— No Maccas in the Hills!

Is fast food damaging local community values and culture or does it give us the convenience we crave?

Is fast food hardening our arteries or can fast food be healthy?

Burrinja Cultural Centre calls on artists, entertainers and community activists to contribute works on the theme of fast food and the cultural experience of small communities like the Dandenong Ranges.

A new aroma for Tecoma

Every once in a while, the Burrinja Committee comes across a topical issue to explore further, be it local or global. Past events have included Terror! – the Exhibition, and Blasphemy.

A 24 hour drive thru McDonalds is proposed for Tecoma. This local and fairly contentious issue was ‘too good to resist’ and offered questions of how fast food has affected our society in terms of what we eat, how we eat it, who we eat it with, and how it affects our health and the environment.

We invite you to help us answer some of those questions and to have a whole lot of fun doing it!

If you would like to get involved please download the Hamburger EOI callout information sheet (455KB PDF file) for full details.

As the campaign against McDonalds hots up we’re asking you to take part in ‘the pledge’.

The pledge will be used as a way to get across to this company the level of disdain that the Hills Community has of their persistence in wanting to locate in Tecoma.

Your voice was quite clear, 1,100 objections to council, nearly 700 people turning up to the council meeting, a unanimous vote by our councillors to refuse the McDonalds application.

But still McDonalds persist with their idea for an outlet in Tecoma. They aren’t listening to us.

We ask you to download ‘the pledge’ (75KB PDF file), sign it and get as many others as you can to sign it as well. Don’t worry, if you haven’t got the whole sheet signed, any help you can give is very welcome.

Be sure to mail your signed sheets to:

TVAG
PO Box 448
Boronia VIC 3155

Thanks to TVAG for letting the No Maccas in the Hills crew use your PO box.

To cut to the chase – do you have any contacts on which you can call to challenge McDonald’s expert witnesses? Or can you put the word around your circles to draw in the people we need? We’re in particular need of a;

• Architecture and urban design
• Town planner
• Traffic & Transport
• Health & Community Wellbeing
• Marketing & Tourism
• Acoustic professional
• Lighting
• Sociologist
• Media relations
• Environmental impact

but don’t feel limited to these alone.

We need to counter the expert witnesses McDonald’s have employed. Unless challenged, VCAT will have little choice but to accept their findings on face value. For instance, McDonald’s traffic consultant has concluded that there will be no significant traffic problems arising from their proposal, even though we already know the location to be a notorious bottleneck. And, believe it or not, this consultant made no mention at all of McNicol Road, the busiest local road in Tecoma!

You can guess what the other expert witnesses have concluded in their respective fields. McDonald’s have a massive war chest to fund this sort of thing, whereas the community is selling blocks of chocolate and $2 badges to cover its expenses.

If we can bolster our case with a few more experts we feel confident we can defeat McDonald’s and save not only Tecoma but our beautiful Dandenong Ranges. Please help us find those we need who’ll freely offer their services, or at least at a discounted rate.

If you reply via email with any suggestions or leads, we’ll immediately respond. If you think you can help please email nomaccas2012@gmail.com.

Hope to hear back from you soon

Well we asked for a lot of things at the Practice Day Hearing and although most things were rejected our big win was agreement that community members and groups as well as experts have 3 days to present their case to VCAT. 

Today was the day that VCAT Deputy President, Helen Gibson, decided how the appeal hearing would run. 

The win for us was that the community has been allocated 3 days to present their case against McDonalds. No Maccas in the Hills put forward a number of requests including asking the tribunal for 20 community members/groups to speak as well as 5 experts on behalf of the community. Deputy President, Helen Gibson, granted our request and has set aside 3 days of the hearing just for us. That’s great news.

We asked for a lot of other things too, but weren’t as successful with these.

ASK: More time for community to lodge their statement of grounds (objections) due to the timing of notifications by McDonalds over the Christmas holiday period.

RESULT: Deputy President Gibson felt that there had been adequate notification and that the community had plenty of opportunity to participate so no extra time granted.

