Interesting that the Tasmanian Government searched Google for this term--"Hobart planning appeal sunlight." They ended up at my website, had a look around, entered the search term again and ended up back on my web site.
Is someone else appealing against HCC for light deprivation too? Join up and be heard.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Hobart Council Top Planner Ian Stanley Doesn't Know What The Set Back Should Be, Neither Does Engineer, But Lawyer Has It Written Somewhere!
The Registrar asked Engineer Chris Potter what the set back error was. "I don't know," he said. "I thought it was right". Kirsten Turner, lawyer for HCC said..."I have it written down. I have it some where. It's at the office."
Ian Stanley, the top man for Council Planning turns up and furiously flicks thru pages. He doesn't know. A runner arrives with documentation for Kirsten Turner, lawyer representing Council.
Furious flicking going on. No-one is able to tell what the set back is and what it should be!! No-one asks me -- I am a layman and I know what the discrepancy is! What is going on? Council is attempting to cover up bad decisions. If they can't tell set back error, they are in the wrong business. Maybe they should stick to running Salamanca markets.
An extra metre in height has been added to the height of my home on the building plans too, making the Development look smaller, and now the surveyor that did the Council work confirms that the levels on my home are wrong. This is something Council tried to to hide months ago. We haven't even got to that bit yet.
It's not good enough, Hobart City Council. It's time to accept responsibility.
Ian Stanley, the top man for Council Planning turns up and furiously flicks thru pages. He doesn't know. A runner arrives with documentation for Kirsten Turner, lawyer representing Council.
Furious flicking going on. No-one is able to tell what the set back is and what it should be!! No-one asks me -- I am a layman and I know what the discrepancy is! What is going on? Council is attempting to cover up bad decisions. If they can't tell set back error, they are in the wrong business. Maybe they should stick to running Salamanca markets.
An extra metre in height has been added to the height of my home on the building plans too, making the Development look smaller, and now the surveyor that did the Council work confirms that the levels on my home are wrong. This is something Council tried to to hide months ago. We haven't even got to that bit yet.
It's not good enough, Hobart City Council. It's time to accept responsibility.
Broken Leg Claimed By Khani Lawyer--Case Adjourned to 16 Feb. Also Mediation Today At 2.15pm For Unit 1.
Mehrab-Khani has a broken leg (or was it an ankle...difficult to hear) said his lawyer, a doctor's certificate would be forthcoming we were informed. The cases have been adjourned to the 16th of February.
Meanwhile at 2.15pm today I am in mediation with either Hobart City Council or Mehrab-Khani's Engineer Chris Potter with regard to Unit 1. We do not hold out much hope of gaining any concessions, considering 5 years ago we did the same thing and we were given 400mm extra set back by the Tribunal then. This still hasn't been done, the Tribunal order has been ignored, and yet we are going into mediation again!
No matter how you look at it, Planning in Tasmania is a disaster. State Government has taken Planning powers away from Hobart City Council at the waterfront. What more is there to say?
Meanwhile at 2.15pm today I am in mediation with either Hobart City Council or Mehrab-Khani's Engineer Chris Potter with regard to Unit 1. We do not hold out much hope of gaining any concessions, considering 5 years ago we did the same thing and we were given 400mm extra set back by the Tribunal then. This still hasn't been done, the Tribunal order has been ignored, and yet we are going into mediation again!
No matter how you look at it, Planning in Tasmania is a disaster. State Government has taken Planning powers away from Hobart City Council at the waterfront. What more is there to say?
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Mehrab-Khani Back in Court Jan 31To Set Date For More Trials.
Mehrab-Khani is back in court on Monday 31st January to set a trial date for 4 Hobart City Council prosecutions. Hopefully The Mercury will be there to cover this.
The coverage from The Mercury has been fantastic, so many people have seen the articles and are waiting for more, particularly in my street!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Street Provocation
I am reposting a video I shot last year because it has been submitted in evidence last week, and clearly shows Soheil Mehrab-Khani attempting to intimidate or attack Tony Jacobs.
Briefly, the circumstances of the video are that Tony visited me one Sunday. As he left my home and walked across the street to his car, I heard this loud shriek and saw Mehrab-Khani and wife running across the road from the Development towards Tony as he was getting into his car. I ran into my office, grabbed the video camera and ran upstairs to my balcony. I started filming as Mehrab-Khani and wife were standing in front of Tony's car.
