Toll still firm on Frank bid

Hamish Heard
The manager of Geelong’s port has issued a scathing attack on new plans for a scaleddown version of a controversial retail development at North Geelong.
In a letter to Geelong councillors, Toll Geelong Port’s manager Lindsay Ward slammed revised plans for HomeTown, a massive homemaker centre planned for a former Ford site adjoining port land.
The Independent revealed three weeks ago that Quay Developments Corporation, a company chaired by Geelong fruit and vegetable magnate Frank Costa, had submitted scaleddown plans for the development to council.
The company went back to the drawing board after an independent planning panel ruled the proposal was too big, contravened local planning policies and would block port expansion.
Mr Ward said the new HomeTown plans, including a reduction in retail floor space from 40,000 square metres to 26,000, still posed a “serious threat to port operations”.
“Regardless of how the proposal is dressed up or dressed down, it has the potential to severely impact on current operations as well as future expansion,” he said.
“The revised proposal does not change our firm opposition, more so because it remains contrary to state and local planning policies and the clear findings of an independent, expert panel.”
The developer’s proposal to leave more than a third of the 135,000squaremetre site, including an existing Ford chassis plant building, zoned for industrial use also failed to win the port manager’s approval.
“If part of the site was developed for restricted retail purposes there would be significant pressure to convert the remaining land for other retail or commercial use,” Mr Ward said.
The benefits of keeping the land zoned industrial to accommodate port expansion “far outweigh” the benefits of a homemaker centre, he said.
“The modified plan does not alter the fact that the site is not a preferred location for developments of this type.”
Quay Developments Corporation managing director Michael VickersWillis said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on Mr Ward’s concerns.