THE sale of Sorrento’s landmark Continental Hotel is believed to be edging closer, after being on the market for the past 12 months with an expected price of $15 million. ‘The Conti’, with 23 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and 30 car spaces, has been owned by the Di Pietro family for 21 years. It was built in 1875. It is believed a consortium of local businessmen is negotiating to take it over subject to being allowed to build units on the rear, council-owned car park. The exact number is unknown, but a three-storey block with 30 apartments has been suggested. The…
Month: March 2016
THOSE backing a push to change the name Rosebud West to Capel Sound are gearing up for a council meeting next month when Mornington Peninsula shire will say yes or no to the proposal. A response in the positive would then go to planning minister Richard Wynne for his support and, later, gazettal. Between 5 December and 6 February the shire asked residents, ratepayers and the broader community if they thought changing the name would be good for the future of the area. The shire was assisted by proponents of the change who distributed two separate flyers to the 3500…
CONTRACTORS are about to be appointed to investigate restoring Portsea’s famed front beach to its former, sand-filled glory. Following years of arguing over the causes of the sand loss, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in February called for quotes on the methods and cost of replacing sand and preventing its future erosion. Background notes provided by the department acknowledge swell waves from Bass Strait as causing Portsea’s sand loss, but does not mention channel deepening in 2008-09, the biggest and most recent change to the Port Phillip seabed. The Port of Melbourne Corporation denied its two-year $720…
A motorcyclist was taken to hospital after colliding with a police car in Baxter this morning. Police have been told the motorcycle struck the rear passenger side of the unmarked police car on Frankston Flinders Road, near Peninsula Link overpass, about 1.45am. The rider, carrying a stubby, tried to flee the scene before he collapsed off the bike a short distance away. The 45-year-old was taken to hospital with minor injuries. Two highway patrol members were not injured. It is expected the Baxter man will be interviewed in relation to riding an unregistered bike. Police will also investigate whether alcohol…
FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt is urging community groups and individuals to apply for grants to “to engage with and raise awareness of” Point Nepean. Point Nepean is the only one of 104 places on the National Heritage List in Mr Hunt’s electorate. “I encourage community organisations and individuals who want to engage with Point Nepean to consider making an application for a grant,” Mr Hunt said. “Grants of between $2500 and $10,000 are available to undertake activities that promote community engagement and raise awareness of places on Australia’s National Heritage List.” Mr Hunt, who has long been a critic of…
POLICE visited a picket line at the United Petroleum site on Bayview Rd, Hastings, Tuesday, but took no action against protesters. Hastings Senior Sergeant Steve Burt said the company had contacted police. “They just wanted to know what was going on, so we attended,” he said. “The protest was peaceful and gave us no cause for concern. We talked to the protesters who guaranteed a peaceful blockade. They have every right to protest and, unless they cause a problem, everything’s OK.” Organiser Kevin Roberts said workers entering the site – at which West Australian business Decmil is contracted to supply…
TYABB Ratepayers’ Association is ramping up its opposition to a pending “open cut mine” at Somerville which it says will generate profits for the quarry owners but losses to residents of Somerville and Tyabb”. Members are “considerably concerned” that further development and more intensive extraction works at the Bayport Industries’ Pottery Rd quarry will turn 24 hectares of the old Peninsula Pottery site into a 30 metre deep open cut clay mine. They say all vegetation on the site is, or will be, removed, and that, from this month, up to 280 dump truck-and-trailer loads of clay a day, five…
AN appeal is being made for signatures and money to strengthen the fight against concrete footpaths at Somers. The Somers Village Community Association (SVCA) says it will appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal (VCAT) against thye footpaths planned by Mornington Peninsula Shire. The shire plans to apportion costs among all Somers property owners, not just those fronting the footpaths. Many of the property owners to be charged live several kilometres away from the two metre wide, 5.2 km long footpaths. “We [Somers Village Community Association] are calling for people to help us doorknock Somers in order to…
A POSSUM has been blamed for starting the three hectare blaze that threatened parts of Somerville, Tuesday, and destroyed 300 timber sleepers on the Stony Point-Frankston train line. Hastings police Senior Sergeant Steve Burt said he believed the marsupial caused an electrical fault in a transformer, generating sparks near where the grass-and-scrub fire started. But Victoria’s emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley didn’t consider the possum theory when saying the cause of the fast-running fire was still being investigated. “We haven’t seen any lightning, that means it’s got to be the human factor,” he said. “Whether that’s a vehicle, a human…
AN airport at Hastings is an idea being flown by Frankston Council and Mornington Peninsula Shire appears to be onboard. The high-flying concept was first floated at a Frankston Council public meeting early this month. Councillors unanimously voted to write to Premier Daniel Andrews and the South East Metropolitan Group of Councils “to determine the viability of the Port of Hastings site as a location for the South Eastern Airport as identified in Plan Melbourne”. “We have received support for this proposal from the members of the South East Melbourne Group of Councils,” Frankston mayor Cr James Dooley said last…