Cats signs zone out

A PUBLIC park zoning on Simmons Stadium is preventing Geelong Football Club selling advertising space on its proposed light towers, a council report has revealed.
Geelong councillors this week agreed to ask Planning Minister Matthew Guy for an exemption to the advertising restrictions.
A report to council said the club’s advertising request was disallowed under a sensitive areas category of the public park and recreation zoning.
The report said the club wanted to generate revenue from the advertising to help off-set electricity costs associated with the lights.
The signage could include a six-metre-high full wrap-around from the bottom of the pole, which could be removed and changed.
The club also proposed pole signage facing inward above the roof lines of the stadium. The signage would be in place for 12 months of the year.
The club was seeking either promotion signage of less than 18 square metres or a major promotion sign of greater size.
The report noted a precedent in Bendigo where the city’s council sought legal advice before successfully requesting an exemption from Mr Guy.
He intervened on the basis the benefit to the sporting community outweighed any impact on third parties.
The report said the light towers would be set back from residential areas, while Moorabool St already contained signage “of a relatively robust commercial nature”.
Council would seek the exemption on grounds that the type of advertising proposed was appropriate for the location and in time for the start of the 2013 AFL season, the report said.