CONSTRUCTION of the $14 million Arthurs Seat chairlift could start as early as next spring and be completed before the end of 2015, says project chief Simon McKeon. Mr McKeon, head of Arthurs Seat Skylift, said it was hoped to submit a “package of reports” to Mornington Peninsula Shire and Parks Victoria before the end of the year. “If all goes well, we’re hoping to get approval by the end of the first quarter of 2014,” he told The News. “We’ll run a tender process with major chairlift makers such as Poma and Doppelmayr, and hope to start assembly and…
Author: Mike Hast
MORNINGTON Liberal MP David Morris has slammed the previous state government over its “botched” Mornington pier project. His criticism comes just weeks before Parks Victoria names the successful tenderer for the replacement of the outer, condemned section of the pier. In May 2012, the state government announced it would spend up to $15 million to replace the outer section with its 125 pylons, which had been closed since August 2010 after a series of storms weakened the structure. In the Parliament last week, Mr Morris said the project had gone “seriously off the rails” under the Brumby Labor government. “In…
VICROADS is trying to offload the Esplanade onto Mornington Peninsula Shire. The shire and VicRoads have been discussing the status of shire roads for many months but councillors were briefed for the first time last week. VicRoads can force the shire to take ownership of the so-called government road but it appears the roads authority is adopting a conciliatory approach. The state government authority has told the shire it wants to downgrade the Esplanade’s status from an arterial to a local road, and give it to the shire. It told the shire the road is mainly used by locals but…
MORNINGTON Life Saving Club is in deep water after clearing an area behind its clubhouse on Mills Beach as well as starting internal renovations without a permit. The club removed sand that had built up behind the building over several years, disturbing an Aboriginal midden site. It placed two shipping containers in the cleared section as a storage area for new equipment. It also started renovating shower and toilet areas on the ground floor, which had been affected by rising damp. The existing facilities were insufficient for a growing membership. The clearing has triggered an investigation by the Office of…
THE controversial Dromana quarry tip plan is dead. Quarry owners R E Ross Trust will officially announce on Tuesday it will not appeal the Environment Protection Authority’s refusal to grant a permit, which was handed down last month. The decision brings to an end one of the most controversial and hated proposals on the southern peninsula for many years. A government source told The News that Ross Trust chairman Ian Vaughan would announce the decision on Tuesday night at a meeting of Peninsula Waste Management’s community reference group. Ross Trust owns PWM as well as Hillview Quarries in Dromana. The…
THE restored grave of acting Prime Minister James Fenton will be unveiled at Mornington Cemetery at 3.30pm on Sunday 27 October. James Edward Fenton was an MP 1910-34 including acting PM for five months in 1930 during the Great Depression, one of the most tumultuous times in Australian politics. The unveiling will be the culmination of a campaign by Dunkley MP Bruce Billson and Mornington and District Historical Society to restore the grave. About $10,000 for the work came from the federal Labor government’s Your Community Heritage Program. Historical society member Val Wilson, who conducts tours of the cemetery and…
THE Environment Protection Authority has knocked back an application for a rubbish tip, or landfill, in the old Pioneer quarry on the Arthurs Seat escarpment at Dromana. It was announced on Friday morning with the EPA saying the proposal did not comply with “threshold issues around groundwater, construction design and management”. The decision is a blow to tip proponent Peninsula Waste Management and its owner R E Ross Trust as well as Mornington Peninsula Region Waste Management Group of which Mornington Peninsula Shire is the sole member. The waste group had earmarked the quarry as a potential tip site in…
AN overzealous ranger who removed “anti-tip” signs from roadsides in Arthurs Seat, Red Hill and Dromana last Saturday has forced Mornington Peninsula Shire to issue a public apology. The shire posted a statement on its website on Sunday after receiving complaints from Peninsula Preservation Group members and other anti-tip sign owners. Shire officers delivered the signs to a PPG member’s home on Sunday. The statement said rangers would return a number of “no tip” protest signs “that were mistakenly impounded on Saturday”. Claire Smith, the shire’s manager of environment protection and community safety, said signs had been removed from “the…
