Minutes of Planning and Consultation Committee Meeting

Planning and Consultation Committee Meeting

held at the Council Chamber, 32 Civic Drive, Greensborough
on Tuesday 12 March 2024 commencing at 7:00pm.

Minutes

Carl Cowie

Chief Executive Officer

Friday 15 March 2024

Distribution: Public

Civic Drive, Greensborough

PO Box 476, Greensborough 3088

Telephone 9433 3111

Facsimile 9433 3777

Website www.nillumbik.vic.gov.au

Email nillumbik@nillumbik.vic.gov.au

Main Doc - CMYK

Planning and Consultation Committee Meeting Minutes 12 March 2024

Nillumbik Shire Council

Minutes of the Planning and Consultation Committee Meeting held
Tuesday 12 March 2024. The meeting commenced at 7:00pm.

Councillors present:

Cr Ben Ramcharan Sugarloaf Ward (Mayor)

Cr Richard Stockman Blue Lake Ward

Cr Karen Egan Bunjil Ward (Deputy Mayor)

Cr Peter Perkins Ellis Ward (Chairperson Planning Matters)

Officers in attendance:

Carl Cowie Chief Executive Officer

Vince Lombardi Chief Operating Officer

Blaga Naumoski Director Governance, Communications and Community Safety

Corrienne Nichols Director Communities

Renae Ahern Acting Director Planning, Environment and Strategy

Jeremy Livingston Director Culture and Performance

Tracey Varley Manager Communications and Engagement

Katia Croce Manager Governance and Property

1. Welcome by the Chair

2. Acknowledgement of Country

Acknowledgement of Country was read by the Chairperson, Deputy Mayor Cr Karen Egan.

3 Apologies/Leave of Absence

Apologies were received from Cr Geoff Paine and Cr Natalie Duffy. Also, a leave of absence was requested by Cr Frances Eyre.

Committee Resolution

MOVED: Cr Peter Perkins

SECONDED: Cr Ben Ramcharan

That the Committee (acting under delegation from Council)

1. Notes the apologies of Cr Geoff Paine and Cr Natalie Duffy.

2. Accepts the leave of absence for Cr Frances Eyre.

CARRIED

For: Crs Karen Egan, Peter Perkins, Ben Ramcharan and Richard Stockman

Against: Nil

4 Declarations of conflict of interest

Nil

Planning and Consultation Committee Minutes 12 March 2024

6. Officers’ reports

PCC.001/24 Creative Infrastructure Framework Community Engagement Findings

Item: Consultation Matter

Distribution: Public

Manager: Corrienne Nichols, Director Communities

Author: Nichole Johnson, Manager Community Partnerships

Summary

This report notes the public submissions received from the community regarding the Draft Creative Infrastructure Framework (the Draft Framework) (Attachment 1).

The Draft Framework (Attachment 1) has been developed to guide Council's decision making on the delivery and development of creative spaces across the municipality for the next 10 years.

The Draft Framework was released for the purpose of public consultation at a Council Meeting on the 26 September 2023. Public consultation was undertaken over a period of four weeks, from 9 October to 3 November 2023 and is presented in the Community Engagement Findings Report (Attachment 2) and in the Public Submissions Report (Attachment 3).

The following people addressed the Committee with respect to this item:

1 Matt Jones - Montsalvat Ltd Chief Executive Officer

2 Jim Connor

3 Nicole Staverley – on behalf of the Nillumbik Art Museum (Committee Member)

4 Gayle Blackwood

Committee Resolution

MOVED: Cr Ben Ramcharan

SECONDED: Cr Richard Stockman

That the Committee (acting under delegation from Council):

1. Acknowledges and notes the submissions received from community and organisations who provided feedback on the draft Framework presented in the Engagement Findings Report (Attachment 2) and in the Public Submissions Report (Attachment 3).

2. Resolves that the confidential un-redacted public submissions on the Draft Framework (Attachment 4) remains confidential in accordance with section 3(1) of the Local Government Act 2020.

3. Acknowledges any presentations to the Committee.

4. Considers the matters contained in the submissions and this report during finalisation of the Draft Framework.

5. Requests a further report to be presented at the 27 August 2024 Council Meeting to adopt the final version of the Creative Infrastructure Framework.

