Herne Hill residents fight townhouses project

Karen Hart
OUTRAGED residents are fighting a developer’s plan to build hundreds of townhouses at Herne Hill.
Graylea Avenue resident Glenn Charteris is leading the fight to preserve views from his home and dozens of others.
More than 30 people from Graylea Avenue and surrounding streets are fighting Riverlee Corporation’s plan to build 250 two-storey townhouses.
The residents have taken their fight to Geelong’s council.
“I have a view of the Barwon River, Mount Buninyong, Mt Gellibrand and Anakie and I pay for that view with my rates, as do my neighbours,” Mr Charteris said.
“There are also concerns about increased traffic in the area. If this goes ahead, all of our homes will also decrease in value.”
Riverlee Corporation has submitted an application to rezone 63 hectares of land from rural to residential to create the residential lots, a council spokesperson said.
The land is on the Moorabool escarpment, running west across to a river floodplain.
“The proposed planning amendment was placed on public exhibition and during this process council received 32 submissions, some of which expressed concerns regarding local traffic management,” a council spokesperson said.
An elderly pensioner, who did not want to be named, accused the developer of bullying her into withdrawing an objection.
The woman said she had received letters and visits from GHD senior planner Richard Strates on behalf of Riverlee Corporation.
“I feel a bit like I’m being bullied,” she said.
“First I received a letter from Mr Strates asking me to withdraw my objection and they even included a pre-written letter for me to sign and a stamped, self-addressed envelope for me to return it to them.
“I didn’t and then two weeks later Mr Strates turned up on my doorstep to persuade me to give in,” the woman said.
The Independent has copies of all correspondence Mr Strates sent to the pensioner.
Mr Charteris said the company’s attempts to persuade the 80-year-old woman to drop her objections were “disgraceful”.
“We want Riverlee to speak to all of us as a group and address our concerns, not just bully individuals.”
Riverlee Corporation refused to comment.