North Shore Eruv decision postponed... again

A DECISION on the fate of the North Shore Eruv has been postponed because members of the Ku-ring-gai Planning Panel had not taken a site inspection of the proposed development applications.

Three hundred people attended Wednesday night’s planning meeting, however panel member Lindsay Fletcher started the meeting by saying he didn’t feel comfortable forming an opinion without seeing the site.

He moved a motion that the matter be deferred so he could see the properties before he made a determination on the 11 development applications.

Fletcher blamed Ku-Ring-Gai Council and said he didn’t have enough time to see the site because the panel was given short notice.

The North Shore Eruv was expected to take a huge step towards completion on Wednesday and NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff was clearly upset by the decision.

“We are extremely disappointed that the members of the planning panael have not acted on council recommendations,” Alhadeff said.

“Council and the Northern Eruv Inc have been working for six years and it is most disappointing that the panel appears to have not done the approriate research.”

Nearly a year after development applications were lodged with council, council staff recommended approval of the small amount of infrastructure needed to join the eruv together.

The majority of the eruv infrastructure already exists, with Northern Eruv Inc already acquiring permission from EnergyAustralia and Telstra to use their poles and wires.

But to complete the eruv, which will encompass most of St Ives and St Ives Chase, the eruv committee submitted development applications to build 27 additional six-metre-high poles on 11 properties in St Ives and St Ives Chase.

Nearly 700 submissions were received by council regarding the eruv, and the proposal has been covered by national media outlets, many of them painting it in a negative light.

A Current Affair reported that Jews are “trying to turn the area into a religious enclave” and many of the viewer comments received after that story was broadcast were considered anti-Semitic.

One posting on the website said that Jewish people should be expelled from Australia. “Send them back to Israel before it’s too late,” it read.

Another said there is no room for Orthodox Jews in Australia if they need an eruv.

“I can’t believe this is really happening in Australia!! If these people want to follow there (sic) own traditions then go back,” it stated.

An eruv is a thin wire that encircles an area, usually at power line height. It creates a “fence” inside which Orthodox Jews can carry goods on Shabbat. There is already a large eruv in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, including along the Bondi beachfront.

JOSHUA LEVI