I had 17 photo's printed from video screen shots of the video which were also submitted as evidence at Tribunal last week. Mehrab-Khani was asked why he ran across the road towards Tony, why he stood in front of his car, did he intend to attack Tony and so on.
He denied being near Tonys car, said that his wife was "probably cuddling" him, not holding him back, he couldn't remember that The Mercure Hotel was across the road from his development even though he has driven there probably a hundred times or more...and so on.
Then the video of the incident was played where you could clearly see he was intimidating Tony while in the car and was even holding up traffic. Notice what happens when the wife spots me filming. She shouts loudly, knowing they have been caught.
Needless to say, he didn't have much to say about the video when it was played.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Attempt To Cut Down Walnut Tree with New Permit.
Mehrab-Khani has killed an 80-100 year old walnut tree in the inner city which all residents loved and which a Tribunal ordered him to protect during construction. Hobart City Council never enforced a protection zone for 2 years, despite multiple letters from another neighbour and myself, and never fined him for his behaviour.
He has now applied for a new permit to get the tree cut down. Tony and myself won't be defending it anymore because my focus is now in getting Unit 1 next to my property dealt with at a Tribunal.
Having said that, I was gobsmacked last week when Tony Jacobs was cross examining Mehrab-Khani during the Anti Discrimination Tribunal. Tony asked him why there was no 3 metre barrier protection around the tree as ordered by Tribunal and showed him the topmost photo, when Mehrab-Khani answered that is was only supposed to be there during excavation stage! In fact it wasn't there during excavation stage either except during the last few months....but the point was that Mehrab-Khani had no idea what his building approval said or he lied in a court of law.
The building approval clearly said the barrier needed to be up during construction phase, not just excavation.
Shame on Mehrab-Khani for killing this tree, and shame on Hobart City Council for doing absolutely nothing to protect it.
News Flash: I have been told just 5 minutes ago by a neighbour that Mehrab-Khani had verbally told this neighbour some months ago that he "knew how to kill this tree."
Back In Court --Another 3 Hearings For Soheil Mehrab-Khani
Soheil Mehrab-Khani was back in court today for 3 more hearings. Court room 6 was the venue. The first case was the Land Tax Fraud, the second case was the thumb-in-eye Breach Of Restraint Order against myself mentioned in an earlier post, and the final hearing is for smashing the windscreen of the car of Tony Jacobs in a public street, also mentioned earlier.
I was in court in case I was needed for the second hearing, but it seems that the Land Tax Fraud case will go till tomorrow and the other cases will be rescheduled.
I went into court to watch an hour and a half of the first hearing. The Mercury was there again, covering the case. Mehrab-Khani had a lawyer, Mr Gunston to represent him for the first case. I watched Mr Gunston cross examine Tony Jacobs while Mehrab-Khani turned around 3 times to stare at me with a sneer. He glared at me for 5 or 6 seconds each time. The last time his lawyer grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him facing front. His lawyer is obviously trying to keep Mehrab-Khani under control to prevent the fiasco from last week happening again.
An amazing moment for me in court was Mehrab-Khani's lawyer Mr Gunston, asking Tony Jacobs if there was a mounted video camera that could rotate under my balcony!! Hilarious. The conspiracy theories from Mehrab-Khani are always entertaining if not bizarre.
Mr Gunston also tried very hard to stop Tony Jacobs talking about the actions of Mehrab-Khani against him such as the spitting and screaming, and saying, "I will make you cwy", and concentrated on the retaliatory gesture of a "2 finger salute" and the "See a psychiatrist"and "Get F..ed" from Tony.
Photo's showing side fence with holes punched and kicked by Mehrab-Khani
He asked Tony if he had ever given Mehrab-Khani him a "2 finger salute". Tony admitted doing this when "severely provoked" as The Mercury reporter put it.
The "severe provocation" against Tony Jacobs included:
Thirteen attacks on Tony when driving a motor vehicle.
Yelling and screaming which included, "You are a Public Servant, you should get down on your knees and serve me."
Six occasions of kicking and punching holes in the side fence. (see photos)
On one occasion Tony was making a sandwich in his kitchen when Mehrab-Khani spat on his window, Tony gave him the 2 finger salute, where upon Mehrab-Khani called the Police. Tony pointed out the still dribbling spit down his window to the Police!
Mehrab-Khani mentioned last week at the Anti Discrimination Tribunal that "in his culture" they get married for life. Someone should tell Mehrab-Khani that in "this culture", spitting is not on. It is disgusting and a health hazard.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Website Visitor Traffic Goes Thru The Roof During Tribunal
I have decided to open up another blog dedicated to Hobart City Council. Instead of going into intricate detail about Hobart City Council and issues of incompetence, I will only mention general issues and link it to the site when it is up and running.
