By NOEL MURPHY
SPRING Creek land owners will have to carry some $300,000 in costs for site studies before its controversial development can go ahead.
Surf Coast Shire wants to control planning but prefers the Metropolitan Planning Authority to provide the expertise to work up a structure plan for the rural project.
The shire council voted this week to ask planning minister Matthew Guy to direct the MPA to assist.
“The onus is on council to work with our community and land owners to ensure the best possible result in how this land is used over the next decade and beyond,” mayor Rose Hodge said.
“This process seeks to ensure council and the community don’t carry the costs of doing the necessary studies, which will cover areas like biodiversity, cultural heritage, geotechnical conditions and infrastructure; which could be in the order of $300,000.
“Effectively, while council would not be funding the studies, this approach still ensures council is running the planning process.
“We will now work with the Planning Minister’s office and the land owners to finalise arrangements with the Metropolitan Planning Authority and to form a consortium, before the planning process begins. This planning process is likely to take around two years.”
Cr Hodge said a non-urban green break would remain between the edge of Spring Creek’s urban growth zoned land and Bellbrae.
“There is no proposal through this process to move Torquay’s town boundary further to the west,” she said.
Minister Guy rezoned land one kilometre west of Duffields Road to an urban growth zone in March. Under this, a precinct structure plan must be prepared before the land’s use can change to accommodate residential and other urban uses.
Surf Coast would encourage land owners in the area to form a consortium to “help fund” the expert studies required for the project.
It would advise on project timelines and opportunities for the community to get involved after negotiations with land owners and the planning minister’s office were concluded.
“Council also proposes to incorporate what the community has already told us as part of the Torquay-Jan Juc 2040 Sustainable Futures project, to ensure we have some sound principles to guide this process, as well as conducting further community engagement,” Cr Hodge said.
As mayor, she was keen to assure the community it would “be heard and have a voice in this process”, she said.
“While the Minister for Planning has rezoned this land for urban growth, under this process we do have a say in what happens next.”
