Dear Friends

As we approach 300 signatures on the petition, the most important thing all of us can do is submit our official objections against residential housing on top of putrescible waste and quicksand to the Planning Minister tomorrow, 4 June, by 5:00pm. (your signature on this petition does NOT constitute an official objection)

It's easy, and here's how you do it:

1) Go to engage.vic.gov.au

2) Type 'Talbot Quarry' into the search bar

3) Click on the tab and scroll down to "Start Survey" 

4) that's it!

In case it helps you form your objection, these are some of the consequences if this were approved by the Planning Minister, which she could do with a stroke of her pen: 

1) Neither Monash nor we would have any recourse to push back on amenity issues, planning, traffic, etc. We couldn't appeal to VCAT or have a say in what the outcome might be.

2) There are no height limits in this proposal, which now proposes a Residential Growth Zone rather than a Comprehensive Development Zone, as it had before in previous proposals. That means that there would be no height restrictions! I can tell you from reading their engineering reports that the height and size of those structures would be dictated by landfill gas (LFG) and geotechnical issues lying beneath them. 

To put this in simple terms, their engineering reports show the need for 30metre piles in the ground to get past the putrescible waste and quicksand in zones 1 and 2. The pilings would have to support planned six-storey structures (which could be higher) to vent the LFG into the atmosphere high enough that on a cold day the toxic gases wouldn't be close to the surface, which could otherwise be lethal. Have a look at what happened in the Brookland Greens Estate (LFG) and Opal Towers (geotechnical problems) if you'd like to see what this could mean for our community. 

3) Gas vents, under this proposal, would have to be monitored by Homeowners Associations and Monash Council for an estimated 36 years, which is long after the developer will have cut and run! These massive structures would be built adjacent to Talbot Park and Huntingdale Road near Davies Reserve. 

4) This is NOT where they told us the tall structures would be in the recent Talbot Village webinar, and they refused to answer that question when I asked it. All structures built on the site would be determined by geotechnical and environmental risks, not by the utopian village they are trying to sell on their website.

5) No owner could plant a fruit tree on the site due to contaminants in the soil!

So what SHOULD be done with a site like this? The only suitable, safe and appropriate use is open space. With the new Suburban Rail Loop plan for Clayton, we'll need open space more than ever. This site was supposed to be converted to parkland when it was a part of Oakleigh, just as every rehabilitated former landfill site throughout the Sand Belt areas of Metropolitan Melbourne were. Bald Hill and Karkarook Park are examples in Kingston's 'Chain of Parks'. When it was amalgamated into Monash, promises were forgotten.

In your submissions to the Minister, be sure to say that the only suitable use for this contaminated and unstable site is public open space, parkland and/or wildlife sanctuary. I see that one of you has already posted a comment about that on this petition, and I think that would be a perfect thing to send to the Minister! Great job!!

That's it for now--please help us spread the word! We've now got less than 24 hours to go!

THANK YOU!