The people whose names, addresses and signatures appear below, petition the Greater Geelong City Council as follows:

To stop the City of Greater Geelong's plan to sell the community’s plantation reserve land to be converted into a densely populated social housing development. We, in Belmont, have very limited public open space for the community in this part of Belmont and any development on this site will impact poorly on available space for current and future generations. This proposal is highly inappropriate due to the proximity to an aged care facility, young families living nearby and Oberon Primary School.

We want to keep this as public open space. Further analysis is required of community needs for this site with an aim to determine what is best for the local community both now and for the future.

Note to people signing this petition:

Please include your name, address and signature when signing the petition, to ensure the petition is able to be accepted by Council.

This petition is to be presented to the City of Greater Geelong Council with a paper petition of the same name.

Additional information:

• This development would take away valuable community and green space forever.
• This development would destroy one of the only locally available public green space sites in this part of Belmont. Its development would contradict the councils 2022 community update which calls for increased tree canopy cover in urban areas to 20 per cent by 2030 and 25 per cent by 2045. It contradicts the targets set by council and their own Environment Strategy. The strategy states their aim to ‘establish and maintain parkland areas within 400 metres of all households’. There is no significant parkland within 400 metres of the Dean Street Plantation Reserve.
• There is potential to utilise this space for community groups such as a parkland that could be utilised by families and residents of the adjacent nursing home, community vegetable garden, men’s shed, playground or picnic/BBQ area, which are lacking locally.
• The Scouts have occupied this site for the last 60 years, as well as a popular Karate group for the last 23 years and disability group. There is the potential for other groups to use the Hall and its loss will be felt by the community.
• The site is beside a nursing home with Oberon Primary School is only 40 meters away.
• The size of the development is likely to lead to increase in traffic and parking issues. Dean Street and Dorothy Avenue are already extremely busy streets during school pick up and drop off times.
• Within the current planning schedule there is a potential for 11mt/ 3 story building which would result in significant overshadowing residents in Dorothy Avenue.