I would like to invite ANY people that have been wronged by Hobart City Council to email me with details in due course. I will upload all cases to a new site. In this day and age, to have people who can't read plans properly, who are unable to tell the height and set back of a building is wrong and ignore all emails and letters about this and then to try cover it up, or who privately say one thing at Council then say something completely different when on record, is wrong and is a travesty.
If you have had your sunlight taken by Hobart City Council, let me know. If you have had planning rules twisted, bent and ignored, let me know.
Hobart City Council has taken ALL my sunlight from my principle living area, the lounge. Not some, not 50%...ALL. Yet the Director of Hobart City Council, Neil Noye writes a report that there will be unlimited sunshine coming into my lounge from 10.30am on the 21st June onwards once the development is built. Planner Liz Wilson puts a different spin on the Sun Diagrams, her 12.00 noon and 3.00pm analysis contradicts the Tecton Diagrams she refers to, and she doesn't even get the date right.
Hobart City Council know they cannot amend the building permit because I was in Tribunal 5 years ago, and Tribunal ordered 400mm setback be taken off the driveway and added to the building set back. This was never done! Despite Peter Ray from Pitt and Sherry denying the set back was wrong, despite Engineer Chris Potter denying this and even Council over a 4 month month period, they now admit it was not done!
Council is enforcing this now, right? You have got to be joking. Hobart City Council is now attempting (which I am fighting) to pass a NEW permit to bypass the Tribunal Order from 5 years ago, and make me go away.
I spoke to a person a few days ago who also had sunlight taken away from his home, thanks to Hobart City Council. His five and a half year battle yielded nothing, mine is going into the sixth year.
It's time to use some people power.
Blogs go right to the top of Google search, so any searches of Hobart City Council will soon have a less than desired effect from Councils point of view.
4 Day Anti-Discrimination Tribunal--The Best Show In Town
The long awaited anti-discrimination tribunal finally took place on Tuesday 11th Jan. Mehrab-Khani is accusing Tony Jacobs of racial discrimination. I was there for the last 3 days and can tell you it was amazing. Mehrab-Khani had his say and raved on for an hour on the first day, and for the next 3 days he was in the witness box being cross examined by Tony Jacobs.
The trial featured lengthy tirades from Mehrab-Khani, and he was continually told to answer the question, or to wait till the question was asked before he said "No. He rambled on, changed subjects, screamed abuse, shouted over the Tribunal Member and even accused Tony Jacobs friend Barry who was in the public gallery, of being a corrupt Mercury reporter!
Tony was in great form and the 3 days I was there went so quickly, it felt as if I was in some kind of surreal theatre. Amazingly, after 4 days at the Tribunal, Tony had not finished cross examining Mehrab-Khani. There are a few juicy bits of material left (the best is yet to come in my opinion!), so that's something to look forward to. However the case had to be adjourned because the Tribunal Member had to go back to Victoria, so the case will continue a little further into the year.
The Mercury was there to cover the Tribunal as can be seen by nearly full page coverage on the first day. I suspect that Mehrab-Khani will now have the Mercury following him to every trial or tribunal. His next court appointment is next Thursday 20th Jan in the Fraud and Deception case, and Tony tells me the Mercury will be there too!
A few highlights for me were the absolute crap he made up when he brought me into his rantings, how he offered to be deported to Zimbabwe or Sudan if he is proved to be a liar, and having security come into court when he had a meltdown, screaming and ranting about Tony being a child rapist!
The trial featured lengthy tirades from Mehrab-Khani, and he was continually told to answer the question, or to wait till the question was asked before he said "No. He rambled on, changed subjects, screamed abuse, shouted over the Tribunal Member and even accused Tony Jacobs friend Barry who was in the public gallery, of being a corrupt Mercury reporter!
Tony was in great form and the 3 days I was there went so quickly, it felt as if I was in some kind of surreal theatre. Amazingly, after 4 days at the Tribunal, Tony had not finished cross examining Mehrab-Khani. There are a few juicy bits of material left (the best is yet to come in my opinion!), so that's something to look forward to. However the case had to be adjourned because the Tribunal Member had to go back to Victoria, so the case will continue a little further into the year.
