Lovely Banks residents have won a battle to protect their homes from a proposed road that threatened to bisect their properties.
Geelong councillors rejected the road proposal this week while finalising plans for two new growth areas to house 110,000 residents in the city’s north and west.
Aneta Katny welcomed council dumping the controversial arterial road, which received 12 objections.
“Thank goodness for that. It was absolutely my biggest concern,” she said.
“That would have directly impacted 14 homes. In my backyard I would have had a major road instead of a beautiful property.
“You’d be pretty pissed-off, wouldn’t you.”
Council also decided against planned zoning changes to rural living areas after residents expressed concerns about high-density development.
“That is what we wanted,” Ms Katny said.
“We always sort of said do what you want with your land but leave ours as it is.”
The changes protected Ms Katny’s property for now but council “worded them in such a way” that made future development still possible, she said.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s a win but we’re definitely going to keep an eye on things.”
Ms Katny and her husband bought the land to live on in 1999 under the condition it would remain un-subdivided, she said.
“Otherwise I never would have left Bell Post Hill.”
Ms Katny said council approved permits for projects such as pools and home extensions for her neighbours before making the growth area plans public last May.
“The council knew this was happening in 2013,” she said.
“Why sign off all these permits if you knew a road was going through these properties?”
Keeping the area in which Ms Katny lived as a rural living zone would prevent “high-density development in the foreseeable future”, council said.
Councillors had taken all community feedback into consideration and would work with local landholders and developers on more detailed plans, Mayor Bruce Harwood said.
“We have an exciting opportunity to create communities with excellent infrastructure and some unique and special features.
“It’s our plan that residents in these new areas will have easy access to high quality public transport plus bike and walking trails.”
Windermere ward councillor Anthony Aitken said the two growth zones would have an eventual combined population larger than Ballarat.
“To put the size into some further context, there are around 19 planned primary schools and five secondary schools within the framework plan.”
The plans include a Batesford quarry becoming a 48 billion-litre freshwater lake, along with rehabilitation of nearby rivers, major road upgrades and a transport corridor with pedestrian and bike paths.
Council estimates that greater Geelong’s population will reach 380,000 by 2036.
