By Casey Neill
It started in January with street width, and the planning issues didn’t stop all year.
Greater Dandenong Councillor Matthew Kirwan successfully moved for a report on design standards to ensure wider streets in future subdivisions.
In April, Dandenong residents claimed a win when the council reversed its decision to approve four double-storey homes in Wedge Street.
In June, a Bangholme produce market that could generate 200 jobs got the green light from councillors – but immediately arrived at a stop sign.
They approved the DandyFresh development for green wedge-zoned land, but Cr Kirwan brought the matter back to a July meeting in the hopes of reversing it.
His argument was that the market was actually a large-scale commercial food enterprise that should be in an industrial zone.
But his colleagues upheld their original decision. Defenders of the South East Green Wedge then took up the fight, and will argue against the project in VCAT in early 2018.
In September, Planning Minister Richard Wynne vowed to personally look at the market proposal.
In November, Dandenong residents won a four-year battle to save their streets from becoming “slums”.
Planning Minister Richard Wynne approved Dandenong Planning Scheme Amendment C182 more than a year after receiving it.
It’s set to cap building heights, improve setback, landscape and open space requirements, and protect areas from high-density development.