PENINSULA Link freeway has been open for seven months but the authorities are still discussing the location and types of locality and tourism signs. The freeway opened on 17 January but there were no signs on the four-lane road showing traffic where to exit to reach Baxter, Hastings and the Western Port side of the peninsula. Dunkley federal MP Bruce Billson weighed in to the issue late last week when he said a Coalition government would contribute $175,000 to “refresh and update the ‘Tour Peninsula’ tourist directional signage and to correct location signage errors such as omitting the Baxter township”.…
THE state government has called for tenders to replace the condemned, outside section of Mornington pier. Replacement of the 75-metre long section will cost at least $13.5 million, allocated by the government last year. Work is expected to start later this year and be completed in late 2014, subject to weather and contractor availability. The value of the project is likely to see pier contractors from far and wide submit tenders. Mornington MP David Morris said the design for the outer section and wave protection would ensure “this iconic pier will continue to provide a destination for the residents and…
THE last of 74 large concrete wave screen panels was lifted into place on Mornington pier’s middle section last Thursday. Completion of installation is a significant event in the long-running saga to make the harbour safe from westerly and northerly storms. Carrum Downs-based K V Johnson Constructions started installing the panels – 43 on the outside of the pier and 31 on the inside – in late June. The screens are 1.2-metres wide on the bay side and 1.6-metres wide on the harbour side with some up to 6.7 metres long. Made in Geelong, they weigh about 15 tonnes each,…
SIGNS of the times are popping up around the southern peninsula as the anti-tip campaign gains momentum. Peninsula Preservation Group – the lead objector to the plan to put a rubbish tip, or landfill, in the old Pioneer quarry at Dromana – has distributed more than 300 anti-tip signs to members and supporters as well as bumper stickers. The signs have been appearing on freeway bridges, in people’s front yards and on fences, beside roads and, cheekily, next to Hillview Quarries’ entrance on Boundary Rd in Dromana (pictured). Hillview Quarries and tip proponent Peninsula Waste Management are owned by the…
A TEMPORARY roundabout will be installed at the high-risk intersection of Graydens and Boes roads in Hastings. The decision by Mornington Peninsula Shire comes after an increasing number of accidents, including three in June (The News, 2/7/13). Federal Coalition MP Greg Hunt has weighed in to the issue after a near-miss at the intersection on Monday last week. Mr Hunt, who has an office in Hastings and lives at Mt Martha, has been enlisted by the shire council to lobby federal Transport Minister and newly elected Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Mr Hunt’s media adviser, Tina McGuffie, said the shire…
THE federal government has approved plans to expand Yaringa Boat Harbour at Somerville. The $50 million project was subject to approval by the federal Department of Environment as it triggered a process under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The so-called “controlled action” under the Act was because the project could potentially affect wetlands of international importance, listed threatened species, and listed migratory species. Permission was granted on 26 June after Yaringa owner Stefan Borzecki submitted his plans to the government in July 2011. Mr Borzecki now needs approval from the state government for rezoning of land,…
FRANKSTON will get another multi-storey building after the council on Monday night approved an 11-storey complex on the beach side of the Nepean Highway. The building on land at 446-450 Nepean Highway is currently occupied by Frankston Hi Fi, the Pint and Pickle and the former Sydney’s Furniture store, and will be between McDonald’s restaurant on Wells St and the old cinema complex near Beach. The highest part of the building will be a tower 39 metres high. The lift “overrun” will be 41 metres high. Other parts of the building will be set back from streets and neighbouring buildings.…
