MJ — Page 3

January 7, 2015 by MJ

Fire Up Aireys Inlet

The Surf Coast Shire held the ‘Fire Up Aireys Inlet’ Resilient Communities Program event on December 6th in the Aireys Inlet Community Hall. Representatives of emergency services organisations provided important information about bushfire preparedness and invited community members to join in an interactive fire scenario exercise.

AIDA promoted the event by emailing the following notice to all members with email access: “The AIDA committee considers that fire preparedness for our district is one of the main issues of concern to our members and urges you to consider attending this briefing session being held by the Shire on Saturday 6 December. RSVPs are requested so that the size of room will be appropriate. This information was included with the last Groundswell in some areas, but not all of our area was included.”

AIDA committee members Angela Berry, Annette Comte and Gary Johnson attended the event and Gary reported that:

“The Fire Up Aireys Inlet event was a great success in attracting and hopefully educating residents. 77 people registered and at least that many attended. All relevant agencies were present so we had the opportunity to ask questions during the session or at the Shire-sponsored lunch.

I asked the organiser Lauren Watt whether she felt that the AIDA email (to members encouraging that they attend) had had an impact. At the time AIDA sent members the pdf about the event, 30 had registered. So although we can’t be sure, it is likely that many of the additional 47 attended because of AIDA’s reminder or notification. It was the largest turnout at any of the town meetings.

Of interest, at least 50% of the attendees indicated that they were not permanent residents. They are the ones that the Shire has had trouble engaging. Many attendees realised, probably for the first time, that their fates are totally dependent on their pre-existing plan and decisions made before and during a bushfire. There will be no knock on the door saying that they should get out, and no fire truck saving their home. And it could be as little as 2 hours from the time a fire breaks out until departure is not possible.”

January 1, 2015 by MJ

AIDA Special Notices

1. The 2016 AIDA AGM will be held on Saturday 11 April at 3.30 pm in the Aireys Inlet Community Hall.

2. Membership subscriptions for 2016 are still due and while AIDA’s membership is strong, its power lies in its member numbers. If you have any neighbours or friends who may be interested in joining AIDA, emphasise the benefits – being kept informed of any changes in planning issues in the area; community liaison and involvement in bush-fire planning and prevention; presenting a united voice to local, state and federal governments; and the opportunity to share local concerns. Click here for an AIDA membership form 2016 and information about payment options.

January 1, 2015 by MJ

New Structure Plan for Our District

NOVEMBER UPDATE: A new structure plan for Aireys Inlet, Fairhaven, Moggs Creek and Eastern View has now replaced the existing Structure Plan developed in 1993.

On initiating the planning process the Surf Coast Shire said ‘The plan will help guide the way the settlements develop and change over the next 20 to 30 years to ensure the highly valued features of the towns are protected and the towns remain a great – or even better – place to live, work, visit and play for current and future generations of residents and visitors.’ and that “Community consultation will be an important part of the structure plan’s development.” Council received ninety-four submissions, an indication that the community knows the importance of these documents.

The AIDA committee first met with the shire and its consultants in January 2015 and continued throughout the year to liaise with them to help develop the plan and to make sure it accurately reflects the values, aims and objectives of AIDA, which are based on the results of over thirty years of surveys of the views of our community. AIDA’s recommendations aimed to clarify the shire’s initial understanding of the key local issues to be taken into account, under the headings of:

Environment, emphasising its central importance in all local planning
Heritage, relating to the Waddawurrung traditional lands
Character, focussing on the importance of our coastal village character and the ongoing threats to it
People and housing, including demographic changes, older persons’ housing, the appropriate types of commercial developments and recognition of the district’s creative character
Tourism, activity and commercial areas, stressing their low-key character and the need for improved pedestrian connections
Recreation, supporting more informal walking and cycling routes and opposing reference to a sporting oval in the Painkalac Valley
Transport and roads, under sub-headings covering sustainability, informal character, shared pedestrian/ vehicle use and tourist traffic, and
Fire risk and safety, addressing the tension between fuel reduction and environmental character, the need for places of last resort, local emergency mobile bandwidth capacity and Great Ocean Road traffic management on high fire-risk days.

Following the release by the shire of their draft Vision & Principles Statement, AIDA submitted a number of comments and suggestions on the draft that were incorporated into the final draft that was considered for Council endorsement at the Council meeting in late April.

In response to AIDA’s observations that planning controls need strengthening because local character is under continuing threat from over-zealous developments, planning permits being issued for developments which clearly don’t meet the planning scheme’s objectives, and infrastructure (pathways, roads, traffic management and signage) which fail to follow established objectives, AIDA was asked to make a further submission on where the planning processes for buildings, infrastructure and precincts are currently failing, and how they might be improved.

