By Violet Li
Mornington Peninsula Shire council has approved a temporary permit for a religious event at a controversial proposed temple site in the Green Wedge.
In a narrow 6-5 vote, the use of restricted place of assembly was approved during a council meeting on 17 October.
The site is located on the corner of Dandenong-Hastings Road and South Boundary Road West within the Watson Ward in rural Pearcedale.
The intended activity at the site will be a traditional remedial pooja for religious land purification for up to seven consecutive days.
The event will run over two sessions daily between 6am and 11am, and 4pm and 8pm. A maximum of 30 patrons will be present at any given time during the use.
The specific date has not been proposed.
The remedial ceremony is on the same site as a controversial proposal for a $4.5 million place of worship development by non-profit multilingual Hindu organisation Melbourne Ayyappa Seva Sangam (MASS).
The project, on ten acres of farmland, includes several temples, car parks, and facilities to host events to cater for over 1000 visitors.
The development application has been referred to VCAT.
The one-off pooja received 99 objections, which claimed it was an inappropriate use in the Green Wedge, as well as causing adverse impacts on the environment, traffic hazards and adverse amenity impacts.
It was also feared it would set a precedent for non-agricultural uses in the Green Wedge, and be a precursor to the development application.
Nine submitters attended the council meeting to speak against the event, on behalf of more than 800 members from Peninsula Green Wedge Protection Group.
Watson Ward Cr Kate Roper moved a motion against the event.
She believed it was inappropriate to approve this event in such a location, though she didn’t want to minimise the importance of the ceremony.
“Residents speak of many concerns: loss of emergency, increased traffic on a gravel road, significant loss of vegetation, aesthetic precedent for inappropriate non-agricultural use of Green Wedge on a Green Wedge site, and visitors and their vehicles trampling native vegetation,” she said.
“There has already been a fire incident at this property when careless visitors have started a fire accidentally.
“There is damp and sensitive wet land within this land parcel, which has been an understood ecosystem in itself and this event is not compatible with guidelines for the protection of the Green Wedge.”
She stated the impact of this event would not be just temporary.
“The application discusses a three-week period with bump in and bump out occurring over several days, which is a high level of disturbance to local amenity,” she said.
“The use of a generator on site for multiple purposes, while people are there or are not there is definitely inappropriate in this rural setting.
“The use is inappropriate and does not fit under the first rule applicable for the Green Wedge to protect Metropolitan Green Wedge land from uses and development that would diminish its agricultural environmental cultural heritage, conservation, landscape, natural resource, or recreation values, and to protect of agricultural land from incompatible use and development.”
Cr Antonella Celi spoke in favour of the application and pointed out the pooja event was a separate application from the worship development one.
“I acknowledge that this is an emotive issue for submitters, but I can see no valid reason in accordance with the planning scheme, the environment act and the Green Wedge management plan to refuse a permit for a pooja event to be held at this site, a privately owned site and not a public owned one.
“This council approves many popular events in the Green Wedge with conditions, many of which attract far larger crowds and create far more noise with food truck generators that this event for 30 people just won’t.
“The cleansing ceremony will not be decimating any flora and fauna as falsely claimed by objectors as the performance of a pooja is very mindful and respectful in its reflection and inclusion of its natural environment.”
The upcoming VCAT hearing against the future Place of worship development will run from 19 to 24 February 2024.
A compulsory mediation meeting is scheduled on 22 November for all parties to try and negotiate a middle ground.