6. Thanks the submitters for providing Council with feedback on this important document.

CARRIED

For: Crs Karen Egan, Peter Perkins, Ben Ramcharan and Richard Stockman

Against: Nil

THIS PAGE WAS LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK

Planning and Consultation Committee Minutes 12 March 2024

6. Officers’ reports

PCC.002/24 Endorsement of Motions for Municipal Association Victoria State Council 17 May 2024

Item: Consultation Matter

Distribution: Public

Manager: Blaga Naumoski, Director Governance, Communications and Community Safety

Author: Tracey Varley, Manager Communications and Engagement

Summary

The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) State Council meets bi-annually to consider matters of state-wide significance. The next State Council meeting is scheduled for Friday 17 May 2024. The deadline for motions to be submitted for consideration at this meeting is Monday 18 March 2024.

Motions submitted must have state-wide significance or relevance across the Victorian Local Government sector, while also being related to issues and initiatives that affect the livelihood and wellbeing of the Nillumbik community.

This report is seeking Council endorsement to lodge the motions outlined in this report to the 2024 MAV State Council Meeting prior to the deadline of 18 March 2024.

Recommendation

That the Committee (acting under delegation from Council) resolves to adopt the following three (3) motions to the Municipal Association of Victoria’s State Council Meeting to be held on 17 May 2024:

1. That the State Government, in collaboration with local councils, allocate funding to investigate and trial initiatives to reduce harm to wildlife and improve driver safety, particularly in identified key wildlife vehicle collision hotspots.

Initiatives may include:

a) Driver-behaviour education campaigns to help mitigate wildlife vehicle collisions, eg. wildlife signage, road markings, speed reduction.

b) Investigation and trialling by the relevant State departments into virtual fencing and other fauna protection and management trials.

2. That the State Government strengthens the deterrence of illegal native vegetation removal by increasing the powers of local councils to effectively enforce, and respond to breaches of, their Planning Schemes under the Victorian Planning Provisions. This would include:

a) Increasing the powers of local councils to effectively enforce, and respond to breaches of, their Planning Schemes under the Victorian Planning Provisions. This would include:

i. Enabling authorised council officers to enforce cessation of illegal vegetation removal in real time or the immediate cessation.

ii. Ensuring offenders of illegal vegetation removal are legally required to provide native vegetation offsets.

b) Reviewing the value of infringements for native vegetation removal

c) Strengthening the role of Fines Victoria in recovering fines for illegal vegetation works.

3. That the State Government increases support to local councils to enable maintenance and amenity of roadside reserves in a timely manner, reflective of local community expectations by:

a) Increasing funding for councils that are required to maintain roadside reserves on VicRoads’ behalf, to better reflect the true costs of those maintenance works.

b) Establishing a coordinated approach involving forward planning of roadside mowing works, whereby works on areas where VicRoads and local council managed sections intermingle are completed in their entirety.

Motion

MOVED: Cr Peter Perkins

SECONDED: Cr Ben Ramcharan

1. That the State Government, in collaboration with local councils, allocate funding to investigate and trial initiatives to reduce harm to wildlife and improve driver safety.

2. That the State Government strengthens the powers of local councils to effectively enforce, and respond to breaches of, their Planning Schemes under the Victorian Planning Provisions particularly in regards to illegal native vegetation removal as referenced in the “Offsetting Native Vegetation Loss on Private Land” VAGO Report (May 2022), and illegal earthworks.

3. That the State Government reimburses local councils the actual cost of maintaining State Government roadside reserves.

THE MOTION WAS PUT TO THE VOTE AND CARRIED AND BECAME THE COMMITTEE RESOLUTION AS FOLLOWS:

Committee Resolution

MOVED: Cr Peter Perkins

SECONDED: Cr Ben Ramcharan

1. That the State Government, in collaboration with local councils, allocate funding to investigate and trial initiatives to reduce harm to wildlife and improve driver safety.

3. That the State Government reimburses local councils the actual cost of maintaining State Government roadside reserves.

CARRIED

For: Crs Karen Egan, Peter Perkins, Ben Ramcharan and Richard Stockman

Against: Nil