In June, the second phase of community consultation took place in the Aireys Inlet Hall, on the shire’s preliminary draft of the structure plan’s key directions and key actions and also the proposed urban design framework for the Top and Bottom Shops – bringing together the ideas canvassed in stage one. These proposals contain a number of strengths, but also a number of problem areas requiring further changes. AIDA is currently preparing its response to these proposals.

At its meeting on 28 July the shire received the draft structure plan and urban design framework for the Top and Bottom Shops. The council resolved to put it on public exhibition for four weeks for community feedback. Some of the major recommendations of the structure plan include:

Contain the townships within their existing settlement boundaries to protect the surrounding environmentally significant land and retain buffers to the Great Otway National Park.
Facilitate the redevelopment of 2 Fraser Drive for higher density housing suitable for older persons and incorporate the community garden on the site.
Not progress the development of an active recreation space in the Painkalac Creek Valley, butinvestigate the opportunity for enhancement of the primary school oval for recreational use and continue to facilitate the sharing of sports facilities in Lorne, Anglesea, Bellbrae and Torquay.
Work with GORCC, VicRoads and affected landowners to address the environmental, traffic and amenity impacts of large visitor numbers at the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch at Eastern View.
Construct a pathway linking the Bottom Shops with Old Coach Road via River Reserve Road and Bambra Road and provide a continuous pathway between the Top and Bottom Shops.
Recognise the value to the community of the Aireys Pub as a social focal point and consider future opportunities for additional tourist-oriented uses on the site.
Lobby VicRoads to permanently reduce the speed limit to 50 km/h from Boundary Road, Aireys Inlet, to the SLSC in Fairhaven and to 60 km/h in Eastern View.
Investigate the feasibility of providing public toilets at the Community Hall in lieu of the Top Shops.

AIDA’s response to the draft structure plan and urban design framework were submitted to the shire on September 17th 2015. Shire councillors considered the final draft of the structure plan and framework at their November meeting. Decisions and current information can be seen on the council website: http://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/My_Council. Click on Agendas & Minutes.

January 1, 2015 by MJ

BARWON WATER’S DECISION

Aireys Inlet and Fairhaven Water Supply

The decision has been made to provide water to Aireys Inlet and Fairhaven via an 11 km pipeline from Anglesea and to decommission the water treatment plant rather than upgrade it. After three public meetings and numerous consultants reports, the board made its decision known to the community on 22 August.

Throughout the consultation period AIDA attempted to keep its members informed and sought additional information from Barwon Water. The information was relayed to members via email. We are grateful to a member with extensive hydrology experience (Rory Nathan) for his analysis of the two options for AIDA members.

In the August press release, Barwon Water proposed establishing a community group to investigate opportunities for future public use of the Painkalac Reservoir. Subsequently, it advertised for eight to ten representatives from a range of sectors including residents, businesses, as well as community and environmental groups, to join four Barwon Water members in an advisory group called the Painkalac Reservoir Community and Agency Group (PRCAG). Expressions of interest closed 31 October. An AIDA committee member has applied. In the terms of reference for the PRCAG, it was made plain that
‘. . . environmental flow management will not be considered’ by the group. Rather ‘a dedicated agency group will be established to review environmental flow management’. AIDA will contact Barwon Water to seek additional information about this group and to request that it include an AIDA representative.

Gary Johnson

January 1, 2015 by MJ

AIDA’s 50th ANNIVERSARY 2015

This year we are celebrating AIDA’s fiftieth birthday, which marks half a century of commitment and hard work by many people. To honour and record these endeavours, we have consolidated and catalogued our archives.

The precise date of the foundation is unclear, which is not unusual in organisation like ours. We know that the Aireys Inlet Progress Association became the Aireys Inlet Community Association in 1967 and finally the Aireys Inlet and District Association in 1972. The original prompt to form an association was most likely a proposal to establish a camping ground along the lower reaches of the Painkalac Creek estuary, downstream(!) from the bridge. Thanks to Brian Williams, we have a copy of the flyer calling a meeting about the proposed development. That was in August 1966, but there is also a suggestion that the association under Ian Noble’s leadership began in May 1965 and, unless we have members with clearer records or memories than ours, we will celebrate the jubilee in May 2015. Please let us know if you have further information! As a lead up to this date, attendees at our 2015 AGM on April 11th had the opportunity to preview a marvellous collection of “then and now” photographs of our district and viewed a time line of AIDA’s activities and achievements over the past 50 years. This display will be exhibited again at a 50th Anniversary event at the Aireys Pub on Sunday 1st November 2015.

This is also an invitation to all members of AIDA and the wider community to submit any photos, articles or information you may have for a jubilee edition of the newsletter to celebrate AIDA’s fiftieth anniversary. Please let us know whether we may use the photos for display and in our newsletter, and whether we may scan them for our archives. We will protect them and return them in original condition.

Peter McPhee