PART FOUR

1. Council must reject this Development Plan

Further modifications from BBC to the Development Plan (DP) for the St Kilda Triangle are evidently not forthcoming.

Despite recent changes, including some design modifications, the DP will still result in a massive commercial exploitation of crown land on a scale not seen previously in St Kilda and never envisaged by the planning guidelines or in any consultations with the community.

To recap, in the revised DP:

• Retail remains the dominant activity in an area designated for a cultural and seaside fun precinct.
• Venues catering for drinking define 'entertainment' (up to 3900 patrons), when alcohol-related violence is a major issue for Victorian communities.
• Sweep of panoramic views from the public realm of the Upper Esplanade are not retained and protected as required.
• The heritage of the landmark Palais as a stand-alone pavilion is still severely compromised, even with some changes to the two buildings on its side.

We reminded Council of its responsibility to fearlessly uphold its own planning scheme, even if that means more time, more independent evaluation and a drastically reduced development.

We urged Council to use its powers to support key planning objectives and promises made to the community, not to compromise these in order to underwrite the developer's commercial viability. (Councillors and CEO assured us there is no contractual obligation to approve the revised DP, community opposition is the developer's risk.)

It is time for Council to REJECT this plan, acknowledging that all the key objectives for the site cannot be achieved by the current proposal. When Council votes on Thursday 7th February it should invite the developer to submit a new plan.

To this end we invite you to sign our petition and circulate it widely to friends.

2. Our reports were tabled

unChain St Kilda tabled two reports it had commissioned, each conducted by an independent consultant, experts in their respective field.

Review of Economic Impact
Independent analyst, Tim Nott, spoke to his report at the meeting, challenging some of the findings and methodology used in the Council's Triangle Site Development Economic and Community Impact Assessment prepared over the Christmas holiday period, by SGS Economics and Planning Pty Ltd (SGS).

Tim's key points are:

• Detriment to Acland & Fitzroy Streets: The SGS report suggests Acland Street is highly vulnerable to the competition posed by the BBC proposal. It says this scenario can be mitigated but only through a raft of measures, including resurrecting the Elwood tramway, buried in the 1950s. Furthermore, as the SGS Report does not use the established method for measuring impacts, the real impact on neighbouring centres is likely to be significant. The new development will potentially generate a loss of between 10% and 30% of retail turnover in Acland Street and Fitzroy Street in the medium term, with consequent shop closures and loss of community function. This scale of impact goes well beyond normal competition and creates significant planning issues.
• Subjective Assessments: SGS has undertaken a social benefit cost analysis, however its assessment of benefits is highly contentious and, in some cases, so subjective as to be meaningless. The finding of net community benefit is not proven.
• Tourism Benefits: A small less intrusive development would still capture the tourism benefits of the proposed development without affecting the viability of neighbouring centres.

Review of heritage
Clive Lucas, eminent heritage architect, concludes in his report that:

• Palais Theatre: its stand-alone quality is its most characteristic quality when one visits the site. It can be seen from as far away as Port Melbourne, from the St Kilda Pier and from many points on Hobson's Bay.
• Upper and Lower Esplanade: Another characteristic which is very apparent when one visits the site are the Upper and Lower St Kilda Esplanades with the landscaped area in between on which is dotted a whole range of monuments, memorials, public conveniences and so on, of considerable interest and heritage value. Indeed it is this esplanade system that is a major feature of St Kilda and would appear to have been in place for the last century and a half. It is evident on plans as early as 1860.
• Development Plan: The scheme proposed has the effect of burying the theatre and killing its stand-alone quality and destroying the historic road pattern and the sense of the Upper and Lower Esplanades and their associated landscaping. Both these features should be preserved, not destroyed.

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