Friends,
Welcome to the first WCA newsletter for 2023. We hope you had an enjoyable holiday season. Fortunately, the heat hasn’t been too fierce this summer.
FESTIVAL
The Warrandyte Festival starts on March 17 so we hope to see you in person at the WCA booth. This year we will be focusing on our Community Survey which will be launched soon and which will run over the Festival weekend. We’ll issue a separate newsletter on the survey shortly, but it is designed to assess community attitudes on all those factors which contribute to Warrandyte’s character – both the built and natural environments.
Speaking of the Festival, if you are available to assist at the WCA booth please call Jan Davies on 0414 223 790.
NEIGHBOURHOOD CHARACTER – NILLUMBIK
Nillumbik Shire Council is preparing a new Neighbourhood Character Strategy. This will define the character of existing areas and outline how new developments should respond to the characteristics of each area.
The draft strategy describes North Warrandyte as a Bush Residential 1 area with the following characteristics:
• A mix of post-war, modern and contemporary dwellings
• Predominantly gable roof forms
• High level of native vegetation, screening dwellings from view
• Presence of unsealed, dirt or gravel roads
The WCA wrote a submission on the Draft Strategy focusing on North Warrandyte, and presented its submission at the Nillumbik Planning and Consultation Committee Meeting on 14th February.
Nillumbik officers will bring a final draft of the Strategy to Council in mid 2023. The Officers report and associated meeting minutes are available on Council’s website which can be found at Council Meeting minutes and agendas link.
The link to the Neighbourhood Character Strategy (NCS) Participate Nillumbik project page can be found at: Neighbourhood Character Strategy
LOCAL ARTISTS’ ARTISAN GROUP
The WCA continues its support of local artists who display their work in the WCA Meeting Space in the Community Centre. When we approached Manningham Council to have the use of this space an important feature of our application was to make the space available for local artists to promote their work. This year the Artisans Group will continue to use the space for pop up exhibitions.
Information on the Artisans can be found on our website here.
We should also give a shout-out to our potters who will be conducting the Pottery Expo on the banks of the Yarra this coming weekend, February 25 and 26.
PLANNING ISSUES
There are two planning matters generating angst among residents at the moment.
The first concerns a proposal to develop a block at 5 Colon Road North Warrandyte. A number of local residents and WCA members lodged objections on the basis the number of trees to be removed, loss of vegetation, the very high floristic quality of the block and the inappropriateness of the design of the dwelling. Council refused to grant a permit for the dwelling. The applicant is appealing the decision at VCAT.
The other concerns a proposal to further subdivide a block at Warrandyte. The issues at stake here concern over-development. If this proposal gets Council’s approval it will set a very bad precedent, potentially leading to ever smaller lots on the Manningham side of the town. The case against the proposal is most ably presented by former Doncaster-Templestowe Mayor and Historical Society stalwart Val Polley. You can read Val’s submission here. The WCA has lent its support to objecting residents.