Park alternative mooted for prime Portarlington block

PORTARLINGTON Community Association (PCA) is ramping up its campaign for the proposed site of a multi-storey development at Newcombe Street to become public green space.

PCA has formed a sub-committee to pursue its vision for an urban coastal park on the bay side of the town’s main street as it continues its opposition to a planned residential and apartment building.

Developers say they remain committed to delivering the 10-apartment, two-shop project they say will improve property stock for the growing town.

Advocacy for the park was part of PCA’s resolution in December that it would again propose the Newcombe Street development that returned to Geelong planning authorities late last year.

The PCA believes the scale and location of the building is inappropriate for its intended area and is unsatisfied that the updated plans address concerns the led to its rejection in previous attempts.

President Geoff Fary said the proposal was a test for the Bellarine Distinctive Area and Landscape (DAL) policy that the state government endorsed in October last year.

“The DAL vision is to protect and enhance the area’s unique values and distinctive attributes and ensure they are not degraded over time,” he said.

“A building of this size and bulk will always be sought as long as the site remains in private hands.”

The DAL doesn’t specify a building height limit for the town, but says Portarlington should generally be “planned and designed to maintain and enhance the village’s relaxed, low-scale coastal character, which is enhanced by generous public spaces that integrate with the highly valued public foreshore”.

It also highlights the need for “more diverse housing” in the town’s centre, which should be “at a scale and designed to respect the historic built form character”.

PCA planning sub-committee member David Hughes said this issue highlighted the need for the City of Greater Geelong to update its planning framework for Portarlington, with the most recent review completed in 2017.

“Portarlington development applications should be put on hold until the review is done to ensure such unsuitable applications do not slip through in the interim.”

A representative for the site’s developers Greg Murray said he didn’t expect the park proposal to impact his project, and said planning was “full steam ahead” as the group continued discussions with the City of Greater Geelong.

“The PCA keep saying that they want the state and federal government to buy it back… we haven’t heard from anybody in regards to that.

“As far as we’re concerned, that’s just noise.”

Mr Murray said developers had scaled back plans, to positive feedback from authorities and community members, following a failed earlier attempt to earn planning approval that COGG and the state Planning Minister rejected.

The amended plan before COGG is for a four-storey building plus basement carpark, which is three storeys when viewed from Newcombe Street due to the land’s slope.