den_hold

PRESS
STATEMENT

BAYSIDE COUNCIL
CONGRATULATED FOR REJECTING PROPOSED SALE OF TREED BEAUMARIS ROAD VERGE

Beaumaris Conservation
Society Inc. congratulates Bayside City Council
for its decision at its meeting on 17th May 2004
to preserve the present quality of the

treed public road verge in
Holding Street, just east of High Street.
That verge of indigenous coastal trees is part of
the distinctive character for which Beaumaris has
long been noted (Item 64 of Council Committee
Agenda 17th

May 2004). The rejection of the sale
was supported by 7 of the 9 councillors. Only Crs
Ken Beadle and Alex del Porto voted for the land
to be sold.

REMNANT BUSH IS CRITICAL TO
BEAUMARIS CHARACTER: BCS Inc. and
very many Bayside residents strongly believe there
is great value in retaining all of the relatively
few remaining examples of indigenous Beaumaris
treed road verges freely and fully visible and
open to the public in the way they have always
been. That ambience has long been recognized as a
major appeal of Beaumaris. For those on the bus
route from Sandringham railway station, Holding
Street is the approach way to the Keys Street
business centre, whose car park was well renovated
after Bayside City Council took note of BCS concerns.

Intensive development has
largely overwhelmed the original natural character
of Beaumaris. Opportunities to hold on to
tangible, visible and secure evidence of the
character that gave Beaumaris its original
distinctiveness and attractivemess are fast
disappearing. Keeping this 50 metre narrow strip
of treed roadside verge public, unfenced and truly
a part of the public domain, has great benefit to
the image of Beaumaris, and will attest to its
past, present and future appeal. 

  
Indigenous

Trees on and near the part of the Holding Street Nature Strip, at the
corner of
High Street, Beaumaris, that Bayside City Council proposes to sell
to three adjoining landowners

PUBLIC RIGHT TO ROADSIDE
AMENITY SHOULD PREVAIL OVER PRIVATE EXPANSION:
Adjacent private property owners
should only be offered public land if there is
absolutely no public justification for its
retention. There is sound justification for
unfenced public amenity continuing in this
landmark case. The new, narrower width would be
below the width of most road verges in
Beaumaris. 

FINANCIAL ASPECTS:
The conditions on the proposed Section 173
agreement appear to be largely for show as they
impose no greater burden on the proposed owners
than would apply if they had always owned the
land, or if those conditions were not specifically
included. A development setback from Holding

Street would surely
be at least the width of the subject land, and
there are numerous examples of 2 m high fences
throughout Beaumaris. 

We note that the heavily
discounted sale price would short-change the
public. BCS Inc. recognizes that Council might be
reluctant to retain the land, but that should not
prevent it from at least holding out for a better
deal by requiring the full market price. That
option should be given a fair trial, as the
municipality has no urgent need of the 50 cents
per citizen that the present bargain price
represents. 

Council has been told of
the increased annual rate revenue that extra
private land will produce, but it has not been
told of the greater sacrifice of annual capital
gain (exempt from capital gains tax) for Council
that a sale will entail. 
 

Adrian Cerbasi 
President, Beaumaris Conservation Society
Inc. 

cc. All
Bayside City Councillors, Bayside Leader