Storeys of discontent

PEOPLE power has risen in Berwick. They gathered 150 strong at the Berwick RSL clubrooms to protest against a planned six-level hotel and shopping complex at Lyall Road.
Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce vice-president Annette Aldersea told the meeting that the proposed development was totally incompatible with the heritage concept of Berwick Village.
She said the developer was out of touch with car-parking needs for the village and that the chamber of commerce was already fed up with a council that passed the responsibility of ordered car parking on to the chamber.
She appeared angry and I believe she was.
She led the way for what has been a total rejection of the building concept and drew spontaneous applause from her audience.
So why is such a proposal imposed on a community when it is not needed, not wanted, and will totally change the ambience of a town built by generations of families who still live there.
Whose village is it? We need to know.
Ms Aldersea said the proposal showed car parking for 387 car parks when a complex that size should have nearly 700 according to regulations.
“We will not accept a reduced car parking component in this and we will fight the idea of using nearby residential streets for car parking.
Berwick is known for its boutique shopping.
“This will bring in large chain stores and wreck the place,” Ms Aldersea said.
“It will divide and mean that we have three sections in the village.
“A glass-and-steel structure such as this belongs in St Kilda Road, Melbourne, not in Berwick,” she said.
My view last week was that business and community leaders needed to talk about what happened on the site and they still should.
While most of us accept that something will go there it is fair play to have a concensus, even if it is a compromise, on what it should be so that it can comply with Berwick heritage, be aesthetically acceptable and remain profitable – discounting greed.
My view is that talks should begin on the basis of perhaps a two or three-storey building with a rooftop garden that can be accessed by the public.