Summary
I reported on the planning consultative committee meeting for 79 Grayson Drive in Scoresby, which will come back to a future Council meeting. I visited Restore Community Church in Rowville to see its emergency food relief program, attended the Share Space Easter market, and chaired the Knox Community Awards evaluation panel. I also marked the AFL debut of Rowville local Sullivan Robey, and noted correspondence on the Murray Crescent planning application.
Transcript
Edited from the meeting's auto-generated captions.
Thank you, Mayor. A few quick updates from Tirhatuan Ward.
24th of March, I attended the planning consultative committee meeting for the development application at 79 Grayson Drive in Scoresby. The Mayor chaired the meeting. The Deputy Mayor was also in attendance, and it was good to get, it's about 20 residents I recall, most of whom were objecting to that proposal. We had representatives of the applicant there as well. It was a really good opportunity to hear the views and opinions on both sides of that proposal and take those into consideration. So that matter is not on our agenda tonight, but it is coming to a future Council meeting. I'm continuing to receive correspondence regarding 79 Grayson Drive. So that will be back at Council in the not too distant future, but I did want to record my attendance at that meeting.
The 26th of March, as Deputy Chair of Your Library and a board member, I attended the Audit and Risk Advisory Committee meeting.
On the 2nd of April, I had the privilege of visiting Restore Community Church in Laser Drive, Rowville. I was able to meet with Chris, one of the church leaders, and head pastor Ronald Rodrigo. They run Restore Community Care, which is a long-standing, now I think several years old, emergency food relief program which operates Tuesdays to Thursdays, and is one of many, as we know, operating across our community where people can call in, talk to volunteers, access pantry items. Obviously growth in demand has far outstripped, they're trying to keep up with supply, and they have a dedicated team of volunteers that service the Restore Community Care community pantry. So they coordinate with our grants team and Pathways, and I was able to commend them on the great work they're doing in helping vulnerable members of our community.
On the 29th of March, I attended the Share Space Easter market at Arcadia Reserve, at the 1st Rowville Scout Hall in Rowville. Best market, I think, that Share Space has run so far, and that's a high bar. It was a fantastic turnout. Hundreds of families right before Easter. I think they said about 5,000 Easter eggs were snapped up in a matter of seconds when the Easter egg hunt took off. It was wonderful to see. Fantastic weather. So many local entrepreneurs and micro businesses that are local to Rowville and Knox that were selling items and wares at the market. So we shopped up a storm, as we always do, and left with plenty of Easter goodies and gifts.
On the 22nd of April, just last week, I chaired a meeting of the Knox Community Awards Evaluation Panel, along with Councillor Williams and officers, and we had an esteemed panel of community representatives joining us to judge nominations across Volunteer of the Year, Community Organisation and Event of the Year, and special honour categories too. So the standard was exceedingly high, and we'll be announcing the recipients of those awards, I think it's the 20th of May, Mayor. So looking forward to that evening and acknowledging the great work that so many volunteers and community-focused people do in our community.
And just finally, a Rowville moment that I've been waiting to mark was the debut of Sullivan Robey for the Essendon Bombers. This time last year, Sullivan Robey was a 17-year-old playing local football for Rowville Football Club down on Stud Road. On Saturday, he ran out for his third game with Essendon Football Club on the MCG in front of almost 100,000 people. He was pick nine in last year's draft. He has lived in Rowville for, I think, all of his life almost. And I know the buzz around the Knox junior football clubs this weekend was dream big and that anything's possible. So I think Sullivan's story is an inspiring one for all our local footballers to take note of. A lot of hard work, he no doubt had some luck along the way, but wonderful to see Sullivan kicking goals for the Bombers, quite literally.
And I would just note the correspondence I've received in recent weeks, and again in the last couple of days, regarding the Murray Crescent, Rowville planning application on the agenda tonight. So I appreciate that feedback and insight from residents too.
Thank you, Mayor.