A NEW year may bring a new public jetty to Patterson Lakes after Kingston councillors voted to back a plan to build a floating jetty at the Patterson Lakes Harbour Plaza. The state government offered $120,000 in funding to construct the jetty and council will discuss ongoing maintenance costs with interested parties. Overall maintenance costs are expected to be about $10,000 per year. At this month’s public council meeting Cr David Eden thanked Patterson Lakes residents and businesses for their help in putting together a proposal and application for the grant from the state government. “I think it’s worth acknowledging the…
Author: Neil Walker
THE centre of Mentone could be opened up to high-rise development after the state government made a surprise last-minute amendment to Kingston Council’s Mentone Activity Centre Structure Plan backed by councillors in late 2013. Labor Planning Minister Richard Wynne last week approved the plan but made a crucial change to a mandatory four-storey height limit for Mentone CBD, to be in place until 2030, ruling the height limit be discretionary instead. Friends of Mentone Train Station Group chairwoman Dorothy Booth found it “outrageous” that the state government effectively overruled council’s four-storey height limit decision made after extensive community consultation. An…
THE independent Frankston Taxis business has been bought out by major taxi operator Silver Top Taxis for an undisclosed sum. The takeover, approved by the ACCC and made official last Monday, ends 65 years of independence for the Frankston taxi company but general manager Kevin Dunn said it will be “business as usual” for customers. Mr Dunn financial demands placed on the small business by modern technology had led the company’s board to decide to accept a buyout offer from Collingwood based Silver Top Taxis. “In this technological age, to provide new equipment for our depot – state-of-the-art digital equipment…
THE sealer has been kicked on St Kilda Football Club’s return from Seaford to its “spiritual home” at Moorabbin. The Saints had a win at the weekend when the state government announced it will increase funding from $8 million to $12 million towards a $28.4 million redevelopment of Moorabbin Reserve at Linton St. Kingston Council agreed in April to contribute $5 million of ratepayer funds towards the project. The AFL and AFL Victoria will contribute $5 million and the Saints will kick in about $5 million. The redevelopment is now expected to be completed by mid-2017. “This is a fantastic…
URBAN sprawl could eat up Melbourne’s foodbowl and see future generations starved of locally produced food if governments do not protect agricultural land on the city’s fringes and outer suburbs according to an independent report released this week. The Melbourne’s Foodbowl: Now and at seven million report by Foodprint Melbourne, a collaboration between the University of Melbourne and the Victorian Eco Innovation Lab, warns about 16 per cent of the farmland in Melbourne’s foodbowl may be lost “if current trends are maintained, including up to 77 per cent in the inner foodbowl”. Alarmingly, the report predicts the foodbowl will be…