ASK: For the venue to be moved closer to home due to the high level of community interest.

RESULT: All hearings are conducted at VCAT, 55 King Street, Melbourne due to the recording facilities in place. Facilities in Dandenong and Berwick aren’t set up for these sorts of cases.  Deputy President Gibson said she would request one of the larger hearing rooms at VCAT so there’d be space for community members who want to attend.

ASK: Advance notice of scheduling for community submitters.

RESULT: It’s up to us (the community) to organise who’s presenting when, so at least there’ll be ample time to sort out the order so people who need to take time off work or other duties know when.

ASK: That all the witness material (things like the expert reports ie: traffic, acoustic reports) be circulated to all 304 parties.

RESULT: Declined as all information will be available at the council offices. However we will be provided with 10 hard copies and digital versions of material to allow for easy distribution.

ASK: Advance circulation of expert reports so we get a chance to analyse them in depth.

RESULT: Deputy President Gibson was not persuaded to change the timeframe (10 days is the usual), she said it was unlikely that the applicant (McDonalds) would submit amended plans, she also thought that the witness material is unlikely to depart from that already in the public arena. She felt the case wasn’t unusual enough to warrant a change.

What you need to do now:

If you want to present at VCAT let us know by emailing nomaccas2012@gmail.com

If you want to help with the campaign let us know by emailing nomaccas2012@gmail.com

If you want to be kept informed of what’s happening then email us at (you guessed it) nomaccas2012@gmail.com

In total 6 days have been set aside for the appeal, on day one, Yarra Ranges will submit, then it’s our turn for 3 days, then McDonalds get the last 2 days, there’s also a time for a brief right of reply for any new matters that arise as a result of the hearing and some ‘without prejudice’ discussion time as well.

So mark your calendar now, the appeal starts on Monday 6 August through to 13 August, let’s maintain the rage and let VCAT and McDonalds know we’re serious about this one.

Are you one of the 304 objectors who lodged a statement of grounds with VCAT in January/February?

Last week you would have received (via email or snail mail) notification of the VCAT hearing details. The key date for your diary is the week starting 6 August 2012 – five days have been allocated for the full hearing.

Before the August hearing, Tribunal Member Deputy President Helen Gibson has set aside Friday 30 March, 2012 for a Practice Day Hearing. As part of this hearing, our community – the magic 304 – need to decide and present to VCAT a proposal of how best we can represent ourselves at the full hearing in early August. In short:

1. We need to organise the strongest community representation of the key issues such as local neighbourhood character, amenity, design, traffic, safety, environment and planning policy.

2. All of the magic 304 objectors will be strongly encouraged to attend the full hearing in early August (in fact everyone in the community is encouraged to attend in August!)

3. You are not precluded to speak at the full hearing, however given the high number of objectors VCAT will look favourably on our community if we nominate a smaller number of people to present submissions on behalf of the magic 304 – don’t worry we will be thorough.

What you need to do… NOW

If you are happy to have someone else speak on your behalf at the VCAT hearing, you don’t need to do anything at the moment. Be assured that we will cover off on the important issues. We will advise you of the outcomes of the Practice Day Hearing and the happenings of the No Maccas campaign over the next couple of months.

If you feel very strongly that you would like to speak, either as an individual or as a representative of an organisation, then you need to emailnomaccas2012@gmail.com by next Tuesday 20 March. Send us a quick email telling us your name and your top 3-4 concerns/issues you would like to present to the VCAT hearing. This will really help in putting forward our best possible solution to the tribunal in how to manage such a large number of objectors.

If you think you know one of the magic 304, please forward this information to them. We don’t have a list of who the magic 304 are, so we need to use the power of the hills network to get this message out there really quickly.

What is a Practice Day Hearing?

