Shelter says fur will fly

By Shaun Inguanzo
KEYBSOROUGH Animal Shelter says it will fight to stay within Greater Dandenong as a new wave of residential development approaches in Keybsorough South.
Last week, Star reported that councillors had approved, and then handed to Planning Minister Justin Madden, the C36 amendment to the Greater Dandenong Planning Scheme that allows Keysborough South’s stage two and three of residential development to begin.
Mr Madden must now put his rubber stamp on the report before development can take place.
In a summary outlining of Planning Panel recommendations on the C36 Amendmnent, and council officers’ response to the recommendations, the council refuses a recommendation that money from a development contribution plan be used to reinforce the shelter with sound proofing, or help pay for its relocation.
“If the dog use does not move there will be an impact on the Development Contributions Plan,” the officer’s comment reads.
“Buffers will be respected, however the panel foresees that satisfactory noise attenuation works may enable development.”
This week, Keysborough Animal Shelter president Christine Giles said the shelter did not favour moving, nor did it favour the sound proofing.
Ms Giles said that even with sound proofing, the shelter could foresee problems with future residents as development was allowed to take place within the current 500-metre buffer zone.
Ms Giles said relocation was not as easy as people thought, with a new shelter requiring a mass of land to build on, and then a new 500-metre buffer zone to prevent people from building next to a noisy dog and cat shelter.
The shelter had a meeting with councillors just prior to last week’s council meeting in a bid to gather support from councillors to help it stay in Keybsorough.
“We did have words with the council about where we might be able to relocate to, but I can’t really go into that at the moment,” Ms Giles said.
“But we would still rather stay here (in Homeleigh Road). We’ve been here for 28 years now and the locals know us simply as the Keysborough Animal Shelter.”