This article is written by the Glengollan Residents Committee.
A response will follow from a resident in St Elmo Avenue.
Today, Glengollan is a thriving retirement village and nursing home comprising 145 units for independent living, and a nursing home which caters for low and high level care and sufferers of Dementia.
A not-for-profit organisation, nestling at the foot of the Dandenong ranges, in the heart of Ferntree Gully, it was Violet Lambert, Ferntree Gully Shire Councillor (at the time), who conceived the idea. Whilst recovering in hospital from a heart attack Violet set to wondering what happened to the elderly people who had no friends or relatives to look after them and decided to find a way to care for them.
Thus, Glengollan was established way back in 1956. Land was purchased and early in the 1960s ten cottages were built and by 1970 the first hostel was built. Construction of the nursing home had to wait until 1984.
Today, the independent living units cover a large tract of land and the residents enjoy the non-intrusive friendship of neighbours. We all keep an eye out for one another, checking regularly to ensure all is well but privacy is valued and honoured. For those who wish to participate, the club rooms facilitate bingo, exercise classes, monthly dinners, fashion shows, cinema trips and outside excursions and much more, organised by our busy Social Committee. Our well attended Garden Group also enjoy digging and potting and organising their annual plant sale, proceeds of which go towards improvements around the Village. Our Residents Committee too, are active in maintaining close contact with Glengollan management to assist in constantly improving village amenities.
Now, in 2024, the number of village residences is expanding rapidly but the current nursing home is 40 years old and badly in need of upgrading. Conditions that were perfectly acceptable (and even forward thinking), in 1984 are now sadly out of date.
With this in mind, the Glengollan Board of Directors and staff went to great lengths to come up with the design for a new building. A block of land was purchased in St Elmo Avenue. Plans were drawn up and an application to build a new, two-storey, state of the art Nursing Home was made in May 2020.
To their amazement, objections were received from adjoining properties with signatures acquired from people living as far away as Lysterfield. Absurd allegations such as our intention to build a high-rise skyscraper were made. A photo showing a five-storey building was even published in a regional newspaper.
In May 2021 the Knox Council Planning Department approved the plans, but Councillors voted against it for various reasons including Environmental Significant Overlay issues. Whilst these issues have been addressed there was no recourse but to go to VCAT. The first and second applications were denied but very well supported. A third and final conference was held early in September.
So far no decision has been made. I wonder what Violet Lambert would have thought of it all…
Glengollan Residents Committee
Response from a resident in St Elmo Avenue
As a resident of St Elmo Avenue, I am disappointed that the Glengollan Residents’ Committee does not have a better understanding of the failed applications to build a new residential aged care facility in the street.
They erroneously blame “absurd” objections. Absurd objections would not have persuaded the Knox Council or VCAT, both of which rejected the Glengollan proposal.
Some history
In 2019, Glengollan Village bought a large block in St Elmo Ave. It applied in May 2020 to build a new aged care facility on the site. Knox Council rejected that application in 2021 because it failed to conform to the planning scheme. Glengollan appealed to VCAT, which also rejected the application on those same grounds in July 2022.
It seems that Glengollan residents have been told that the rejection was due to some minor landscaping issues. That is far from the full story.
Neighbouring residents hold significant concerns, and both Council and VCAT accepted those: issues to do with scale and bulk, landscaping, privacy, bushfire risk, removal of 30+ significant trees, drainage and flooding of neighbouring properties. Residents attempted to mediate and suggested some changes that – if made – would see our objections withdrawn. Glengollan Village refused.
In March 2023, Glengollan Village made a new application with exactly the same design VCAT had rejected. In January 2024, the Knox Council senior planner recommended against a permit; the council agreed. The grounds were substantially the same as the previous application.
VCAT Decision
Glengollan Village has again appealed to VCAT; a five-day hearing was held in early September, and we now await an outcome within the next few weeks. 201 objections were received from immediate neighbours in St Elmo Avenue, Carmel Avenue, Vaughan Road and Underwood Road.
Neighbours’ concerns remain the same: the proposed design does not address the site context as it must under the Knox Planning Scheme. If built, it will flood neighbours in both Carmel Avenue and Underwood Road, and the foyer will be at substantial risk of flooding in every large rain event. The proposed landscape proposal does not meet the Planning scheme requirements nor address the requirements of Melbourne Water for Wayut Creek that runs through the rear of the property.
We wait to see what VCAT decides.
Barney Zwartz