During this hearing (which usually lasts for less than an hour) decisions are made as to how the full VCAT hearing in early August will run administratively. Issues such as how much time is required, the number of people making submissions, the venue size and location and any other things that relate to the conduct of the proceedings will be considered by the tribunal. You can attend the Practice Day Hearing, however there is no requirement to do so. (We wouldn’t recommend taking a day off work or making a special effort to be there as the scheduling of when the hearing will take place during the day is subject to change at short notice). Both McDonalds and the Shire of Yarra Ranges are required to attend the Practice Day Hearing.

We will post an update on the website after the Practice Day Hearing to advise you of the outcomes.

It’s not too late to lodge at VCAT! EMAIL DEADLINE MIDNIGHT 30 JANUARY

There is still time for you to object to VCAT, but you must act quickly!

Like with the Shire of Yarra Ranges, it is critical that we now tell VCAT the level of community opposition to the proposed McDonalds restaurant – we need to get as many of the 1,100 people that objected to Council to now also object to VCAT.

If you received:

• either an A4 pack of papers in the mail from Norton Rose (posted 12 January); or

• an email from Norton Rose (sent 20 January), then

YOU ARE AN OBJECTOR and you need to RESPOND BY EMAIL before midnight 30 January (next Monday) to be part of the VCAT hearing. (It’s now too late to post your submission)

DID YOU KNOW !!!!

• It doesn’t cost you any money to register as an objector to VCAT

• You only need to fill out one single A4 page – ‘FORM B – STATEMENT OF GROUNDS’ – it should take about 5-10 minutes to complete.

• This is the 2nd round – VCAT does NOT automatically get copies of your objection letter/email that you sent to the Shire. You need to also object to VCAT to be heard!

• We would strongly encourage everyone to attend the VCAT hearing, although we don’t know the date of the hearing yet.

• You also have the option to present a submission to VCAT (say) for 10 minutes.

• You can always take a photo of your form with your digital camera to make an electronic copy of your form, but make sure it’s in focus, the VCAT members must be able to read it!

HOW TO FILL IN YOUR ‘FORM B – STATEMENT OF GROUNDS’ in 10 easy steps…

1. Find the form marked VCAT ‘FORM B STATEMENT OF GROUNDS’. If you can’t find it – a copy of Form B is attached to this web entry.

2. Start with the easy stuff – at the bottom of the form,fill in your name and address, phone numbers, signature and date

3. Now look at the top of the form, you have a couple of tick boxes

4. If you want to attend the hearing and present to the VCAT Members tick the first box marked ‘If available on the date allocated for the hearing I intend to appear and present a submission’. You can always tick yes now and if it turns out you can’t present, you can withdraw at a later date and your objection will still be considered. If you do tick the first box, you also need to tell VCAT how much time you think you’ll need.

5. If you don’t want to present, tick the second box marked ‘I am unable to attend the hearing but wish my “statement of grounds” to be considered.

6. Next is the ‘brief but precise summary of grounds’, the half a dozen or so lines where you need to tell VCAT why you think the Maccas application is a bad idea for Tecoma. Just like the council objections it’s important to make sure you base your ‘statement of grounds’ on planning matters. A few planning issues you could consider:

a. Built Form / Building Design

b. Lack of Car Parking / Bicycle Facilities

c. Community & Planning Policy

d. Environment & Landscape

e. Neighbourhood Centre & Village Character

f. Noise

g. Pedestrian Amenity, Safety & Accessibility

h. Signage

i. Traffic, Residential Amenity (you can tell your local stories about the traffic problems that already exist along this section of Burwood Highway)

7. If you have it electronically, you can attach your original submission to council but make sure you write the VCAT Reference number: P3933/2011 and Statement of Grounds on it so it doesn’t get lost. If you don’t have your original submission, don’t worry it’s not an issue – completing and sending off your ‘FORM B – STATEMENT OF GROUNDS’ is the most important task.

8. Next bit of the form – Tick the two tick boxes and date, advising VCAT you’ve emailed your ‘FORM B – STATEMENT OF GROUNDS to both McDonalds (the applicant) and the Council.

9. At the bottom of the form you can give VCAT your email address for notification of their final decision. If you don’t provide an email address, you’ll get the VCAT decision via hardcopy in the post – it’s up to you.

