By Luke Voogt
Plans for a seven-storey office complex near Geelong’s main commercial port have hit a dead end.
An independent panel recently ruled to overturn a council planning approval for the complex and car park at 50 Mackey Street, North Geelong.
The Victorian Regional Channels Authority (VRCA), which manages Port of Geelong waters, welcomed the decision.
The authority’s chief executive officer Peter Mannion described the decision as demonstrating the significance of protecting “the important port precinct”.
“The Port of Geelong is a working port that is vital to Victoria’s prosperity,” he said last Friday.
“The protection of the operations and viability of the port is of paramount importance, which any future development within this precinct will need to keep in mind.”
The panel’s decision comes after Geelong council initially granted a planning permit for Hamilton Group’s proposal in December 2018.
But GrainCorp, Barret Burston Maltings and VRCA appealed the decision at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in January 2019.
Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne referred the proposal to an independent expert advisory committee, which heard the matter this February before overturning the permit in July.
“We thank the minister for his review,” Mr Mannion said.
According to VRCA, the committee concluded that protecting the ongoing operations of the Port of Geelong was the primary land-use consideration of the area.
The committee was not satisfied that the proposed office development would service the port nor that it could be characterised as port-related.
It also considered the location of the office proposal as an out-of-centre development, which should instead be located in a designated activity centre.
The committee held concerns that the scale of the proposal and its proximity to the port could impact on the port’s operations and future development.
Hamilton Group managing director Cameron Hamilton said he was “disappointed about the outcome” but declined to comment further.
VCAT decisions can be appealed within 28 days in the court system.
