Chair: Simon Harvey

Minute Taker: Maritza Araneda/Moira Yffer

Location: Conference Room, Kensington Town Hall, 7:30pm

·       Welcome: Simon Harvey introduced himself as our new Chair, paid tribute to the traditional owners of the land and welcomed all those in attendance – including our guest Cathy Kiss from the City of Melbourne (CoM).

·       Apologies: David Brown, Jenny Brown, Fran Araneda, Sylvia Wheeler.

·       Correspondence In: Art Show (c/o Lesley) looking for volunteers and for exhibitors for the 4-6 October. Assemble (c/o Abbie Freestone) looking to present to residents and the community, a development they are looking to build at 15 Thompson Street, Kensington. Correspondence from CoM in relation to protecting sunlight in parks outside the central city.

Action: Maritza to reach out to Assemble and check if they can present in our           November meeting. Maritza to look into providing a response on behalf of the Association over the CoM proposal.

·       Correspondence Out: none this month.

·       August meeting minutes were tabled. Maritza A and Therese F endorsed the minutes as being a true reflection of what was discussed.

Cathy Kiss from CoM and member of the project team provided an update on phase 2 of the re-development ahead of the next round of consultation. Cathy provided a slide show of the current designs and noted the following:

·      Work on the re-development plans/designs are continuing, with a new concept launched today. The centre will be in the same location, with the same footprint but will have a difference entrance – Kensington Road as opposed to Altona Street).

·      New plans will be worked on from March 2020 to November 2020.

·      An information centre has been set up and a link had been sent to all interested stakeholders, to participate in this process.

·      Residents asked about the need to have more information provided on the car parking situation, including drop-off zones, location of disabled parking and access to all areas, acoustic quality, ability to open up the pool space and final vision.

·      Residents also noted that when they had raised concerns or recommendations (during the consultation period), they had not received any responses and felt like it had not been a collaborative process.

·      Cathy noted this feedback and committed to looking into how the process could be more collaborative.

Treasurer’s Report – Tony C

·      Funds in: Membership renewals/income of $330.

·      Funds out: Rental for storage of $767, insurance of $612, $200 for catering, which provided a balance of $13,500.

·      Action: Tony C to get in contact with the rental company to negotiate a lower rate or alternatively to seek other storage options.

Membership Secretary’s Report – Tony C

·      Only a small number of members joined this month. In total, we have 106 members, with 22 not re-joining in the current year.

Melbourne Metro Rail Project (“MMRP”) Report – David E

·      Concerns continue to be raised about noise. There are 2 companies undertaking work in the area: MRA and CPB. They are refusing to release any data on this and the Association is still waiting for a response. Residents are being given the run around. An issue was also raised from residents in the meeting on the poor visibility of the zebra crossing.

·      Action: Vincent Ryan to draft a letter on the concerns associated with the crossing, so that the Association can issue formally to MMRP and CoM.

Planning (from the Committee and/or the floor)

·      Cr Leppert noted that CoM will be seeking input on a draft Strategic Opportunities Plan, which proposed to revitalise Moonee Ponds Creek with a series of parklands, open spaces and wetlands. It will be opened from 19th March for public consultation.

·      Feedback will help shape a final document that will be provided to the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) to advocate for better outcomes for the future of Moonee Ponds Creek.

Moonee Ponds Creek – John W

·      John is the Association’s representative and continues to go each month to understand progress. Lots of work has been completed on our section of the Creek.

·      Melbourne Water appear to be trying to do plantings but nothing was surviving.

·      John provided a slide show of the potential of the creek. Kensington had received 8% increase in rainfall and plantings made over the recent period had survived.

·      Catchment plan will be covered in the next strategic review of open areas.

Kensington Community Network –

Therese attended the last meeting for KA as Moira not available. She reported on a few issues:

·         Suggestion from Mike Williams for a breakfast club for local schools/the Venny etc. Mike was directed to a more focussed group to discuss feasibility of idea.

·         Abeselom Nega from IEmpower Services and Justice Reference Group talked about working with African youth caught up in the criminal justice system;

·         Deb Wilson reported on recent Kensington Community Festival – 7,000 attendees. Some suggestions to make annual rather than biannual.

·         The Venny has secured funding for the next 3 years;

·         City of Melbourne Waste and Resource Strategy 2030 needs to be looked at by KA.

PCCC – Therese F

·      Theft from cars is rife.

·      Therese can’t attend next meeting – is someone else able to go?

·       John W asked Cr Leppert about the gangland murders at The Melbourne Pavilion, at Kensington and purpose of the venue. Cr Leppert noted the CoM had taken the owners to court 3 times for failure to meet conditions of the issued permit. He re-iterated that their hands were tied and could only try to enforce the conditions of their permit.

·       Members commented on recent activity in Facebook and how the content had improved significantly. The Association would like to formally acknowledge and thank Diana for all the work she has put into the Association’s media coverage, particularly on Facebook. There has been significant activity on the Association’s page and the content has been rich and current.

·        Flemington/Kensington Joint forum meeting – Simon attending. The forum is looking at a model whereby community members come together both to contribute to and learn from workshops/conversations on themes of common interest. It is hoped that through such a thematic focus job seekers (young people in particular) might be able to network and learn about their areas of interest.   Draft themes: Employment/Business; Environment/Sustainability; Social Connection/Wellbeing/Recreation; Safety (walkable neighbourhood); Culture/Arts.

·        Lord Mayor, Sally Capp, looking at attending KA meeting on 3^rd February.

·        Website – David Brown is making progress with the website (with community grant) – he has secured a contractor and will be in contact with those who have volunteered to be involved from KA soon.   The website will be compatible with mobile phones.

·        Newsletter – Rilke is seeking someone to take over from her in producing regular KA newsletters. Simon to meet with Rilke to discuss.