The North Geelong community has raised concerns regarding a proposed warehouse development in preparation for VCAT.
Residents were concerned with the height and design of the potential development on 27-28 Nepean Close, which would feature 10.8-metre-high concrete walls within six metres of residential properties.
A planning application was originally submitted to the City of Greater Geelong by E.J. Grech and Associates and The Trustee for Citiwest Constructions Trust’s Warren Gatt in March last year.
North Geelong resident and registered building inspector Leo Dridan said the proposed development went against Greater Geelong’s Planning Scheme through the expected “magnitude of development”.
“The issue is that they are wanting to construct warehouses all the way to the boundaries of the residential properties along Giddings Street in North Geelong,” he said.
“These warehouses are noted to be at least a minimum of 10.8 metres high. There are no factories around this area near that height. I’ve even scoped the area, and they don’t exceed close to 6.5 metres.
“That is to the east side of our properties, which will effectively block our morning sun until about 11am. One gentleman along the street has all his solar panels on his shed at the back boundary, so he will effectively lose at least 25 per cent of his solar gain for energy production.
“It is an excessive development really for the area as any warehouse or factory of such size also invites large scale machinery, and therefore it will produce a lot of noise.”
Mr Dridan said that despite community objections, the developers have escalated the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), with a hearing expected for Monday, January 13.
“I think the developer has been playing bullish tactics from the word go because they first had the proposal of planning advertised only days before the long Easter weekend holidays,” he said.
“At the end of November, we received a notification from their lawyers instructing us to attend VCAT. So they’ve pushed us to VCAT over a Christmas period when there are no experts to speak with.
“We’re not opposed to developers, but we would like to have some reference and respect paid to the Greater Geelong planning scheme, which outlines many things that promote good design in the area.
“It’s up to affected residents who have agreed to prepare and submit a group objection. By doing that as we go to VCAT now, we can present ourselves as a group and raise points listed in the objection.”
E.J. Grech and Associates was contacted for comment.
