NOVEMBER 9, 2016 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + THE WEST’S BEST PROPERTY GUIDE
Drink to the makers Big things are brewing at this month’s Maribyrnong Makers Market. More than 80 stallholders will take over two venues on November 19 for 2016’s biggest Maribyrnong market. They’ll include Seddon cider-maker Sam Prendergast (pictured), who runs Faire Ferments, a cider co-op working directly with Goulburn Valley orchard growers. From 9.30am to 3.30pm, Harris Reserve and the neighbouring Seddon Uniting Church will feature stalls run by Amelayna Designs, Light My Fire Melbourne, Drunk On Water, Birdie Pie Designs and Masterchef contestant John Anthony Carasig, of Adobo Kitchen. Details: www.maribyrnongmakersmarket.com.au
(Damjan Janevski)
Benjamin Millar
Halfway house a no-go By Benjamin Millar A community backlash has forced the scrapping of plans for a West Footscray halfway house put forward by a developer with an extensive criminal history. Helmut Kirsch had lodged plans with Maribyrnong council for two nine-bedroom dwellings at 23 Alma Street in a joint venture with the property owner, local real estate agent Frank Forti. However, Mr Kirsch withdrew the plans following an anonymous letterbox drop drawing nearby residents’ attention to the proposal and inviting people to Google Mr Kirsch’s history, which includes more than 70 convictions and accusations of being a “slumlord”. Speaking to Star Weekly Weekly, Mr Kirsch accused Cr Catherine Cumming of orchestrating the
letterbox campaign. However, Cr Cumming said the leaflet was the work of concerned residents. Maribyrnong council has confirmed receipt of a letter which withdraws the application. The council has also received 34 submissions about the proposal. While some residents objected to the plans as an overdevelopment of the site, much of the uproar surrounded the prospect of the property being home to socially disadvantaged people, including ex-prisoners on parole. Objectors also drew attention to Mr Kirsch’s underworld links and criminal convictions. However, Mr Kirsch said he had been a victim of an unfair campaign that would ultimately harm vulnerable people. “There’s an enormous shortage of housing and we are taking a lot of the people nobody
23 Alma Street, West Footscray. (Joe Mastroianni)
else will take,” he said. “They have a right to be living in society. It’s discrimination.” Star Weekly has seen Mr Kirsch’s November 3 letter to Maribyrnong council withdrawing the application. The letter states he had been subject to “a pattern of blatant bias and
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prejudice by the planning unit” since fighting the council over a similar property at 633 Barkly Street about 17 years ago. Cr Cumming said she had “a long memory” and recalled Mr Kirsch taking on the council over that property. Landowner Frank Forti said he had entered the Alma Street venture with the best of intentions, pulling the pin as soon as concerns were raised. “My intention has always been to help the disadvantaged people and the troubled youth in the community”. An Alma Street resident, who asked not to be named, was relieved the planning permit was being withdrawn “in response to the very real growing concern about the proposed plans for the site’s redevelopment and the impact it would most likely have on the local family-focused community”.
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