RACV water win

Erin Pearson
RACV faces another round of consultations after Surf Coast councillors gave “in principle” support to harvesting stormwater for Torquay Golf Club.
Councillors voted 5-4 on Wednesday night to grant RACV a licence to tap council drainpipes subject to 50 conditions and “further consultation processes”.
Council voted to grant a licence to extract the stormwater with an extension option if RACV satisfied the conditions.
A report to council said RACV executives had accepted the conditions.
The conditions ranged from providing habitat for frogs to consulting “key interest groups” and discussing facility-sharing arrangements with other Torquay sport clubs.
Objectors fear environmental damage from the project taking run-off stormwater that drains into Jan Juc Creek.
Cr Simon Northeast, a Greens state election candidate, said council must “tread softly” on environmental issues related to the proposal.
“The first thing is we have to protect the golf course – it’s an asset – then we must look at the Jan Juc Creek,” he said.
Cr Dean Webster called the process “long and frustrating” but thought council had “learnt a lot about the creek”.
The report to council said building a system to catch stormwater in the “Jan Juc Creek catchment” area would cost RACV $500,000.
The motoring organisation would also pay $2000 a year for the water, $10,000 annually in administration fees, a $50,000 one-off contribution for planning and an annual $30,000 indexed to inflation as an open-space contribution. Council also wanted legal costs of $14,330.
Council surprised RACV in April with a vote to reject its initial application based on concerns for Jan Juc Creek. Councillors instead called for six weeks of consultations before another vote despite reports from officers and several government bodies backing the plan.
RACV had earlier said the stormwater licence was the last hurdle before starting work on a $90 million redevelopment of the course.
This week’s council report said “extensive research” had confirmed the proposal had potential to provide “an environmental benefit to Jan Juc Creek as well as…important social and economic benefits” from the course redevelopment.