Hope you picked the winner of the Cup!

Don’t forget our DCA Christmas party to be held again at the Harbour Kitchen venue on Wednesday, December 7. We expect a great crowd and a great night like we had last year. It is a central location on Victoria Harbour.  If you haven’t already please enter it in your diaries now.

Starts at 7.30pm.  Flyer reminders will be issued nearer the date. Remember it is free for members and only $15 for non-members!

Council has sent out a notification of event plans for New Year’s Eve. It includes fireworks again in Docklands which will be great!   Also we hear there’s a ferry service operating again between Docklands and Southbank – hooray!

Our AGM was held on September 29. Current committee members and office bearers including myself were re-elected. Unfortunately a couple of committee members have had to resign due to moving out of the area and we will be recruiting others to assist. If you are a  member or somebody interested in joining and helping in a non-demanding role, I’d very much like to talk to you . You can contact me on 0412 097 706.

The public meeting held at Waterfront City on the evening of October 6 to protest against the proposed development by MAB Corporation attracted over 100 people from all over Docklands. The meeting unanimously condemned the proposed destruction of the purpose-built public plaza to make way for a 15-storey hotel.

The big marquee would go too. The plaza is the only public square in Docklands, used by visitors and locals alike. Other elements of the plan condemned are the cramming in of more high-rise buildings including an overshadowing 42-storey tower and lack of traffic planning – with significantly extra traffic but no more streets and lack of parking. These are common problems in Docklands as we well know. A copy of a media release was sent to the Minister’s office.

We will write to the Minister requesting he veto the destruction of the plaza and erection of a hotel on the site and review other elements detrimental to residents.

Interestingly, and to our warm surprise, the City of Melbourne has written to the Planning Department criticising the MAB plans for non-compliance with the objectives of the Urban Design Framework and highly critical of various elements of the  plans including positioning and height of additional buildings, wind effect problems, traffic problems and lack of parking. We look forward to favourable consideration by the department for the benefit of Docklands residents and visitors, as well as workers.

I have been included in a delegation on state planning issues to meet with the Planning Minister on November 29.

Everyone is welcome to contact us on [email protected].  If you would like to talk to me about any aspect you are welcome to call me on 0412 097 706.  You can also keep up with things on our website http://www.docklandscommunityassociation.com

Sincerely
Roger Gardner, President, DCA