Powering up for summer Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au FIVE diesel-powered generators are being installed this month to help avoid summer power shortages or blackouts across the Mornington Peninsula. The temporary power sources will be installed by energy generation and distribution company GreenSync at Rye, Boneo and Dromana and removed when demand drops in April. While batteries or “renewables and demand response technologies” may eventually replace the generators, me-
tering devices, a switchboard, concrete foundations and underground cabling will be permanent. When approving the generators at their 16 September planning services committee meeting Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors agreed to keep pressuring the federal and state governments to pay for “plug-in grid scale batteries” to eventually replace the generators. “The equipment will be made available for the emergency generation of power when the network experiences extreme demand, 24 hours, seven days a week,” senior planner Veronica Lyn-
gcoln stated in a report to councillors. “Once the main network triggers extreme demand, the generators are ‘switched on’ systematically. Ms Lyngcoln said GreenSync had an agreement to supply extra power to United Energy during peak periods of electricity demand over summer. The locations for the generators are 605 Limestone and 115-141 Browns roads, Boneo, Boneo; 340 Browns Road, Rye; and 163 and 133 (the Dromana Drive-In), Nepean Highway, Dromana. Neighbouring property owners who were notified of the GreenSync plans
raised no objections to the generators, which are all being installed on rural lots within the green wedge zone. Melbourne Water, which manages a property opposite one of the Dromana generators, recommended a site environmental management plan be undertaken, but GreenSync had already submitted one. Ms Lyngcoln said using “relatively large rural lots” for the generators “presents a suitable planning outcome with minimal off-site amenity impacts, which could otherwise be an issue if sited in an urban residential area”. Operation of the generators has also
been cleared by the shire’s environmental health officer and complies with planning regulations. The environmental management plan prepared for GreenSync by Erias Group says identifying that each of the five generator sites “presents relatively low risk with respect to noise, air quality, soils, vegetation, flora and fauna, spills and contamination, waste, traffic, vehicle access, Aboriginal cultural heritage, flooding, utilities and land restoration”. Noise barriers will be installed alongside the generator at 340 Browns Road and both Dromana generators.
Shire wants more control over apartments Eye of the beholder: Concrete and bricks have been used for external cladding on the latest apartment blocks at Martha Cove, Safety Beach. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors wants to amend planning regulations to require apartments to feature “coastal” materials, such as stone and wood. Picture: Keith Platt
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wood is in response to a Better Apartments in Neighbourhoods discussion paper sent to municipalities for comment by DELWP. Ms Northwood said most proposed changes to the guidelines were “considered positive” for the peninsula, but added that apartments had the “potential to significantly impact on the [peninsula’s] valued and unique landscape
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DEVELOPERS may eventually find it more expensive to build apartments on the Mornington Peninsula than in municipalities closer to Melbourne. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors want apartments on the peninsula built with materials that protect towns’ “valued character”. They say apartments designed for inner suburbs may not be suited to the peninsula. Changes to existing apartment guidelines proposed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) recommend using “low maintenance and durable” materials. However, shire councillors want developers to use “coastal” materials, such as stone and wood. While being more expensive and not regarded as being low maintenance, stone and wood would avoid “a very homogenous built form outcome” for apartments. While not stated by the shire, expensive apartments may also be more in keeping with the real estate agents’ mantra of offering “resort-style living” to peninsula property buyers. The shire also wants to discourage developers from using “large amounts of the same cladding material, particularly rendered brick/block work and aluminium cladding”. In a submission to DELWP adopted unanimously by councillors at the 16 September planning services committee meeting, the shire says bricks and aluminium cladding “are generally used on lower quality developments [and have unappealing] ‘bulky’ built form outcomes”. The submission prepared for councillors by senior planner Leigh North-
… as embodied in the Mornington Peninsula Localised Planning Statement (Victorian Government, 2014)”. The discussion paper lists five policy aims for new apartment developments, including the need for: n Green space in common areas of buildings, which preferably includes trees for shade and urban cooling, and landscaping that softens the street;
n High quality building facades made from robust, durable and attractive materials that complement surrounding buildings and provide visual interest; n Protection from wind impacts on surrounding streets and open space, so the spaces are comfortable to use and likely to be used more often; n Attractive, engaging streets that enhance the amenity, safety and walk-
ability of the neighbourhood; and
n Better managed construction im-
pacts of building work on existing neighbourhoods. Ms Northwood said proposed changes that needed “further clarification and consideration” before being supported by the shire included communal open space and building appearance. Keith Platt
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2 October 2019
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