10. LUCKY LAST AND MOST IMPORTANT STEP – Email your completed ‘FORM B – STATEMENT OF GROUNDS’ to all three organisations (and also attach your original submission to Council if you have it electronically):

VCAT –   vcat-admin@justice.vic.gov.au note: VCAT have file limits, no more than 5MB
The applicant (McDonalds) – sally.macindoe@nortonrose.com  or  zoe.darmos@nortonrose.com
The council (Yarra Ranges Shire Council) – mail@yarraranges.vic.gov.au

YOU NEED TO EMAIL YOUR ‘FORM B – STATEMENT OF GROUNDS’ TO ALL 3 ORGANISATIONS BEFORE MIDNIGHT 30 JANUARY (next Monday)

The VCAT Members (the people who will be hearing the appeal) need to understand the community’s view on this application. If you’re silent now, how will VCAT ever know how you feel about the application? Remember VCAT Members haven’t seen your objections – this is your chance.

There were 1,100 objections to the McDonalds proposal lodged with the Shire of Yarra Ranges – the largest ever community response to a planning application!

Let’s maintain the rage, and get over 1,000 objections to VCAT too!

(Last count at VCAT on Wednesday 25 Jan was 164 objections lodged)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Download Form B (192KB PDF file).

If you are having any issues with the PDF forms, you can download Form B (791 KB Jpeg file) in JPG format.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you need some more help working out what to do, or have additional questions, you can call VCAT on (03) 9628 9777 or the planning department at Yarra Ranges Council (1300 368 333)

If you haven’t received any paperwork or an email, but you were an objector make sure you call both VCAT on (03) 9628 9777 and Zoe Darmos on (03) 8686 6231 from Norton Rose (McDonalds legal team) – they are obliged to send you the information. It will help to quote the VCAT Reference number: P3933/2011.

Need some help filling in your McDonalds VCAT forms?

Well help is here!

Did you miss your chance to come to the weekend drop-in open afternoon, well never fear, we’ll be out with our information table in Tecoma on Monday Night before the CFA Community Meeting.

Monday 23 Jan, 6pm – 7pm
In front of the Tecoma Primary School Hall.

Look out for the table and the ‘No Maccas in the Hills’ banner

Bring along:

- all your VCAT paperwork (sent by Norton Rose on behalf of McDonalds)
- and a copy of your original objection letter/email you sent to the Shire of Yarra Ranges

…then we’ll help you to fill in your Form B – Statement of Grounds and we have pre-addressed envelopes and stamps all ready to go, so everything will be in the mail before the deadline.

There is only a short window of time for you to object to VCAT and the time is NOW!!!!
(The deadline to reply is January 26)

DID YOU KNOW !!!!

1. It doesn’t cost you any money to register as an objector to VCAT.

2. This is the 2nd round – VCAT does NOT automatically get copies of your objection letter/email that you sent to the Shire. You need to object to VCAT to be heard!

3. Like the council, it is critical that we get as many objectors to VCAT as possible to show our opposition to the McDonalds proposal.

4. We would strongly encourage everyone to attend the VCAT hearing, although we don’t know the date of the hearing yet.

5. You also have the option to present a submission to VCAT (say) for 10 minutes.

There were over 1,100 objections to the McDonalds proposal lodged with the Shire of Yarra Ranges – the largest ever community response to a planning application!

Let’s maintain the rage, and get over 1,000 objections to VCAT too!

Download Form A (250KB PDF file).

Download Form B (192KB PDF file).

If you are having any issues with the PDF forms, you can download Form A (1.85 MB Jpeg file) and Form B (791 KB Jpeg file) in JPG format.

Well help is here!