A RATEPAYER group has accused Mornington Peninsula Shire of “deliberately” adopting a budget strategy for 2013-14 “designed to mislead the public”. The shire proposes a 5.9 per cent lift in the general rate in the dollar. This does not include the 12.5 per cent hike to a major compulsory charge, the municipal charge. This gives “the appearance of the rate rise being less than 6 per cent”, the Mornington Peninsula Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association says. Calculations show that increasing the municipal charge by $20 to $180 will bring the rates rise to 7.7 per cent. In a letter to the…
THE protection of Melbourne’s natural environment with Green Wedge Zones was a signature achievement of former Mornington Peninsula MP Alan Hunt, who died in the early hours of Friday morning at age 86. Mr Hunt, the father of five sons including federal Flinders MP Greg Hunt, his youngest, died at Peninsula Health’s palliative care unit in Frankston where he had been for two days after being transferred from Frankston Hospital. Mr Hunt’s eldest son Bob, 61, drove from southern NSW and arrived at the palliative care unit at about 3am and was with his father at the end. Greg Hunt…
TEN-storey towers 32 metres high could be built on the beach side of Nepean Highway under the proposed Frankston structure plan. The draft plan was released for public comment on Monday night. The plan will guide development over the next 20 years and replaces the 2005 TAFE to Bay structure plan. The proposal is already drawing fire with two councillors, James Dooley and Glenn Aitken, criticising on ABC television news. Cr Aitken told the ABC the structure plan “will turn Frankston into a place of mediocrity into the future”. Cr Dooley said it included zones for high-density housing that could…
MORNINGTON beaches are being polluted by rubbish from Melbourne. Trash collected by beach walkers in the past two weeks included five syringes as well as plastic containers, lids, straws, small pieces of plastic and parking slips, in total enough to fill several large garbage bags. More than three dozen parking slips came from the cities of Melbourne, Maribyrnong, Darebin and Yarra, revealing the exact time and date the slips were issued. Several had taken just three days to float from Melbourne to Mornington. Mornington Environment Association president Jan Oliver said “rubbish in appalling amounts was washed up on Mills Beach…
AFTER more than 10 years of reports, community consultations, two independent panel hearings and intense lobbying, the shire council last week voted to send the Woodland planning amendment to Planning Minister Matthew Guy for his approval. But it was a close-run thing – Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Lynn Bowden used her casting vote to get the amendment, known as C162, over the line after councillors were locked at 5-all. The Woodland amendment is the shire’s attempt to create the planning muscle to restrict subdivision to protect “neighbourhood character” in the area of Mt Eliza bounded by Nepean Highway, Humphries…
OPPOSITION to the proposed rubbish tip in an old quarry on Arthurs Seat is mounting with more than 500 people packing Dromana Hall last Saturday for the first meeting of Peninsula Preservation Group. It was arguably the largest protest meeting on the southern peninsula since the anti-dredging rally on Rosebud foreshore in February 2008. People who could not get into the hall stood outside, watching and listening through open windows. Tip proponent Peninsula Waste Management, owned by R E Ross Trust, has asked the Environment Protection Authority to approve its plan. It also needs the OK from Mornington Peninsula Shire.…
SHIRE councillors have removed the Rosebud foreshore site as the preferred location for the Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA). The move at Tuesday night’s council meeting reverses a decision made in March 2012. It was led by the shire’s youngest councillor, Andrew Dixon, who was elected to one of three seats in Briars Ward last October. The decision puts the inland site at Wannaeue Place (Rosebud Central shopping centre) on an equal footing with the foreshore site. Councillors will consider the two sites at a workshop on 23 July before again debating the long-running project at a subsequent council meeting.…
MORNINGTON solicitor and developer Joseph Alesci and his company Porsh Pty Ltd have been fined $12,000 and ordered to pay costs of $8000 over planning breaches at his Epicurean Centre in Red Hill South. Mornington Peninsula Shire communications manager Todd Trimble said the shire took Mr Alesci and Porsh to Frankston Magistrates’ Court “for various breaches of the planning permit and the planning scheme”. “The offences included the construction of a concrete pad and blast wall on the road reserve; creation of a dam for the purposes of waste water treatment; failure to satisfy a section 173 agreement; and constructing…
