Wedge in balance

By CASEY NEILL
GLENFERN Green Wedge’s future remains in the balance after Knox councillors last week rejected plans to subdivide the Upper Ferntree Gully land.
The property’s owners are now considering their options, while Friends of Glenfern Green Wedge is forging ahead with plans to buy all or part of the site.
A Knox City Council officer recommended councillors grant a permit to split the two lots at 157-173 Glenfern Road into five, but with amended plans and dozens of conditions.
The 77-acre property was the subject of a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) appeal last year after the council rejected plans to divide it into seven lots.
VCAT agreed but said “we want to make it clear that we do not agree with any suggestion that this land should remain unsubdivided”.
So its four owners came up with a new plan they said was good for the community and the environment, included new trees, would not remove any existing trees, and donated 10 acres of land along Ferny Creek to the council.
Dobson Ward councillor Sue McMillan said the application would have been “quite a big win for the community” and on 28 August moved that councillors approve it.
But councillors were split four-four and Mayor Adam Gill used his deciding vote to reject the permit.
Cr McMillan said this was not a perfect world and the council had to seek fair and reasonable outcomes.
“They were trying to balance a commercial deal with some good community outcomes. I think they did that,” she said.
Cr McMillan said many residents upset at the proposal were sitting in homes on “sub-divided quarter-acre blocks across the road”.
“That was once a large pocket with a beautiful vista too,” she said.
One of the land’s four owners, Andrew Peterson, said he was surprised and disappointed with the decision given the officer’s report.
He said it was a very detailed assessment and attached very stringent conditions to the draft planning permit.
Mr Peterson said the community had also shown support for it, with many residents in the land’s immediate vicinity signing petitions supporting the application.
He said the owners would now look at options and make a decision in the coming weeks.
VCAT is the likely option. But Mr Peterson said they could also sell the land as it is or “sit on it”, potentially leaving the community and environment with nothing.
Friends of Glenfern Green Wedge spokeswoman Johanna Selleck said the council’s decision was a pleasant surprise.
“I think it was an enlightened decision that showed strong leadership,” she said.
“In our opinion the application is contrary to all the planning provisions and it’s destructive. It would cause a scar on the landscape.”
Ms Selleck said the group would defend the Green Wedge at VCAT if necessary.
“We’ve had two wins at council and we’ve already won one at VCAT,” she said.
The group is still approaching people for pledges towards purchasing all or part of the land – a plan it would proceed with even if VCAT did give the subdivision the green light.
“There’s a lot of community support behind us,” she said.