By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Casey council is a step closer to compulsorily acquiring a 78-year-old man’s 34-acre home in Narre Warren North after its proposal was backed by a Planning Panels Victoria report.
Panel chairman Con Tsotsoros stated that Casey’s proposed public acquisition of John Foy’s house, heavily vegetated lake, gardens and paddocks was “appropriate and justified” in light of the need for four soccer pitches and a pavilion at 191-195 Belgrave-Hallam Road.
Casey councillors, on the back of the panel’s recommendation, are expected to vote on the public acquisition overlay on 7 February.
A disappointed Mr Foy, backed by several neighbours, said he would lobby for Planning Minister Richard Wynne to intervene.
“I thought Con seemed pretty reasonable but when I read his report, I thought: ‘You a***hole’.
“The report is just turned around all in the council’s favour.
“They’re trying to make me look like an environmental vandal and the council is the environmental experts.”
Mr Foy said the council’s plans would flatten trees and wreck the habitat-rich wetland and garden he created over the past 30 years.
He would refuse to deal with Casey because of the “way they’ve dealt with me” – including being surprised by the council’s plans to take his entire property days before Mr Tsotsoros’s hearing.
He had thought Casey only wanted to purchase a section of land along Eumemmerring Creek for the Lysterfield Lake-Frog Hollow Reserve missing link, he said.
“They just want to come in and railroad me off the land with no questions asked.”
In his report, Mr Tsotsoros commended the council for its “robust” leisure-fields strategies that showed a shortage of soccer fields at the appropriate standard in Casey.
“The net community benefit achieved from applying the public acquisition overlay would far outweigh any disbenefit to the subject site owner.
“Council does not seek to acquire more land than reasonably required.”
Mr Tsotsoros said he was “empathetic” to Mr Foy’s request for his pet dogs’ cemetery not to be disturbed but it could not be enabled in a public acquisition overlay.
He said traffic, parking and amenity-related issues would be considered during any planning process for the proposed sports facility, which would extend the existing Narre Warren North Reserve.
Casey councillor Rosalie Crestani said she had an open mind on the public acquisition ahead of meeting with Mr Foy on 25 January.
“This has been a hard one but we have to decide in light of what’s best for the community.
“Residents don’t want their rates to keep being put up but they want sports facilities to be provided, so we have to introduce them in the most cost-effective way possible.”
