●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
NEWS ●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Group issues alert on ‘planning abuse’ BY ALECIA PINNER THE Long Island Residents Group is lobbying to have plans for an eight-storey South East Water head office by the Frankston foreshore halted due to a lack of public consultation. Group member and former Kananook Creek Association president Rob Thurley last week released an ‘‘urgent citizens alert’’ about what the group is calling ‘‘South East Watergate’’. The statement said the state government and Frankston Council should ‘‘stop the outrageous abuse of due planning process and the secretive, arrogant and contemptuous treatment of the Frankston community’’. Mr Thurley told the Weekly that the council had become the developer in the process and was setting a dangerous precedent by allowing an extra 15 metres of height to what was usually allowed. Mr Thurley accused the council of secretly making plans with SEW, while discussing plans for a people’s plaza at the site with community groups. Finding out about the ‘‘skyscraper’’ plan-
ned for the water’s edge was like ‘‘having a dream smashed’’. ‘‘We didn’t imagine anything like this would ever happen. This is the most strategic piece of land in Frankston. Jobs for Frankston is not the issue, just put the building where it complies with your own [council’s] planning rules.’’ He said the public verandah would be ‘‘just a forecourt to a shopping centre’’. “If it was your verandah the council would go through all of the risks but in this case they are a developer.’’ SEW held a meeting last Thursday at the Frankston Life Saving Club for residents and stakeholders to view the plans. Project manager Philip Walsh told the Weekly that feedback about the plans had been positive and SEW had negotiated with the council throughout the process. Mr Walsh said the Frankston location would attract more talent than the current office in Dandenong South, which had very little to offer in terms of surrounding food and retail stores. ‘‘I hadn’t spent much time in Frankston and am amazed by what is here, it is very exciting. We
Grand design: An artist’s impression of the front of the South East Water building. have a lot of staff who live on the peninsula, the centre of the spread of where staff are from is actually Seaford. This is a great site and the transit site was not really available to us
because of the planned extra line to Baxter.’’ A SEW spokeswoman said the cost of the building had not been finalised due to the tender process.
GOLD AND JEWELLERY BUYERS Old Broken Jewellery Unwanted, Outdated Jewellery ery Secondhand Dealer Registration No. 4456
Ballintynes Jewellery 9781 5327
G5574881AA-a11Dec©FCNVIC
NEED CHRISTMAS CASH? ITÊS TIME TO SELL YOUR OLD JEWELLERY
4 KEYS STREET, FRANKSTON
(CLOSED MONDAYS) Tues-Fri 10am-5pm
December 11, 2012 FRANKSTON WEEKLY – YOUR COMMUNITY VOICE
[5]