By Cameron Weston
HOBSONS Bay City Council will vary the lease on an Altona East hall after months of heated debate and complaints from residents.
The Collins Avenue Hall is leased to the Maltese Association of Hobsons Bay, which regularly hires it out to other groups, and residents complained about rubbish and noise late into the night from these functions.
The council last week resolved to change the terms of the lease and added a condition that a meeting be scheduled in six months time to assess the situation at the hall.
Outside people or organisations hiring the hall on Saturday nights will now be required to finish functions by 11pm, an hour earlier than stipulated in the original lease agreement, signed in 2004.
Bylaws concerning noise, parking and litter will also be more rigorously monitored, with the council calling on the Maltese Association to ensure this is done.
A council sub-committee made up of Mayor Leigh Hardinge, Cr Bill Baarini and Cr Carl Marsich received 15 submissions from concerned residents, asking for the operating hours at the hall be reduced when used by outside hirers.
Nearby resident Jason McHale said most people living near the hall who made submissions to the council were satisfied with the new lease arrangement.
“I think it should be all fine as far as the residents are |concerned,” he said.
“It is really a case of wait and see. We will get six months down the track and see if it is working or not.
“From what has transpired between the first ‘rock concert’ that was held in our street to now, we have come a long way,” Mr McHale said,
Joe Attard from the Maltese Association said the group had “no problems whatsoever” with the revised lease arrangement.