Come along to a drop-in open afternoon this weekend

Saturday 21/01 and Sunday 22/01, 3 – 5pm both days
Rear car park entrance of Earthly Pleasures in Belgrave (near the old stables, next to the library)
Look out for the table and the ‘No Maccas in the Hills’ banner

Bring along:
- all your VCAT paperwork (sent by Norton Rose on behalf of McDonalds)
- and a copy of your original objection letter/email you sent to the Shire of Yarra Ranges

…then we’ll help you to fill in your Form B – Statement of Grounds and we have pre-addressed envelopes and stamps all ready to go, so everything will be in the mail by the end of the weekend.

There is only a short window of time for you to object to VCAT and the time is NOW!!!!
(The deadline to reply is January 26)

DID YOU KNOW !!!!

1. It doesn’t cost you any money to register as an objector to VCAT

2. This is the 2nd round – VCAT does NOT automatically get copies of your objection letter/email that you sent to the Shire. You need to object to VCAT to be heard!

3. Like the council, it is critical that we get as many objectors to VCAT as possible to show our opposition to the McDonalds proposal

4. We would strongly encourage everyone to attend the VCAT hearing, although we don’t know the date of the hearing yet.

5. You also have the option to present a submission to VCAT (say) for 10 minutes.

There were over 1,100 objections to the McDonalds proposal lodged with the Shire of Yarra Ranges – the largest ever community response to a planning application!

Let’s maintain the rage, and get over 1,000 objections to VCAT too!

Okay so you’ve got your forms for the VCAT appeal – now what?

If you want to make sure your voice is heard you need to act now, you’ve only got till 26 January.

If you were an objector to McDonalds in Tecoma you should have received information about the VCAT appeal. Community members have told us that they got their information last Friday (13/01).

If you haven’t received anything but you were an objector make sure you call VCAT on (03) 9628 9777 and let them know and don’t forget to tell the McDonalds legal team too, call Zoe Darmos on (03) 8686 6231 as McDonalds are obliged to send you the information. It will help to quote the VCAT Reference number: P3933/2011.

How will you know you whether you were an official objector? You would have received a ‘notice of decision’ from council back in October, 2011 informing you of council’s decision to refuse the application.

It’s really important that you complete the STATEMENT OF GROUNDS (the form marked ‘B’ which can be found at the bottom of this article) and return it to VCAT, Council and McDonalds, yep that’s 3 organisations – but you’ve only got 14 calendar days to do so – THAT’S BY 26 JANUARY, 2012.

We want to make sure that the VCAT Members (the people who will be hearing the appeal) understand the community’s view on this application. If you’re silent now how will VCAT ever know how you feel about the application? Remember VCAT Members haven’t seen your objections, this is your chance.

So to filling out the form (please note the information on this site is only a guide to help you, in your package of information you will have the VCAT information sheet marked ‘A’ which you should read, the form can be found at the bottom of this article). Don’t stress, this is going to be easy.

First there are a couple of tick boxes.

If you want to attend the hearing and present to the VCAT Members tick the first box marked ‘If available on the date allocated for the hearing I intend to appear and present a submission’. You can always tick yes now and if it turns out you can’t present you can withdraw at a later date.

If you want to make sure the VCAT Members understand your concerns but you don’t want to present to them tick the second box marked ‘I am unable to attend the hearing but wish my “statement of grounds” to be considered.

If you do tick the first box because you want to present to VCAT Members there’s some more information you need to complete, you also need to tell VCAT how much time you think you’ll need.

Next is the ‘brief but precise summary of grounds’, the half a dozen or so lines where you need to tell VCAT why you think the Maccas application is a bad idea for Tecoma.

Just like the council objections it’s important to make sure you base your ‘statement of grounds’ on planning matters. Things like built form, lack of carparking, poor access, residential amenity, neighbourhood character, traffic impact, too much signage are all planning grounds, to make things easier you can always attach your original submission to council but make sure you write the VCAT Reference number: P3933/2011 and Statement of Grounds on it so it doesn’t get lost.

Look at the reasons why council refused the application, you’ll have a copy of this with your package of information, this will help you list your ‘statement of grounds’. And don’t forget to tell your local stories about the traffic problems that already exist along this section of Burwood Highway.

