Fitzroy Residents' Association Inc

16/11/2025

Great Evening - All Welcome
FRA AGM
Wed. 19 November 6.00 pm
Stone Hotel, Fitzroy
Zoe Daniel keynote speaker
Bookings Essential

Join FRA at our AGM to hear from Zoe Daniel and discuss the City of Yarra waste review with the General Manager Infrastructure and Environment

02/02/2025

28/01/2025

The strong women of Gertrude Street have had a big win over a developer who thought his building was more important than sightlines protected by the Royal Exhibition Building Environs Plan. The original planning application for 1-9 Gertrude Street was fought on grounds that it would impact views of the Royal Exhibition Building World Heritage Area from Fitzroy. VCAT settled that and a planning permit was issued by Yarra Council in 2021. Three years later, a new applicant was back wanting to amend the plans.

While VCAT allowed some changes, it was clear about changes to the height, visual bulk and setbacks in the new plans. VCAT said: “we have not allowed some proposed changes which would impact on views to the drum, dome, lantern and flagpole of the Royal Exhibition Building (REB) both from Marion Lane and Gertrude Street. We also agree with Council that some of the changes that would have increased the visibility of the building from the forecourt of the REB are not appropriate.” (VCAT P752/2024 page 11).

We say this is a great win because Yarra Council didn’t back the position put forward by residents and other interested parties including FRA. In a secret session just before the Council election, they voted not to oppose the proposed new plan although they did put forward a list of amendments. It was left to six women – residents and community organisations without funding - to push back hard on this out-of town developer at VCAT.

The area around the Royal Exhibition Buildings and Carlton Gardens World Heritage Site is supposed to be protected from development by an environs plan. The reason being that this area (on the Fitzroy side up to Fitzroy Street) is seen as a part of the world heritage site and an essential part of its historical significance. An update to the environs area plan has been sitting on the Minister’s desk for months. It would help put these sorts of disputes beyond doubt. FRA and others continue to urge the Minister to sign off on the plan to protect one of the few purely cultural world heritage sites in Australia (the Sydney Opera House is another).

28/01/2025

Greening Gertrude was launched in 2020 by the People of Gertrude Street and began with a pilot of wall-mounted planters on select buildings to add greenery to the street while igniting a sense of community pride during COVID lock downs. Fast forward to today, the project is nearing completion of its second stage, introducing footpath planter boxes, level-one window installations, entrance planters, and other creative green features.

More than 15 local businesses have joined this stage, embracing custom planter boxes and beautifully designed greenery. One standout contribution comes from Alpha Wrought Iron, a third-generation Gertrude Street family business that operated from 1963 to 2014 (on the site now home to Evie’s). Their hand-forged Window Flower Boxes now grace level-one windows across the street, blending heritage craftsmanship that supports beautiful greenery to flourish.

The project is supported by co-investments from local businesses, funding from the Living Local Suburban Grants program, and numerous volunteer hours.

You can participate in this project by finding ways to add greenery to your Gertrude Street building, business, or adjoining laneway. Alternatively, you may wish to donate plants, cuttings, or help with maintenance. Every contribution adds to this growing vision of a greener, more vibrant Gertrude Street. Get in touch with the People of Gertrude Street via email at [email protected]

21/10/2024

Join as at our AGM this year with guest speaker award winning architect Kerstin Thompson. We have asked Kerstin to discuss Density, Diversity and Liveability - opportunities, challenges and threats for inner Melbourne. Follow the link to reserve your spot. Free to current members.

FRA AGM with special guest Kerstin Thompson

25/07/2024

Special Pubtalk on new flood overlays for Yarra -

Yarra Council’s first stormwater flood modelling will push more than 22,000 properties, or roughly 40% of all properties in Yarra, into flood zones. The modelling was released in early July causing an outcry from residents surprised by the findings and concerned about impacts on insurance and prop...

09/07/2024

New flood mapping prepared for the City of Yarra will designate an additional 22,179 properties as flood prone due to inability of stormwater system to cope with extreme events such as cloudbursts. For some reason the Council is not talking about how it can address shortcomings of the stormwater system but wants to shift responsibility to property owners through changes to the planning system. This could have major consequences in terms of insurance, mortgages, property values and rental returns. We agree the new mapping is important. But there are lots of things councils and governments all over the world are doing to address these issues. Yarra has a Climate Emergency Plan with lots of fine words but when it comes to adaptation there doesn't seem to be much interest in action. We can do better.

04/07/2024

Double Housing in Yarra by 2050
How? Where? What?
FRA Pubtalk Monday 15 July 6.00pm

The Victorian Government recently released new housing targets for each local government area. Yarra is being asked to add 48,000 houses by 2051 on top of the 52,000 homes that are already here.

That’s a big ask and requires a lot of thought.

In this Pubtalk we start the conversation. Do we need the sort of broadscale upzoning and removal of heritage controls as proposed by YIMBI Melbourne? Or can we achieve this outcome through a more surgical procedure by identifying suitable sites.

