Strippers barred

By Ed Merrison
KNOX City Council and the Boronia community have sent out a clear message about their vision for the future with the resounding rejection of a planning application for a strip club.
Residents packed out the chamber at last week’s council meeting and applauded repeatedly as councillors spelt out their reasons for turning down the application for an adult entertainment venue at 1/91A Boronia Road.
All councillors voted to refuse the application on the basis that associated safety risks could not be adequately managed and that the proposed use would not contribute to community safety and would be inappropriate within the Boronia activity centre.
Baird Ward councillor Jim Penna, who recently came under fire from Silvan MP Carolyn Hirsh for failing to ensure that the application was rejected within 60 days of being lodged, added a further two parts to the recommendation.
In the event of an appeal against the ruling being lodged at VCAT, Cr Penna moved to request that Planning Minister Rob Hulls decide on the basis that such an issue was of state significance.
Cr Penna moved that the council write to Premier Steve Bracks, Mr Hulls and local MPs requesting an amendment to planning laws prohibiting adult entertainment venues and sex bookshops within 500 metres of activity centres.
By the time the officers’ report was prepared, the council had received 359 submissions relating to the proposed venue.
Cr Penna said many objections had been made on moral and religious grounds, but the safety and security aspects had been by far the biggest planning concerns.
“By excluding those venues from major activity centres, the Government would be helping councils around Victoria to make activity centres safe and more enjoyable for families, and that’s the lesson to be learned from Boronia,” he said.
The council also resolved to make it clear in the Boronia Structure Plan that applications for similar venues were discouraged.
Cr Penna commented on the topical nature of the issue, with the Draft Boronia Structure Plan currently on public exhibition until Monday, 8 May.
“Boronia’s image has been in decline for several years and it’s time to reverse that and bring people back to Boronia.
“What (this issue) has done is act as a cohesive agent for the community as it focuses their minds on what they want for Boronia and what they don’t want,” he said.
On a personal note, Cr Penna said he had written to Ms Hirsh demanding a public apology for her comments to Parliament on Thursday, 6 April.
“I think she has a moral obligation to make an apology to me. The thing I really object to was she used a very emotive and contentious issue to launch a personal attack on me.
“I think she was doing the bidding of someone else, and shame on her for doing that,” he said.
Cr Penna repeated his claims that Ms Hirsh’s comments were ill-founded and malicious.
“I’ve set out what I’ve been doing, and I’ve been able to demonstrate that the council had not been remiss in not dealing with the issue within 60 days,” he said.
The Mail was unable to contact Ms Hirsh for comment.
As of Monday, 1 May, the applicant, PKS Pty Ltd, had not lodged an appeal with VCAT.
Despite several attempts, the Mail was unable to contact PKS Pty Ltd for comment.