The Mercury was there to cover the Tribunal as can be seen by nearly full page coverage on the first day. I suspect that Mehrab-Khani will now have the Mercury following him to every trial or tribunal. His next court appointment is next Thursday 20th Jan in the Fraud and Deception case, and Tony tells me the Mercury will be there too!
A few highlights for me were the absolute crap he made up when he brought me into his rantings, how he offered to be deported to Zimbabwe or Sudan if he is proved to be a liar, and having security come into court when he had a meltdown, screaming and ranting about Tony being a child rapist!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hobart City Council -- Assumptions, Biases + Contradictions
I would like to surgically dissect the Planning Report from Council Planner Liz Wilson over the next few days. Sometimes measurements are tendered, mostly they are not. When no measurement is given, it is sometimes described as "a bit", "nowhere as near " , "no discernible", "not significant" etc. Instead of evidence, the latest report/approval/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.... gives a subjective viewpoint which contradicts the Planner from 2005 and even Director of Council, Neil Noye. What this means in simple language is that the Council is looking at the same Sun Diagrams (this will be my first example) as from 5 years ago, and yet come to an entirely different conclusion!
The long and short of it is that this is a real life example of Council writing a Planning Report looking at the same data in 2 different ways, writing 2 opposing viewpoints on the exact same information.
Here are a set of Sun Diagrams commissioned by Council 5 years ago by Tecton. There was an initial first set which I have in my possession and which I vigorously disputed, and so Council submitted the second set which were supposed to be more accurate and expensive (I was told by an independent planner in Kingston).
Firstly, the 2 sets of sun diagrams (1st set not shown) from Council do not match. They are not exactly the same. The sun's orbit was worked out hundreds of years ago, yet sun diagrams are not consistent. This alone should be a problem, but when it is compared to a real world example where I rig up poles and flags to see the actual shadow, this doesn't match the diagrams either. I will post my flags and poles later. For now I would like to show that Council has no problem contradicting themselves, writing a report/approval to reflect both opposing views! It depends whether you want the building approved or not as to how the spin is written.
Here is what Neil Noye, Director of Hobart City Council said about these exact same Sun Diagrams 5 years ago:
"The Shadow Diagrams produced by Tecton confirm that the north east elevation of the rear skillion section of 163 Bathurst St including the door into the lounge room will have unrestricted solar access from approximately 10.30am in the worst case scenario ie 21 June."
I will get back to a few more things Neil said, but we will start with this one. Here is Neil' Noye's report:
The current Planner, Liz Wilson interprets these very same sun diagrams in the totally opposite way and appears to say in effect that I am getting no sun at all, now and it's bad luck but tearing down unit 1 and rebuilding it to it's approved plans would make no difference.
I will start with this comment from Liz: "The building will cause significant overshadowing of the glass door in the 9.00am and 12.00 noon sun diagrams drawn for June 22."
To Be Continued.
The long and short of it is that this is a real life example of Council writing a Planning Report looking at the same data in 2 different ways, writing 2 opposing viewpoints on the exact same information.
Here are a set of Sun Diagrams commissioned by Council 5 years ago by Tecton. There was an initial first set which I have in my possession and which I vigorously disputed, and so Council submitted the second set which were supposed to be more accurate and expensive (I was told by an independent planner in Kingston).
Firstly, the 2 sets of sun diagrams (1st set not shown) from Council do not match. They are not exactly the same. The sun's orbit was worked out hundreds of years ago, yet sun diagrams are not consistent. This alone should be a problem, but when it is compared to a real world example where I rig up poles and flags to see the actual shadow, this doesn't match the diagrams either. I will post my flags and poles later. For now I would like to show that Council has no problem contradicting themselves, writing a report/approval to reflect both opposing views! It depends whether you want the building approved or not as to how the spin is written.
Here is what Neil Noye, Director of Hobart City Council said about these exact same Sun Diagrams 5 years ago:
"The Shadow Diagrams produced by Tecton confirm that the north east elevation of the rear skillion section of 163 Bathurst St including the door into the lounge room will have unrestricted solar access from approximately 10.30am in the worst case scenario ie 21 June."
I will get back to a few more things Neil said, but we will start with this one. Here is Neil' Noye's report:
The current Planner, Liz Wilson interprets these very same sun diagrams in the totally opposite way and appears to say in effect that I am getting no sun at all, now and it's bad luck but tearing down unit 1 and rebuilding it to it's approved plans would make no difference.
I will start with this comment from Liz: "The building will cause significant overshadowing of the glass door in the 9.00am and 12.00 noon sun diagrams drawn for June 22."
To Be Continued.
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