Rebuke over reserve

By Paul Dunlop
PLAYING fields at Officer are set to be consolidated in a move councillors hope will cast aside uncertainty over the area’s future.
After a stinging rebuke from the state planning tribunal, Cardinia Shire Council has put in place plans to make the entire recreation reserve a public park.
One of the two ovals in the 10hectare reserve is contained in a rural zone, making it subject to stringent conditions that ban lighting and restrict hours of use.
Council was told hundreds of junior footballers were keen to use the area for training and Auskick. It is already used for cricket.
Changing the zoning will open the second oval up for yearround activity and ensure the area is developed as a sporting precinct.
Cr Brett Owen led the push to include the whole of the Officer recreation reserve in a public park and recreation zone.
The failure of previous Pakenham and Cardinia councils to take similar action was said by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to have exacerbated a dispute between recreation reserve management and nearby residents.
The matter went to VCAT last year after council voted to allow junior footballers to train and play at the rural oval, but only at certain times.
A landholder appealed against council’s decision citing concerns about increased noise, litter and traffic and claiming works in the area had already been undertaken without council approval.
Tribunal member Peter O’Leary upheld the decision to permit junior football, but delivered a scathing assessment of previous councils’ handling of the affair.
Mr O’Leary said this was a matter that had been crying out for local government leadership.
He said it was an example of “insufficient strategic planning, lack of attention to detail, development by stealth and probably apathy” which should have been resolved by council intervention.
“As it stands the council has owned the land for about 11 years with no definite plans for it,” Mr O’Leary said.
“Meanwhile, there is pressure by the public and the committee of management to upgrade facilities, pressure from (nearby residents), rightly or wrongly, to protect their lifestyle and at best only adhoc decision making which leaves little opportunity for the various interests to make plans to stay or move.
“There needs to be a line drawn in the sand,” Mr O’Leary said.
Cr Owen said council had to learn from its mistakes.
He said changing the zoning years ago could have saved a lot of heartache for council and the community.
Cr Owen said the move would also quell fears the land might be sold.
He said his father, Ted Owen, had fought for a second oval at the reserve when he was on council in the 1990s.
“There is not enough room there at the moment. This motion says we are not going to sell the land, it’s going to be used for a recreation reserve, simple as that,” Cr Owen said.
Mayor Bill Ronald said the decision also recognised the work done over the years by Rob and Carol Porter who had been tireless workers for Officer.
“Mistakes may have been in the past, this council will do its best to address the situation,” he said.