Outbreak of height of anxiety

Peter Farago
GEELONG residents have to consider what they believe will be the future of their beloved city.
Will the waterfront retain its relatively low-rise appearance stepping up from the bay, culminating at St Mary’s of the Angels Basilica and The Mercure Hotel?
Or will a new bunch of high-rise apartment buildings accentuate the city centre?
The latter seems more likely, given that two towers with double-digit floors are proposed for the Western Wedge precinct.
The Independent last week revealed plans for an 11-storey complex opposite Deakin’s Waterfront Campus in Gheringhap Street, while a company was talking with City Hall about a 15-storey building in Mercer Street.
Councillor Stretch Kontelj drew a parallel between the timing of the applications and a State Government grab for City Hall’s planning power over central Geelong.
His “conspiracy theory” has merit. These towers are exactly what Spring Street wants to populate its so-called Transit Cities, of which it counts Geelong as one – it’s just that the Government won’t come out and say so directly.
Instead, Messrs Brumby and Madden and their spin doctors churn out some story about a “partnership” with councils to allow for an expected boom in new residents for whom they want to make homes close to major railway stations (never mind that the trains are already full).
But, theories aside, the new planning regime will become a fact of life.
And residents will need to decide for themselves what they consider to be the best way Geelong can move forward.
At eight-storeys, The Mercure Hotel, on Myers Street, is Geelong’s tallest building – although it is about to pass the crown to the nine-storey second stage of The Promenade, near Eastern Beach.
An immediate reaction is that 15-storeys will dwarf anything in Geelong and stick out like a sore thumb, especially in the Western Wedge where the woolstores are today’s height benchmark.
But, done respectfully to the surroundings, it could start a wonderful era in Geelong’s development.
It’s not a fight between good and evil or about staying as “Sleepy Hollow” or moving into the developed world.
It’s a question of whether we retain what’s left of Geelong’s old-world charm or welcome a bright new landscape accentuating the hub on Corio Bay.