Elderly evictions in Sandringham and Beaumaris

By Jon Andrews - Bayside Leader

AN AMPUTEE nun is one of 16 shocked elderly council housing residents being evicted in a cost-cutting move.

By June 2013 Bayside Council will close down 18 independent living units in Sandringham and Beaumaris.

The council said it could not afford “the major investment required” to maintain the units.

But one of the residents, Sister Patrice Timoney, said she believed the eviction was a cash grab for valuable land, and there was nothing wrong with their homes.

She has lived at the Sandringham Rd complex for 18 months, but other neighbours, who were too distraught to speak publicly, have been there for decades.

The residents are all elderly, disabled or both.

“This is a stressful, awful thing to do to us and I am angry and upset,” Sister Timoney said.

“It is pure greed to just sell us out - we have everything we could want here and it is beyond belief they would kick us out of our homes to make money.”

Holding Fort at Bay Road

Locals oppose Bay Rd apartments

By Jon Andrews - Bayside Leader 

Sandringham residents are unhappy about a three-storey, 10-apartment block. 

SANDRINGHAM residents have railed against a triple-storey planning application that will be fought at VCAT.
A development proposal to build 10 apartments on a 700sq m Bay Rd and Gladstone St corner block has outraged locals.
The application is going to the state’s top planning tribunal because Bayside Council did not make a decision in time. 
Neighbour Robert Taylor said objectors’ group Residents Against Inappropriate Development would attend the VCAT hearing.
He said 59 objectors thought the proposal was too big, would ruin the streetscape, dominate a relatively quiet sidestreet and cause traffic chaos.

The Changing Face of our Village

Car-parks are now being 'targeted' for development around suburban Melbourne, especially in 'Activity Centres' and Public Transport routes.

Pack 'em in on Bay Road !

Yet another Planning Application has been submitted to Bayside Council for ANOTHER THREE TOWER Development on Bay Road!  ...at 212-216 Bay Road Sandringham.

Planning Application for 3 Tower, 5 to 6 storey development 
plus underground carpark at 212-216 Bay Road

Ground Floor Plan of at least a FOUR Level, THREE Tower Development

Does ANYONE perform any PROPER analysis on the 'cumulative' implications resulting from MULTIPLE High-Density developments in a 'neighbourhood area'?
Apart from other issues, the CUMULATIVE pressures on traffic and public transport have been totally ignored!

It seems like it's "High Density Development at ANY cost!" ...and the 'cost' will be felt by the local community, especially in the form of ever-increasing traffic and public transport nightmares!
Developers will have made their millions and moved on... leaving their 'nightmare legacy', which will be IRREVERSIBLE!

BlockLands on Bay Road

NO-ONE seems to perform any PROPER analysis of the 'cumulative' implications resulting from multiple High-Density developments located within 'a stones throw' of each-other?  It seems that no-one has learned from the ill-conceived nightmare that is Docklands!

There are now definite signs that Bay Road (and it's surrounds) is being transformed into a 'mini-Docklands'... without the water!
Maybe an appropriate name for it could be 'BlockLands on Bay Road'!?

And, with all due respect to the city of Bombay, maybe 'Bay Road' should be re-named 'Bombay Road'!?

Apart from other significant issues, the CUMULATIVE pressures of multiple High-Density developments on traffic and public transport have been totally ignored at the planning level!

Irreversible, ill-conceived 'social planning experiments' like this should be STOPPED, and completely re-thought!  A balanced approach to planning is sadly lacking!

Another Nightmare on Bay Road

This 4089 square metre property was advertised for sale using the quote: 

"Its one acre of land zoned for hiugh density apartments on a main road, close to shops and you can get four (4) levels without having to go to VCAT."

Note: The misspelling of "hiugh" in the advertisement has been left intentionally... it seems like a appropriate Freudian-slip ie a compilation of high & huge!!!

This shows a Plan-View of ONE Storey of a FOUR Storey Development at 218 Bay Road, Sandringham. It shows about 40 'apartments' on the ONE storey, each averaging about 42 sq. metres internally. There are another TWO similarly configured stories... plus the ground floor.
The development 'boasts' about 115 apartments, 1 shop and room for about 128 cars, mostly to be 'stored/parked' in car-stackers!

• 'Advertising' of the Planning Application has been  completed.
• ONLY THREE objections were apparently received by Council ! This is VERY surprising, considering over 1000 objections were received against the development at 220-228 Bay Road! This apparent lack of 'objectors' seems to indicate that either (or both), 'advertising' was comprehensively inadequate, or many people of the community are 'exhausted' from dealing with the 'bully tactics' regarding 'enforced planning' at a State Government level!
• The Planning Application was 'refused' by Bayside Council and a VCAT hearing has apparently been set for October 2011.  But, alas, past experience of VCAT hearings does not bode well for the local community.

Amongst other things, including loss of amenity for the local community, the implications for traffic movement in Bay Road & 'surrounds' are almost UNIMAGINABLE, considering the 'cumulative effect' of traffic from other nearby high-density developments!

It is hoped that the future residents enjoy the VERY close 'social interaction' this 'dormitory style' development will provide. Current media reports on 'high-density-living' suggest they will have MAJOR problems.

New 'Mini-Suburb' Planned for Bayside?

Is this a 'joke'?
It would be, if it were NOT an emerging and outrageous reality!

Planning in Melbourne is resulting in an increasing number of frighteningly high-density areas throughout our suburbs.  Suburbs that had previously evolved 'organically' over time into suburbs of character!
Now, an irreversible 'densification experiment' is destroying the character and amenity of those same suburbs.

One area in Bayside being transformed by this 'densification experiment' is circled in the image above.

This 'new mini-suburb' could be jokingly named 'Highdensityham' (Highett+Density+Sandringham)... but it is NO JOKE to those residents who have made it their neighbourhood community.

Consideration of the outrageous implications of such 'suburban densification' has either, not been given or has been totally ignored by so-called 'planners'.

Such unbalanced and ill-conceived planning needs to STOP!

ALSO... the Government policy of promoting the sale of residential properties to Non-Resident (overseas) buyers should STOP.  It increases home prices AND reduces home availability for Australian residents!