SAVE MORELAND COMMUNITY'S RIGHT TO HAVE A SAY ON DEVELOPMENT
On Wednesday 8 December, Moreland Council will vote on whether or not to make permanent a ‘developer scorecard’ to incentivise developers to build “good design”. The scheme is called the Design Excellence Scorecard.
The Moreland community is in danger of losing its right to have a say over controversial developments.
The incentive for developers to use the Scorecard is that the developer gets extra meetings with council staff, and then the application is decided by these council staff without any reference to our elected councillors . . . This is a fast-tracking of developments.
Why is this important?
While the community will have the right to be notified and object, we will lose our right to present our objections to the councillors’ monthly planning meeting (the Planning and Related Matters meeting)
One problem is that “design excellence” can be subjective.
If the community disagrees with the planners’ decision, our only avenue is to raise thousands of dollars to appeal to VCAT.
There’s also no guarantee that any positive features agreed to by developers and council staff will be enforceable if developers ask VCAT to remove them.
Large controversial developments should be decided by our elected representatives, and not by unelected officials behind closed doors.
No other council has such an undemocratic arrangement.
COUNCILLORS – Don’t vote away your right to vote on planning issues, and your community’s rights to be represented. Ditch the Scorecard!
