Council pulls plug on ‘unreasonable’ Christmas street party

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Thousands of people flock to a small residential street in Melbourne’s north every year for a resident-run Christmas extravaganza with Santa, lights and food trucks, but the council says it’s now gone too far.

Renee Gaitanis started decorating her home on Stardust Way in Wollert a decade ago. It became so popular that every year families would start visiting through the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Friends of Renee Gaitanis (centre rear in grey jumper and glasses) gather outside her Wollert home on Thursday evening after the council rejected her initial plan for a Christmas extravaganza, saying it was in breach of environmental protection regulations.Credit: Joe Armao

It has now snowballed into an annual festival, with Gaitanis herself hiring private traffic management to close the street to traffic for up to four hours a night across 10 days in December. Four food trucks also pop up on the street to serve the crowds.

While many homes in the neighbourhood put up Christmas lights, Gaitanis said hers was the drawcard.

She estimated that at least 2500 people visited her home in eight days last December, raising more than $10,000 for the Starlight Children’s Foundation from gold coin donations and photos with Santa – played by Gaitanis’ father.

“We have people stationed everywhere in high-vis making sure that the events run smoothly,” she said.

“We have traffic management plans in place, we close the street – we have public liability insurance, we do that ourselves. [Whittlesea] council don’t do anything to support us.”

Gaitanis, 43, said she was motivated to run the event for families who couldn’t afford to go all out at Christmas.

The mother of two said she had informed Whittlesea council – which takes in Wollert, Epping, Thomastown and Beveridge in Melbourne’s north – of her plans for many years, but had not received a reply.

But last year the council got involved, requiring her to submit her plans and paperwork for approval.

On Wednesday, Gaitanis received a letter from the council – seen by The Age – saying her plans for the coming weeks were in breach of environmental protection regulations.

It also said that “proposed road closures across 10 consecutive nights is unreasonable as it poses prolonged impacts from the event for residents and surrounding streets”.

‘Santa’ is available for photos and hands out candy canes on Star Dust Way in Wollert.

“The impacts of the noise, food vendors and crowds over 10 consecutive nights will materially impact the amenity of residents of Stardust Way and surrounding streets.”

Gaitanis said she felt “heartbroken” by the letter.

“People say this is their family tradition now. Seeing the smiles on kids faces, seeing adults become children again, you just can’t explain it,” she said.

The Stardust Way Christmas Lights social media accounts were flooded with comments from families concerned about the council rejection. A change.org petition supporting the event had garnered 550 signatures in less than 24 hours.

Gaitanis said she had surveyed her neighbours in recent years to see if they were OK with the event – and only one had complained about noise and lights.

“Last year we ran ’til midnight. We’ve offered reduced times and said we would comply with [Environment Protection Authority] guidelines and shut down by 10.30pm,” she said.

Whittlesea council chief executive Craig Lloyd said the council received complaints last year about Gaitanis’ event.

“Council has an event application process for people wanting to hold an event that includes food vendors, road closures or is on public land,” he said in a statement

“We received an initial event application from the organiser which included a request to close the road to hold an event across 10 nights, with timings that contravened EPA noise regulations.

“We refused this application but invited the organiser to work with council to find a more reasonable solution.”

Gaitanis and the council both confirmed a new application with reduced times and days had been submitted on Thursday.

The council statement said it was considering a revised application.

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