Council puts its foot down over footprint

A YARRA Ranges man has abandoned his plans to build his family home in Mt Evelyn after waiting for months for council approval.
He said he had been forced to sell the property because it took the Shire of Yarra Ranges so long to make a decision.
“The goal posts have been constantly changed on us,” he said at last week’s council meeting.
“We have been force to either build or sell.”
But the decision has now been taken out of Mr S Krueger’s hands with the council last week rejecting the proposal for a double-storey four-bedroom house in Mt Evelyn.
The application involved the removal of 20 trees so the house and a garage could be built at 6 Fortune Avenue.
At a council meeting last Tuesday, the council said developers needed to be able to accommodate trees in their applications.
Mr Krueger said he had changed the plans from a single-storey dwelling to double to appease the council.
But Lyster Ward councillor Samantha Dunn said the applicant had made no real attempt to reduce the ecological footprint on the land and therefore she couldn’t support the proposal.
She questioned the need for a dining, rumpus and lounge room as they all had a similar purpose.
Cr Dunn said changing the house design from single to double-storey was not a valid attempt at reducing ecological footprints.
“This isn’t a particularly unfamiliar story for the council but developers need to be mindful of the ecological footprint when designing houses in environmentally sensitive areas such as this,” she said.