Last August, Monash Council, at the request of site owners the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, voted to rezone the two-hectare site as residential, but added a vegetative overlay to protect significant trees on the site.

The amendment was approved by Planning Minister Justin Madden and is now on view for public comment.

At a public briefing at Monash Civic Centre last Thursday, residents fighting against a wholesale development of the site were told of the lengthy submission process ahead of them.

Strategic planning officer Brian Goyen told residents that their submissions were likely to be heard by an independent panel.

Although the council was not bound by a panel's findings, the ultimate arbiter would be State Planning Minister Justin Madden, he said.

Under Monash's planning scheme, at least 5 per cent of any residential development of the site must be dedicated to public open space.

Mr Goyen said the council was negotiating with the DEECD for more than 5per cent, with the preferred site for an open space reserve on the northern Samada Street side.

Any open space allotment would not include the drainage reserve on the site's eastern boundary.

Notting Hill Community Association member Marian Quartly told the public briefing that Clayton MP Hong Lim had arranged a meeting between residents and Education Minister Bronwyn Pike and Children and Early Childhood Minister Maxine Morand about the future of the former Monash Primary School and Monash Secondary College sites.

Notting Hill residents have fought to save the school or a sizeable tract of public open space on the site since the school was closed by the State Government in 2005.

A year later, the nearby Monash Secondary College was closed in the open space-poor suburb.