Next question, who will build these homes. Most will be multi-unit residences but as we have seen, investors are staying away. The old speculate-buy-build-sell model is broken causing massive shortfalls. Are there alternative models?

Hear from our speakers:

Rob Adams is a multi-award-winning architect and urban designer whose vision and drive over more than thirty years helped shape the City of Melbourne into one of the world’s leading examples of best practice in urban design. As Director City Design, Rob was instrumental in writing and implementing the first comprehensive urban design strategy for central Melbourne.

Jonathan O’Brien is the Lead Organiser for YIMBY Melbourne, a grassroots, member-based organisation that advocates for building more homes where people want to live. He is also an Queensland Literary Award-winning writer, researcher, and software developer, and a 10% pledger.

Gordon Noble is a Research Director with the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He has held frontline roles in superannuation, banking, investment management, employee relations and policy research. His interests include sustainable real estate, sustainable societies and responsible investment. He has recently been looking at alternative financial models for housing development.

We do have to charge a small fee to cover room hire and catering: members $20, non-members $25, people under 30 $15, and concession holders $10. But don’t let cost to an obstacle if you want to come but can’t pay.

Bookings:

FRA Pubtalk 15 July

29/06/2024

Comment on the City of Yarra's proposed new Graffiti Framework closes 9.00am Monday. Please review the strategy available from the Yarra Council Your Say page and comment if you can. Like with many of these documents, FRA's concern is that it says a lot but we are not sure it will result in the actions that our members would like to see. The previous strategy was based on field studies and community engagement. We fear this might be a series of thought bubbles. Since the last strategy, Council has made it harder for renters and concerned citizens to get graffiti removed because the application form only recognises property owners. We want this form abolished. We also want to see faster response times. Previous research showed that the best deterrent for taggers is rapid remove. Hence the City of Melbourne aims to remove graffiti within 24-48 hours. This Yarra strategy says even high prominence areas will take five to 10 days. FRA wants graffiti within the World Heritage Environs Area removed immediately. We reject the two metre removal limit proposed and support working with property owners to restrict access to upper stories and take more responsibility for unsightly graffiti. Please review the strategy and comment. A full response from FRA is being uploaded to our web site.

25/06/2024

Great win for common sense and good governance over a really bad call by Yarra Council. Well done to all the community groups who researched and advocated to stop this move to give senior officers of Council delegation to buy and sell property up to the value of $10 million. Hopefully Council will now move forward in a more considered way in managing the $200 million in community property assets for the good of the community. Yesterday Council announced they had received "a large amount of feedback" and "any future property acquisitions and sales should be the decision of Council".

Yarra council is forced to back down on a controversial proposal that would have allowed its CEO to buy and sell property worth up to $10 million without councillor approval, after receiving overwhelming community backlash.

22/06/2024

The City of Yarra has prepared a new Property Strategy that is out for public consultation until Monday morning at 9.00am. The most controversial part of the draft strategy is a proposal that would allow officers (CEO and CFO) to sell or acquire property up to the value of $10 million without needing to seek approval of the elected Council.

Following a meeting with other community groups, I would encourage you to view the strategy (see from bottom of page 28 to page 32) and, if you share the concerns regarding this proposal, make your views known via Yarra’s Your Say online consultation portal. It is argued that this is a tenfold increase in the delegation granted to the CEO last November, it 10 times the median financial delegation granted by comparable Councils and four times the delegation to the CEO of the City of Melbourne.

FRA will provide a considered critique of the Strategy in Fitztalk however, the proposal appears to put the cart before the horse in terms of due process for managing public assets. If, as the Strategy suggests, a property audit is undertaken and surplus properties identified, detailed and approved by Council then it would be possible for officers to dispose of these at an opportune time. Officers shouldn’t be seeking authority to sell assets that haven’t been identified or listed. Equally, if additional property needs to be acquired for a good purpose, this should be approved in the same way as with any other capital spending process.

Community groups are concerned that the way the Strategy is currently worded it could result in the random sell-off of assets that may be valued by the community but not valued by officers. There is concern asset sales could be used to relieve immediate financial pressures. They are also concerned this proposal will be put before Council so close to council elections. We expect that at least three councillors will not be on the Council after the election – possibly more – and it is inappropriate for the current Council to impose such a radical change on the next Council.

Please review the Strategy, make up your own mind and enter your comments on the Your Say portal before 9.00 am on Monday. Feedback will be considered at the next Council meeting in July. See:

The draft Property Strategy outlines a guiding framework for how Council will manage its property portfolio over the next 5 years. Now is your chance to have your say.

12/06/2024

Inner city residents are not against increasing density. Indeed, we have been carrying much of the load to grow housing supply in Melbourne. Density is one of the things that make our suburbs great places to live. But we are tired of politicians and others vilifying us for their failures and the failure of the housing construction market based on some pretty dodgy arguments. FRA wrote this response for The Fifth Estate:

Remember the anti-heritage policies to rip up tram lines for cars, redevelop Sydney’s Rocks, Melbourne’s Regent and Brisbane Bellevue Hotel?