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Developer fee to fund parks plan By Charlene Macaulay Open space contributions will be compulsory for new residential, commercial and industrial developments under a Brimbank council proposal to fund the creation and maintenance of parks. The council plans to amend a clause in its planning scheme that will allow it to implement a fixed monetary contribution rate for all eligible subdivisions, with a 5 per cent flat rate
proposed for residential and commercial subdivisions, and 2.5 per cent proposed for industrial. ‘‘The council has traditionally charged an open space levy on residential subdivisions greater than two lots, which has been calculated on a sliding scale depending on the size of the subdivision,’’ a report to last week’s council meeting stated. However, developers can challenge this levy at the Victorian Civil and Administrative
Tribunal. The proposed amendment will remove the right to challenge. The report said money raised by the open space contribution would help fund the council’s Creating Better Parks policy, which promotes the creation and maintenance of parks. City development director Stuart Menzies said the changes would ‘‘set in stone’’ what was already standard practice across local government and the building industry.
Public open space requirements are based on the idea that a subdivision may increase the demand for open space in the community. Under the Subdivision Act, councils can demand that a developer set aside a parcel of land for recreation purposes, or pay a percentage of the site value to go towards public open space projects. The proposed amendment can be viewed at council customer service centres or at www. brimbank.vic.gov.au. Submissions close in July.
(Kristian Scott)
Health, jobs in Sunshine plans
Dean Pandos and Maxine Shettigara
Pupils dig in for the environment Brimbank Primary School pupils have learned the value of rolling up their sleeves and putting something back into the land during a series of tree-planting sessions. Ninety pupils from St Albans Heights Primary School put in three hours at St Albans’ Stradbroke Reserve last Tuesday. Then about 130 students from Monmia Primary School chipped in at Willys Avenue Reserve in Keilor Downs on Thursday morning. The sessions were part of Brimbank council’s 10,000 Trees program, which aims to add 10,000 trees across the city each year for a decade. The community is being invited to attend a National Tree Day event at Sydenham Park on Sunday, July 27.
Brimbank council has taken the first steps to transform Sunshine into a health and employment mecca. The council last week agreed to rezone pockets of Sunshine from residential zone one to general residential while it works with the Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPA) to finalise plans for the region as part of Plan Melbourne. The Plan Melbourne strategy earmarks Sunshine as one of nine areas in the state to become hives of tertiary education, health-related training, healthcare, retail and professional service. The strategy will be run in partnership with Western Health, Victoria University and the University of Melbourne. In the past six months, Brimbank council has worked with the MPA to accelerate plans for an employment cluster, extending from Sunshine to St Albans and including a health, wellbeing and education precinct centred around Sunshine Hospital. Brimbank administrator chair John Watson said Plan Melbourne tied in perfectly with the council’s Sunshine Rising program, which aims to revitalise the Sunshine town centre. “This is a very exciting opportunity to put Sunshine on the map as a recognised centre of excellence for health, wellbeing and education,” Mr Watson said. Western Health chief executive Alex Cockram said the creation of a health and wellbeing precinct in the area would lead to the overall expansion of health services available in the west. “The planned development will … put the western suburbs precinct firmly on the map as being an area which attracts and retains the best students, researchers and health professionals,” he said. Charlene Macaulay and Ben Cameron
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5 BRIMBANK & NORTH WEST STAR WEEKLY \ JUNE 17, 2014