 20 storey. Council is currently lodging an appeal against the NSW decision and there is a likelihood that NSW may use its powers under the Planning act to take over site. Brett has arranged a meeting between City Planners and some local residents to get the ball rolling on a campaign. This issue may be a candidate for a sub-committee. Erskineville Road Supermarket Site – New DA DOA had a successful public meeting on the 23 February where Kristy Lee from Hamptons property gave a critical analysis of the DA. That review will now go to Council after some edits. Paul H will make sure DA submissions go to Philip Black. Individual submissions are preferred and there should be many after the public meeting. The reaction at Erskineville shop stall on a recent Saturday was positive. Turtle Lane Laura S – a resident of the Turtle Lane area was present to get support for locals objection to the Turtle Lane development. Evidently historical data relating to the area has been lost during the South Sydney Council amalgamation. Some discussion ensued on how to retrieve this. Laura has contacted Kristy Lee with the intention of obtaining a review of the DA Paul H went through the process an action group needs to do to get Council on side in the DA process. Emphasised that locals need to ‘own’ the issue and FOE will provide support where possible. FOE’s core group cannot be involved in the detailed work of every DA proposal. There is a guide on FOE website to the steps required and an email on the issue will be circulated via FOE. Financials It was generally agreed that FOE needs to raise more money. A specific email to FOE database requesting donations was one suggestion. A letter targeted at local businesses offering a patronage scheme through which they could advertise on the FOE website was another. The Trivia night was a good earner – could it be repeated? The Hive Bar has offered their upstairs area for FOE use – could this be a venue? How about getting Newtown High to do a creative neighbourhood concern poster? The meeting was closed at 9.50pm |