A FORMER councillor has weighed into a battle over a Brooklyn house that Hobsons Bay Council wants to sell but residents want to keep for open space.
As reported by the Weekly in February, Brooklyn residents called on the council to “honour its commitment” to develop a large open space on the site of a house it bought in Cypress Avenue.
The newly elected council, with three new members, recently flagged plans to subdivide the house and let residents have a walkway about as wide as a driveway.
Following our report, former councillor Michael Raffoul wrote to acting CEO Chris Eddy to state his concerns. “During my term as ward councillor, I requested funding through the capital works budget for $550,000 to be set aside to buy a property in Cypress Avenue, Brooklyn, to create a wide open space linking to Federation Trail Park and Duane Reserve, thus creating a gateway and connection between the north and south Brooklyn communities,” Mr Raffoul wrote. “I now understand that there is a move to subdivide this block to create a four-metre-wide easement for community use with the remainder of the block being sold for residential development.”
He said a four-metre easement “will not meet the needs of the community nor the expectation of a wide open green connection that would at last link the two communities”. Laurie Bell, committee member of the Brooklyn Residents Action Group, said residents wanted the council to honour its commitment. — Goya Dmytryshchak
