City of Greater Geelong councillor Anthony Aitken warned those celebrating council’s decision to recommend a change to the Highton Village Urban Design Framework that the “fight may not be over”.
Public concerns raised included the proposed rezoning of two City-owned car parks at 19 Belle Vue Avenue and 1A Taylor Court to the Commercial 1 Zone, proposed development heights and the inclusion of an affordable housing policy.
As a result of community feedback, the City proposed some changes to the amendment, to the delight of some in the gallery, including to remove the adopted UDF as a background document in the planning scheme.
However, after most of the gallery cleared out, Cr Aitken issued a word of warning.
“The recent comments that have been made by the Minister for Planning and the premier of Victoria indicate that there may be intervention into local governments’ planning capacity,” Cr Aitken said at City of Greater Geelong’s monthly council meeting.
“This fight may not be over and I – sadly, the gallery has cleared from those that actually are celebrating this point on – but I just give some very cautious words to say that they may have to continue their fight to influence our state government, that has a different opinion about how local government should exercise its voice in planning.”
The City’s response to community submissions will be submitted to the panel, as well as Council’s resolution on Tuesday night to reduce building height limits for the Commercial 1 zone to nine metres, to maintain the character of Highton Village.
An independent panel appointed by the Minister for Planning will now consider 25 submissions from the community about the long-term vision for the area.
On Tuesday night, council referred the submissions about the proposed amendment to the panel following community consultation in late 2024. One submission was supportive, two provided comments, four were duplicate submissions and 18 objected.
Deputy mayor Ron Nelson said it was important that everyone’s views were heard.
“By referring the submissions to an independent panel, we can ensure an open and accountable process,” he said.
