|
|
 |
Requests Newsletter Team
The Newsletter team is putting out a request
for articles, points of interest etc, have your say, share your
knowledge.
If you are interested in sending in an
article but not sure what to write about you may like to write a
short article for the section My Story, that is an article
explaining who you are and how you become involved in
SomerVille .
Flowers in the SomerVille Orchard Project Updates Rezoning Approval Yes it is now official we have obtained formal approval by the whole Council on the 28th March 2006. This means we now have rezoning permission from the Shire of Mundaring. The next step is to obtain approval from the West Australian Planning Commission and get this signed off from the Minister, the Hon Alannah MacTiernan, who has shown considerable approval for the project to date, as it was Alannah who allowed the rezoning amendment to be advertised for public comment (the first major milestone). Milestones Unfortunately I cannot provide you all with an updated milestones timeline (I know I know I did say that it would be available this month) but with everything that’s been going on with the rezoning approvals, lot layouts etc.., the milestones timeline has not yet been updated, and will not be for another week or two. However we should have it updated and in next months issue. Environment / Place Update provided by Dave Moore March has seen a good deal of activity in the Environment & Place arena. Much of this has been directed at getting the rezoning amendment through the Shire DA committee. Detailed lot layouts were pegged on the ground, inspected, and modified where necessary for safety/conservation. Final pegging will happen before the end of the month, thereby setting us up for the lot selection process in April. On this subject, could all members, especially parents, make certain that their family and guests are aware that any pegs or stakes in the ground must not be moved. A review of water supply and usage calculations has been completed, and we will be getting consultants on-site in April to test the sediments in the creek area and aquifer response. On other fronts: A revised car park plan for the Community House development application has been prepared for the Shire following their rejection of our initial draft. We hope to obtain a response on this during April, hopefully leading to a design and construct contract being concluded shortly thereafter. The Building Guidelines group have evaluated a number of building environmental rating systems. This, together with building guidelines, will be used to guide and evaluate building proposals at SomerVille . Charcoal Cottage has had a shower and laundry established and the kitchen area is now being given some attention. The meeting room at the cottage can be booked for members’ or project meetings.
An ablution block has been purchased and will
be moved on site (south of the casuarinas) around the end of the
month. It will require a deal of interior fitting as well as
power, water, and waste water reticulation before it is
operational Enterprise Update provided by Paul Antonelli From an enterprise perspective we have clarity about where we are heading and what is required. This has been based on the analysis finalisation from the economic survey activity which took place last year. (More detailed information about this can be viewed at http://www.greenedge.org/updates/update_010306.htm ) The next step is to begin feasibility on various enterprises and locate potential champions who would like to evolve and take on these potential enterprises. Due to the number of enterprises and the scale it will be necessary to prioritise to ensure that we best utilise the available resources to us. Enterprise which relate to the construction phase of the project have a higher priority as if they are not established on time the opportunity at a later date will be lost. Currently an advert has been put together in order to attract possible interested parties for a range of potential enterprises at SomerVille . This will provide us with an indication as to what level of interest exists for various enterprises. The current list of identified enterprises with potential champions is listed below:
As you can see from the above table still has a few question marks in it, so if you are interested in operating or possibly working in any of these businesses or if you have a business idea which you believe would find a perfect home at SomerVille please contact Paul Antonelli (to obtain Paul’s contact details please email newsletter@sev.net.au). Social / Cultural Unfortunately I was unable to obtain an update for this month. Coming Events Calendar of events
Please note that events in
this calendar are tentative. We will try to adhere to advertised
dates but they may change depending upon circumstances. We will
email you in advance of events if we have your email address,
alternatively please check the calendar located at: Sunday 2nd April 2006
Sunday 4th June 2006
Sunday 6th August 2006
Sunday 1st October 2006
Sunday 5th November 2006
Sunday 3rd December 2006
Sunday 31st December 2006