Now this is important – you need to send your ‘statement of grounds’ to 3 organisations:

1. The applicant (McDonalds)

2. The council (Yarra Ranges Shire Council)

3. VCAT

(the address details for this hefty list is below)

The next bit of the form contains two tick boxes and a date so you can advise VCAT that you’ve sent your ‘statement of grounds’ to McDonalds and the Council. Make sure you send your ‘statement of grounds’ to all three organisations and tick these boxes and write the date you sent your ‘statement of grounds’ to McDonalds and the Council.

You’re nearly done, not far to go, the other pieces of information are easy, your name and address for documents, phone numbers, signature and date – you know this stuff!

There’s just one last bit of information, you can give VCAT your email address for notification of their final decision. If you don’t give them your email address, in the very last text box on the form, you’ll get their decision via hardcopy in the post, if you do give them your email address, you’ll get their decision in your inbox – it’s up to you.

Address details – remember you need to send your ‘statement of grounds’ to all three organisations by 26 January.

1. MCDONALDS

C/- Sally Macindoe/Zoe Darmos
Norton Rose Australia
GPO Box 4592
Melbourne VIC 3001

Or email: sally.macindoe@nortonrose.com or zoe.darmos@nortonrose.com

2. YARRA RANGES SHIRE COUNCIL

The Planning Department
Yarra Ranges Council
PO Box 105
Lilydale VIC 3140

Or email: mail@yarraranges.vic.gov.au

3. VCAT

The Principal Registrar
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Ground Floor, 55 King Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Or email: vcat-admin@justice.vic.gov.au note: VCAT have file limits, no more than 5MB.

Other bits of useful information:

Remember you can go to the hearing to watch proceedings and we strongly recommend that you do, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves, there’s not even a date set yet!

If you need help working out what to do you can always call VCAT on (03) 9628 9777 or the planning department at Yarra Ranges Council (1300 368 333).

Attached to this web entry is a copy of the VCAT form ‘A’ INFORMATION and VCAT form ‘B’ STATEMENT OF GROUNDS – they’re attached just for your information, MAKE SURE YOU USE YOUR ORIGINAL FORMS not these ones.

McDonalds have indicated that they are not willing to participate in mediation for their application.

There’s no fee for you to pay to lodge a ‘statement of grounds’.

Download Form A (250KB PDF file).

Download Form B (192KB PDF file).

If you are having any issues with the PDF forms, you can download Form A (1.85 MB Jpeg file) and Form B (791 KB Jpeg file) in JPG format.

McDonalds have lodged an appeal (447KB PDF file) through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) on 22 December 2011 to have council’s decision to refuse a McDonalds in Tecoma reviewed by VCAT. That’s right, McDonalds have had 60 days to appeal but chose 3 days before the deadline to do so.

We think the timelines are very deliberate in order to take advantage of the fact that many people are on holidays in January.

What does this mean? If you were an objector to the application through the council process you will receive notification from McDonalds that they have appealed council’s decision in the next week or so (as soon as we can confirm dates for you we will).

As an objector you have 14 calendar days from receipt of your notice from McDonalds to review the information sent to you by them and submit a “statement of grounds” to VCAT and let VCAT know whether you want to become a “party” to the hearing.

The answer is Yes. You definitely want to become a party to the hearing to make sure that your voice of objection is known to VCAT.

As so many people are away, it’s important that we get your help to spread the word far and wide as quickly as possible. Please send this information out to your networks, particularly to those people you know were objectors. Have a chat, pick up the phone, email or facebook – it’s important to get this message out straight away.

The community came out in droves to send objections to council (1,090 in total) and 670 people went to the council meeting to hear council unanimously refuse the application. We need you to harness that same commitment to the hills and become a party to the appeal.

We cannot let McDonalds take full advantage of this very calculated timing.

It is very important that as many people as possible, hopefully all 1,090 objectors to Council, also lodge their objections (“statement of grounds”) with VCAT and become a party to the appeal.

Download the McDonalds VCAT appeal
(447KB PDF file).