Air Pollution, Climate Change, Funding, Global Cooling, Greenhouse Gases 23 comments

WARMING LIKELY CAUSING SEVERE POLAR VORTEX

By on December 29th, 2017

“The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment project allocations, and the power of money, is ever present and is gravely to be regarded”. “Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become captive of a scientific technological elite”…. Dwight Eisenhower

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Scientists who have switched from global cooling are now saying that the severe cold spells do not disprove global warming. “It may well be that it could make the occasional bout of extreme cold weather even more likely”. Much of the U.S. when in the the grip of a Polar Vortex is pretty much what it sounds like a whirlwind of  extremely cold, extremely dense that forms near the poles. that usually the fast winds in the vortex—which can top 100 mph (161 k/h)—keep that cold air locked up in the Arctic. But when the winds weaken, the vortex Continue reading WARMING LIKELY CAUSING SEVERE POLAR VORTEX →

Apartments, Investors, Owners Corporation, Property Management 5 comments

LUXURY APARTMENT THAT PROVED ANYTHING BUT

By on December 24th, 2017

PROPERTY COMPANY NETWORK PACIFIC ACCUSED OF MANIPULATING PROXY VOTES TO KEEP LUCRATIVE MANAGEMENT CONTRACTS…Liz Hobday ABC 7.30

Jennifer Fletcher      Photo ABC News

When Jennifer Fletcher bought her luxury apartment in Melbourne, she never thought it would lead to a battle with one of the countries biggest management companies.

Upon buying into the Tiara development at Melbourne’s Southbank two years ago, she had to join Tiara’s owners corporation and pay fees of $4,300 a year.

“I thought it would be simple. Everything would be looked after for me, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case,” she told 7.30. Problems in the building included graffiti, urine and bloodstains that weren’t cleaned up, cracks in the plaster from level nine to level 30, Continue reading LUXURY APARTMENT THAT PROVED ANYTHING BUT →

Apartments, Car parking, Manningham Council, Mechanical Parking, Road Safety 20 comments

MANNINGHAM STILL BACKER OF THE CAR STACKER

By on December 9th, 2017

Despite their previous misgivings about the use of Car Stackers, even after the developer of a 15 storey development refused to install them, Council officers still recommended approval of a car stacker system for resident parking in a four story apartment proposal at 19-23 Bayley Grove, Doncaster.

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As far it can be ascertained this will be the first major development on Doncaster Hill that is likely to proceed using a car stacker system for its entire resident parking. Residents adjacent to the development have complained that they had no way of knowing the method of parking until after the period for objections had expired because the notice board on site did not reveal that stackers were proposed….this is standard practice according to the Doncaster Hill Residents Group. A leader of the Friends of Hepburn Group said there were three previous developments where council had approved mechanical parking, two did not proceed and the developer of the third went ahead without the use of stacker parking. With most councils car stacker parking systems are only acceptable where Continue reading MANNINGHAM STILL BACKER OF THE CAR STACKER →

Doncaster Rail, North East Link, Traffic Congestion, Transport, VicRoads 11 comments

BUS LANES TAKE CENTRE STRIP PLANNED FOR RAIL

By on November 27th, 2017

“You can rule out Doncaster rail to the City via the freeway because Vic Roads want the the median strip reserved for dedicated Bus lanes”.  26/8/2016                                                   

No Railway– Buses Only

The release of the North East Link last Friday has officially ended any hope of a rail line being extended to Doncaster Hill after it was confirmed the freeway centre strip would be replaced to provide dedicated bus lanes.    northeastlink.vic.gov.au

Both Liberal and labor  governments had always regarded buses as the only public transport solution for Doncaster Hill and had repeatedly advised Manningham to “stop tugging in other directions”.  That didn’t stop an opposition party proposing a $6.5 Million study, as an election campaign ploy, which  was only half completed after it won office.

What surprised residents was how easily Council could be sucked into believing the politicians by providing a false hope to Doncaster residents and investors by embarking Continue reading BUS LANES TAKE CENTRE STRIP PLANNED FOR RAIL →

Air Pollution, Climate Change, Greenhouse Gases, Overpopulation 17 comments

LESS POPULATION=LESS MEAT=LESS METHANE GAS

By on November 12th, 2017

Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together. Burning fuel to produce fertiliser to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it -and the deforestation and land clearing for grazing – produces 9 per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide. What makes animal agriculture so inefficient? In short, animals consume more food than they produce. Or put another way, Continue reading LESS POPULATION=LESS MEAT=LESS METHANE GAS →

Apartments, High Density developments, Manningham Council, Overshadowing, Townhouse Development 12 comments

RESIDENTS IN THE DARK OVER SHADOWING POLICY

By on October 27th, 2017

Residents in the lower scale development zone, abutting the Doncaster Hill precinct at 810 Elgar Rd, are questioning why council have prescribed such high buildings (32.5 metres) on their boundary line without there being an appropriate height step down to avoid overshadowing of their properties. 