Note: Chidlow Markets occur on the last Saturday of every month For the latest list of all the coming events please visit http://www.greenedge.org/calendar_of_events.htm. Articles
Lake leschenaultia February’s SomerVille Sunday Christophe Bouyac On Sunday the 5th March we had a Grand SomerVille Sunday in which we updated everyone with the progress of the SomerVille project, we also walked the property to orientate ourselves with the lots in the lead up to the lot selection process, we then had a fantastic lunch (as always) and ended the day with a swim down at lake leschenaultia. Festival of the Trees Christophe Bouyac On Saturday the 25th March, the Festival of the Trees was held in Hazelmere, this was a beautiful day which a range of entertainments and stalls. Paul Antonelli did a talk about the SomerVille Ecovillage™ and we also had a Stall. Unfortunately I arrived late so I missed Paul’s talk, and only realised on arriving that I left my wallet at home (but maybe that was a good thing) a number of people turned up to help with the stall, and I would also like to personally thank Andrew Hemsley for doing all the footwork in organising this, setting up the stall, staying the day and packing up again. It seems the stall was successful as it seems a few people from the festival of the trees will be joining up this Sunday. My Story
Sarah & Neil Robertson Leap of Faith from Crutches Neil Robertson In 2002, our daughter Hannah was 2 years old and it was about this time I came to realise that after 15 years in Darwin, I was ready for a change. So Sarah, Hannah and I started thinking about where else we might like to live. We went on holiday to Tasmania and even though we loved Tassie, we did not think we could enjoy the winters (too cold after Darwin!). In 2003, we were off again and spent two weeks touring the South island of New Zealand. We especially loved Nelson which is New Zealand’s sunniest spot but is still far less sunny than most of Australia. Back in Darwin, I was getting tired of travelling in to the city every day to work for a multi national IT company where calls were logged via a help desk and I only rarely met clients face to face. On the way to work one morning I was knocked off my motorbike and my leg was broken in three places. During the eight months my leg was in plaster, I also suffered a blood clot in my lung which put me in hospital for longer than the broken leg! I think the universe was trying to tell me something about my direction in life! Still in 2003, I booked myself onto a Permaculture Design Course and still in a cast and on crutches, travelled to Bendigo (Victoria) and completed the two week residential PDC course at Gravel Hills Gardens. It became clear that the ecovillage was the solution we had been looking for and I started searching the web for possibilities. We made a list of desirable features of possible locations (“close to the beach”, “somewhere I can find work”, “close to family if possible”, “somewhere established so Hannah can benefit now” etc) and used the list to compare the possibilities. Rosneath Farm rated highly so it was back onto a plane in January 2004 to go and check out Western Australia. We met with Warwick and Gillian Rowell, were shown around, and were very impressed with the progress at Rosneath. Warwick then explained that there was a legal wrangle where the land owner was effectively blocking any new sales and that he could not sell us a block even if we wanted to buy one. We returned to Darwin in shock as we had pinned all our hopes on Rosneath Farm. It was back to the drawing board. We had dismissed SomerVille Ecovillage™ early in the search as it was still forming and we thought Hannah would be in school before we could build a house at SomerVille . After rechecking progress on the web site, the SomerVille Project started to look pretty good. It wasn’t close to the beach, but they had an enterprise plan (no one else had that!), and Sarah had family not too far away. The more we compared, the better it looked. After checking with Paul Antonelli that there was still an opening, we decided to commit to SomerVille . Paul describes a telephone conversation (that I have long since forgotten) that apparently goes something like this: Neil: “Can you explain the procedure for how we contribute financially to the project?” Paul: “But you haven’t even seen the land yet.” Neil: “That’s OK, we’ve done our research and we’d like to go ahead.” I think this was the conversation where Paul’s dinner went cold while we chatted. Sorry about that Paul. Within three weeks we had a loan funds cheque in the mail which was promptly accepted. Within three months we had sold our house, tidied up our affairs in Darwin, travelled down by car from the Northern Territory and rented a house in Mundaring. Once we saw the land and met SomerVille Community members, we felt more and more vindicated that we had made the right decision and were relieved we did not end up at Rosneath Farm. Hannah is now nearly 6 and we still haven’t built our house yet – but this is OK! We moved to Chidlow 14 months ago and feel that SomerVille is already a Community. Of course, we still look forward to being able to build our home on the land and living at SomerVille !
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
