By ALESHA CAPONE
A COMMUNITY meeting will be held for Cairnlea residents to express concerns about a proposed residential and industrial development in the suburb.
The meeting on Monday 2 December will be attended by MP Khalil Eideh, who has spoken out about aspects of the planned development in parliament.
Places Victoria wants to redevelop land bordered by Cairnlea Drive and Ballarat Rd with 146 townhouses, 50 apartments, 80 commercial sites and an industrial area.
Residents have banded together and formed a group, No Industrial Zone for Cairnlea, to fight the proposal.
Among their concerns are a proposal to locate a park near the industrial estate on potentially contaminated land, the loss of 300 mature sugar gum trees and having a “concrete jungle of warehouses” built along Cairnlea Dve.
Residents have also expressed concerns about how Places Victoria conducted its community consultation process only in English, despite Cairnlea’s large multicultural population.
Cairnlea resident Bon Pran has worked with his neighbour Peter Brandecker to create Vietnamese language flyers about the upcoming community meeting.
He said before Mr Brandecker alerted him to the development plans he had no idea what was happening.
“I never expected or anticipated in future that the land behind my house would be industrial or factories,” he said.
“I want to live in an environmentally-friendly area.”
Mr Pran encouraged people from all backgrounds to attend the 2 December meeting.
“The more people come to show concerns about the environment, health and planning shows we are united in protest against places Victoria,” he said.
A Places Victoria spokeswoman said the authority “has undertaken a comprehensive community consultation process with all residents – including those requiring assistance in relevant languages”.
“The input and feedback from all will be carefully considered and responded to prior to any future decision on the proposed development,” she said.
The community meeting will be on 2 December 6.30pm at the Cairnlea Soccer Club, Kevin Flint Memorial Reserve, corner of Furlong Rd and Cairnlea Dve (enter from Furlong Rd).