THE state government has started installing speed camera warning signs on Peninsula Link freeway but the cameras have not yet been switched on. The six cameras on the 27-kilometre freeway between EastLink tollway in Carrum Downs and the Mornington Peninsula Freeway at Mt Martha are in pairs, all in Moorooduc – one in each direction at the Loders Rd flyover, Mornington-Tyabb Rd off-ramps and Eramosa Rd West flyover. The cameras will function as instantaneous cameras as well as point-to-point units, which photograph a vehicle’s number plate as it passes the first camera and then compares the plate of the vehicle…
THE Otama submarine will be brought ashore within 18 months, says Western Port Oberon Association. At the launch of the Victorian Maritime Centre Project in Hastings on Friday, project development team chairman Jim Schaefer said the submarine would be the centrepiece of the centre. It will be next to the southern end of the Western Port Marina seawall in Hastings on reclaimed land. Next to the sub on the seaward side will be the maritime centre building and memorial walls. There will be a parking area for 120 cars nearby. The association was given in-principle approval to use the site…
THE investigation of a shire councillor over alleged conflict of interest remains unresolved. Cr Graham Pittock appeared in Dromana Magistrates’ Court last Thursday to answer two charges brought by the Local Government Inspectorate that he had breached the Local Government Act. The inspectorate is the local council watchdog. It is alleged Cr Pittock had a conflict of interest when he voted on the multi-million dollar Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA), proposed to be built on the Rosebud foreshore. The charges allege the Seawinds Ward councillor voted at council meetings on 12 March last year and 12 June, a two-part meeting…
SHIRE councillors have rejected introducing a noise control law for Tyabb Airfield. At Mornington Peninsula Shire’s council meeting, nine of the 11 councillors voted to reject a proposal to adopt Environment Protection Authority noise control guidelines as part of the shire’s Local Laws, which were revised last year. The move has angered and disappointed Tyabb and District Ratepayers, which is likely to take the matter further. The council instead agreed to take up “the offer from Airservices Australia and Australian Mayoral Aviation Council to work through the issues” and called for yet another report. A spokesman for Tyabb ratepayers said…
THE Johnny Famechon statue project is being revived by the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame president Brett McCormick met Frankston MP Geoff Shaw earlier this month to seek his support. Mr McCormick was accompanied by Johnny Famechon statue committee members Rob McCarthy, Gary Luscombe and Arnold Thomas as well as the man himself, world boxing champion Johnny Famechon, who now prefers to be called John. “Fammo” lives in Frankston with his wife Glenys. The champ achieved worldwide fame after his epic title fights with Fighting Harada of Japan. Born in France in 1945, Fammo has called…
MORNINGTON MP David Morris says he is relaxed about his electorate receiving nothing in the recent state budget. “The budget doesn’t reflect my commitment to the electorate,” he said. Mr Morris spoke to The News after announcing the next stage of reconstruction of Mornington pier – a $1.5 million contract to install wave screens on the upgraded middle section of the pier (“Pier wave screens in June”, The News, 21/5/13). He said the electorate and peninsula region had done well over the past two years. Last May the state government promised up to $15 million to rebuild the outer, 75-metre…
THE shire’s mayor Cr Lynn Bowden and her husband Ron Bowden have put their five-lot subdivision in Somerville on the market. The proposal required two appeals to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, including last year when a neighbour objected to the position of the lots. Mornington Peninsula Shire had previously refused a permit and Ron Bowden appealed the decision in the tribunal. The subdivided land of about 5.3 hectares (13 acres) is in the triangle formed by Frankston-Flinders and Grant roads. The shire granted a permit to subdivide on 29 December 2011. Four vacant lots are on the market…