Fight for life

By Jade Lawton
A PUBLIC meeting about a proposed six-storey hotel, supermarket and office development in Lyall Road will be held in the next fortnight amid mounting concerns in Berwick Village.
Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce president Harry Hutchinson said he was compelled to organise the meeting, which he hopes will be held in conjunction with Casey Council, after countless residents voiced their concerns.
“Residents have been coming out of the woodwork wanting to know what we are doing as an organisation. I’ve never known such public outcry,” he said.
“We are thinking the public meeting will be in the Senior Citizens Hall (in High Street). We would expect a lot of people – it will be standing room only, I would say. That’s the mood.”
Mr Hutchinson said he had heard people compare the current mood of Berwick Village to the outcry when the Safeway development was first proposed.
Ruth Crofts, the president of the Casey Cardinia branch of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), said the branch submitted an objection on yesterday’s (Tuesday) deadline.
Mrs Crofts said the group was not against development, but felt the size was overwhelming and out of character with the rest of Berwick Village.
“The hight is a problem, the parking, the structure, and traffic on Lyall road is a problem is already,” she said.
“I think if they scaled down the height of the building … the scale is just far too large for the area. The time frame for objecting has been so short.”
Angela Villani said she received a letter informing her of the plans just two weeks after settlement on her new home in McNabb Street. She said she would not have bought the property if she had known of the proposal.
“This is just going to kill Berwick Village,” she said. “I just feel it is going to be the demise of Berwick Village. If I wanted to live somewhere like Chadstone, I would go there,” she said.
Ms Villani said that she and about “95 per cent” of residents along Mc-Nabb Street had submitted objections.
“The reduction in car parks means people will be parking on my street … this is a residential street, not a road,” she said.
Narre Warren North resident Norm Morrish said he was planning to downsize and move to Berwick village, but would reconsider if the Lyall Road development was approved.
“I am strongly opposed to the development – it is not in keeping with the serene nature of the village,” he said.
“The photos on the council website are not an honest portrayal of what it is going to look like. The artist’s impressions are taken behind trees and all you can see is trees.”
Mr Morrish said he knew of various others who had made formal objections to the proposal.