Developers lined up at Armstrong Creek

Alex de Vos
Developers are waiting for a council green light to break Geelong’s dwindling land supply with 12,000 new allotments south of the city.
Four companies and consortiums each have building sites up to 400 hectares ready for new homes between Geelong’s southern suburbs and Mt Duneed.
They have called for City of Greater Geelong to speed up its planning work for the area under council’s Armstrong Creek urban growth plan.
Casey Consulting’s Mark Casey said he planned about 5000 houses on his 400-hectare parcel of land.
“We’re just waiting for council’s independent panel recommendation before we can submit plans,” Mr Casey said.
“The biggest issue is the lack of land supply in the Geelong region. It’s affecting the whole of Geelong – people won’t be able to afford to go out to dinner or to the movies because they’ve had to pay more for their home because of a lack of land.”
Mr Casey said the City had set a minimum development site size of 200 hectares.
His company’s site was the largest ready for development.
However, some land owners were reluctant to sell, he said.
Private land owner Will Richardson, who has about 150 hectares, said council should come back with a decision whether to rezone the land “sooner rather than later”.
“There is such a shortage of land,” he said.
Mr Richardson was working with building company Dennis Family Group and six other landholders.
“All together we have about 317 hectares to develop,” Mr Richardson said.
Other companies and consortiums holding land for development were Carters Electrical and Villawood, Mr Casey said.
The urban growth plan has earmarked more than 2500 hectares for development from a total 4500 hectares between Geelong’s southern suburbs and Mt Duneed.
The City expects the area to provide 15 to 20 years supply for housing.
Part of the land would include an industrial precinct.
Councillor Rod Macdonald, who holds council’s planning portfolio, said the new urban growth area would accommodate suburbs for more than 75,000 residents.
“With a development scenario based on an average of 15 dwellings per hectare, the urban growth area can provide enough suitable land for 33,000 dwellings,” Cr Macdonald said.