Ferntree Gully Belgrave
Black summer firefighters recognised for efforts
Olinda Primary School benefit from fallen trees
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Tuesday, 18 July, 2023
A Star News Group Publication
Residents make a push to light up Ferntree Gully
50 years of celebrating the beauty of marriage
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Towering ‘eyesore’ By Tyler Wright
Kallista residents Robert Stygall, Peter Anderson and Peter Learmont are fighting to have plans for a 40-metre telecommunications pole installed in a picturesque gully scrapped. Picture: SUPPLIED “It gets down to ‘what is the Dandenong Ranges? what are its assets and to what extent do we want to protect this piece of paradise?’ “So many other areas are being developed... once you develop something, you can’t go backwards.” It comes after Knox City Council refused a planning permit application for a telecommunications facility at Lot 2 on Wellington Road in Lysterfield in October 2022, citing the signifi-
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no worries at all. We’re not saying ‘let’s not find another solution,’ but maybe there should be more solutions discussed, rather than a 40-metre pole,” he said. “Hopefully the council take on the ratepayers’ [concerns] and say ‘okay, let’s go, this isn’t right for the area,’ and not just listen to Melbourne Water’s interests..and they actually say ‘yeah, I want to protect the area.’” Continued page 3
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cant impact on the setting of the Lysterfield Valley, which is classified by the National Trust as part of the ‘green wedge’ between the suburban areas of Rowville and Dandenong North and the urbanised Ferntree Gully-Belgrave ridge of the Dandenongs, as part of its reasoning. Mr Anderson said the application for the proposed tower in Kallista should “at least” go to VCAT. “If there’s a need for better communication,
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Locals are calling for plans to build a 40-metre high “eyesore” in Kallista to be scrapped after a planning permit application for a large telecommunications tower was submitted to Yarra Ranges Council in May. The proposal for a tower at Lot 1 395 Kallista-Emerald Road, which was submitted by Downer Downer Edi on behalf of Amplitel, also notes the installation of a parabolic dish antenna at the top of the pole as part of the scope of works on the Melbourne Water site. Resident Peter Anderson said his property, which sits near the bottom of a gully, will look out directly onto the tower if it is built. “All the neighbours have all come together to say this is a significant structure that’s going in there, say 12 to 14 stories high, which is going to affect what we’ve got here in a beautiful spot,” Mr Anderson said. “It’s going to significantly affect our land here, and the price of our land, the enjoyment of our land; the whole lot. “It’s putting an eyesore in.” The area is also under a Significant Landscape Overlay and Erosion Management Overlay. Peter Learmont owns a property opposite the gate entry to the site, and has lived in Kallista for five years. Mr Learmont said cyclists and motorbike riders often stop on Kallista-Emerald Road to enjoy enjoy what the area has to offer. “There’s a lot of residents that bring their friends from suburbs and no doubt interstate, intrastate. I’ve got no doubt there’d be international visitors as well,” he said.
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