No strip please

By Ed Merrison
A KNOX councillor has defended himself against blame for failing to reject a strip club application before the expiry of a 60-day deadline.
Baird Ward councillor Jim Penna last week described comments made by Silvan Labor MP Carolyn Hirsh concerning a planning application for an adult entertainment venue in Boronia as ‘totally untrue and quite malicious’.
There were 340 submissions to council on the proposal.
Ms Hirsh made her comments in Parliament on Thursday, 6 April when calling for an investigation into the council’s failure to make a decision on what she called ‘a matter of great importance to the residents and traders of Boronia’.
“The council had 60 days to make a decision but failed to consider the application within that time frame. This means that the council has missed the boat and the applicant can take the matter directly to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT),” she said.
Ms Hirsh said the proposed venue at 1/91A Boronia Road would be situated in the middle of a family shopping centre, 50 metres from the youth centre, within about 100 metres of residential housing and less than one kilometre from Boronia Primary School.
“A strip club is a totally inappropriate facility for the Boronia shopping centre,” she said.
Ms Hirsh went on to lay the blame more squarely on Cr Penna, a Wantirna South resident and ward councillor for the proposed development.
“Cr Penna failed to ensure that the planning application for the strip club was heard by the council in time, and he failed to ensure that it was rejected by the council.
“A problem may be that (Cr Penna) does not live in the ward. Therefore he would not have a personal concern for his family with the possibility of a strip club being established in Boronia and the undesirable elements it might attract,” she said.
But Cr Penna hit back, saying Ms Hirsh’s claims were untrue from both a council and a personal point of view.
“It’s not unusual for councils throughout Victoria, especially with an application of this complexity, to take more than 60 days to consider it,” he said.
Cr Penna said the failure of the council to reject the application within the time frame did not place objectors at a disadvantage.
“Whatever is the basis for the decision will remain unchanged, and any member of the public who has made an objection still has a right to be heard at VCAT,” he said.
Cr Penna said the council did not know whether the applicant had lodged an appeal with VCAT, and said the only advantage to be gained by doing so would be to place it in a queue to be heard within three months.
Responding to Ms Hirsh’s personal criticism, Cr Penna said councillors had no power to interfere in the planning process.
“I have been very active in promoting the widest possible community consultation. For (Ms Hirsh) to say I’m not interested because I don’t live in the ward is totally unfounded and untrue,” he said.
He said he would not be surprised if Ms Hirsh’s information came from someone who did not support Cr Penna and was seeking to cause mischief.
“If she (Ms Hirsh)made exactly those comments outside Parliament I’d sue her for defamation because they are totally untrue and quite malicious,” Cr Penna said.
The council is due to consider the planning application at the ordinary meeting of council on Wednesday, 26 April.
“That will be a meeting at which I’ll have plenty to say, I guarantee that,” Cr Penna said.