By JESSE GRAHAM
IT WAS a last-minute amendment that saved areas in the hills from new subdivision rules at last week’s Yarra Ranges Council meeting.
But some residents have voiced concern for areas that will be opened up under the changes, and said that important vegetation might get the chop.
At their 28 October meeting, councillors discussed a proposal to lower the minimum lot size for subdivision in Low Density Residential Zones (LDRZ) from 4000 square metres – around an acre – to 2000 square metres.
Councillor Samantha Dunn immediately put forward an amendment at the meeting, which meant that the areas of Belgrave, Belgrave South, Belgrave Heights, Tecoma, Upwey, Selby and Upper Ferntree Gully would be exempt from the change.
Cr Dunn said that, following extensive community consultation, the majority of submitters from her area did not want to see more subdivision,
“The clear message in the Dandenong Ranges is that they don’t support subdivisions in their postcodes,” she said.
The proposal, with Cr Dunn’s amendment and another allowing subdivision in the Bushfire Management Overlay-covered Warburton, passed with unanimous support.
Mount Evelyn Environment Protection and Progress Association (MEEPPA) president, Tim Heenan, said he was concerned that some vegetation on larger blocks of land would be cleared to make way for subdivisions.
“I believe that everybody has a right to be able to subdivide their blocks if they’ve got the planning authority, but I worry about the flora and fauna,” he said.
Don’t Carve Up the Hills member and Belgrave resident, Paul O’Halloran, said that he believed the hills came off well in the meeting, despite his concerns for areas such as Mount Evelyn.
“It pretty much keeps the current arrangements in place,” he said.
“Overall, I would have liked to have seen more of the Yarra Ranges protected, but it’s great to have those parts of the southern Dandenongs protected.”
The matter had been the subject of extensive community consultation in recent months, with a special meeting held by the council on 30 September for public submissions and a mail-out to 12,400 properties informing them of the proposed change.
Around 2500 submissions – including survey responses – were received on the matter.
A majority of online submitters in Mount Evelyn, Healesville and Yarra Junction supported the changes, while the majority of submitters in locations including Monbulk, Montrose, Warburton and the hills areas excluded by Cr Dunn, opposed the changes.
Written and public submissions, according to the council, were almost equally-split between supporting and opposing the changes.
Once the changes have been accepted by the Planning Minister, all decisions on subdivisions will still need approval from the council on a case-by-case basis.
The changes also carried with them a number of exceptions, which rule out many otherwise-eligible blocks of land in the Yarra Ranges.
For lots to be eligible for subdivision under the changes, they need to be connected to reticulated sewerage systems, not be covered by the BMO (except for Warburton), not covered by an Erosion Management Overlay (EMO) and carry a risk of debris flow, or be one of the 12 lots in the Yarra Ranges sitting outside the Urban Growth Boundary, among other exceptions.
Under the changes, 96 lots in Mount Evelyn, 88 in Montrose, 51 in Monbulk and 182 in Lilydale could be subdivided, if connected to reticulated sewerage and approved by the council.
The council will write to Planning Minister Matthew Guy, advising him of the council’s support for the changes, with the amendments raised at the meeting.
Councillors Jason Callanan and Andy Witlox were not present at the meeting.