Shadowing Diagrams

All buildings and works should be designed to avoid casting shadows upon any adjacent properties (including public open spaces) outside the area covered by the DDO6 (Doncaster Hill Precinct) between 11am and 2pm on  22nd March or 22nd of September  (ACZ1 updated from amendment C33)

Continue reading RESIDENTS IN THE DARK OVER SHADOWING POLICY →

Microplastics, Plastic Garbage, Plastic to Oil, Public Health 12 comments

FROM PLASTIC GARBAGE PATCH TO DINNER PLATE

By on October 17th, 2017

Microplastics in sea threat to human health, United Nations warns

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39217985  (copy to browser to open)

BBC Video link above captures the moment plastic enters the food chain

Pacific Garbage Patch                  Click to enlarge

Microplastics are created when larger plastic debris breaks down by sunlight and wave action into rice-sized bits that measure five millimeters or less.  They have turned the world’s oceans into what scientists call a “plastic soup,” but their impact on the marine ecosystem in our oceans is not fully understood. A 2015 study had attempted Continue reading FROM PLASTIC GARBAGE PATCH TO DINNER PLATE →

Glen Towers Estate, Manningham Council, Restrictive Covenants, Stonnington Council, Supreme Court 11 comments

COUNCILLORS DUMP PLAN TO REMOVE COVENANTS

By on September 29th, 2017

              https://www.facebook.com/pg/ManninghamCouncil/posts/

Highlight then right click on the above link then go to the 1 hour 22 minute mark of the video to hear the Councillor’s rationale in support of their unanimous decision to reject the officers recommendations.

Council Meeting 26/9/17

The petitioning of the councillors and objections by the beneficiaries/stakeholders all played a major role in the abandonment. A great deal of credit must go to the councillors especially Anna Chen who raised the motion of abandonment and Mike Zafiropolous, the seconder, who stressed the importance of written assurances, given by a previous CEO specifically to the beneficiaries of the Glen Towers estate, advising that council would not support the removal of  covenants outside the Doncaster Hill precinct.  Advice On Restrictive Covenants   Geoff Gough, Dot Haynes and Andrew Conlon also spoke to the alternative motion. The aforementioned stressing that it was entirely a matter for the applicant and the beneficiaries. Continue reading COUNCILLORS DUMP PLAN TO REMOVE COVENANTS →

Apartments, Fire Safety Compliance, High Density developments, Manningham Council, State Government 22 comments

COUNCILS TO REPORT ON COMBUSTIBLE CLADDING

By on September 6th, 2017

APARTMENT OWNERS MIGHT HAVE TO PAY FOR CLADDING REMOVAL

Manningham is among several Melbourne councils who have been asked to identify apartment buildings with flammable cladding, particularly those less than 25 metres (up to 8 storeys) high where there is no legal requirement to install a sprinkler system. This follows inspections previously conducted by the VBA, which investigated 170 buildings in Melbourne for non-compliant cladding where 51% of those assessed were found to be non-compliant  Councils are to investigate the presence of aluminium cladding in apartment buildings, the same product that caused the Lacrosse apartment building to catch fire in 2014 and the recent London fire where at least eighty residents had perished in the inferno. 

Whole Building  Crumbling    Click to enlarge

The Combustible cladding on the Lacrosse high-rise apartment building will have to be removed from the building at the apartment owners expense after it was found that the cladding posed a “significant and unacceptable” risk to hundreds of residents. In January this year the Building Appeals Board again ordered the owners to remove the flammable cladding. It dismissed a bid by LU Simon Builders to keep the cladding and instead install more sprinklers, saying the equipment might fail  with “catastrophic” results. “The risk posed by the current cladding is so serious that it is necessary to have a building order which requires the owners to remedy the situation,” it found. This means the owners of the Lacrosse apartments could be left with an $8.6 million  Continue reading COUNCILS TO REPORT ON COMBUSTIBLE CLADDING →

Apartments, Manningham Council, Public Health, Recycled Sewer Water, Yarra Valley Water 15 comments

SEWAGE PLANT WILL PROCEED DESPITE LAND BAN

By on August 15th, 2017

Yarra Valley Water appears set to compulsory acquire council land to construct a Sewer Treatment Plant for the purpose of supplying water extracted from the main sewer line to all new dwellings on Doncaster Hill.  This comes after the Manningham Council had refused to issue a building permit and resolved that it would not lease or sell council land for the purposes of a Sewer Mining Plant.           Further Info this link .. ………..   Consultation On Sewer Plant Location  

The 47 hectare Eastern Golf Course, located immediately to the west and downstream from Doncaster Hill, was to be the ideal location for the Sewer Treatment Plant on one of several open space reserves on the estate close to the sewer main. Just when it was thought it was being finalised, the Tram Road reserve, 1.4 kilometers away, became the preferred option. Geraldine Sharp was a supporter of the Golf Club option; “It flattened me when I heard that Council had changed their minds Continue reading SEWAGE PLANT WILL PROCEED DESPITE LAND BAN →