Portarlington development gets VCAT nod

A FIVE-storey development in Portarlington can go ahead after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) agreed with the City of Greater Geelong’s decision to grant a planning permit.

In October 2023, the city’s planning committee resolved to back the Qudos development at 20-34 Newcombe Street and 25-27 Fenwick Street.

The development will see seven street-level shops and 59 apartments constructed across four sites on Newcombe and Fenwick streets.

The Newcombe Street side will feature a maximum five-storey building with setbacks at 16 metres high, comprising three wings incorporating the seven retail units, a common area for residents and 35 apartments.

On the Fenwick Street side, the development will comprise a four-storey building with setbacks split into two wings, comprising 24 apartments and the entry to a basement car park.

“The application is in line with our Greater Geelong Planning Scheme by increasing the density and diversity of housing on a site close to the centre of Portarlington,” planning committee chair Cr Jim Mason said at the time.

“The planning committee found the combined site is well serviced and close to retail, education and recreation, and would provide much needed housing options for the Bellarine Peninsula.”

Two people who live next to the site then challenged the city’s decision at VCAT, arguing the impacts of the development were excessive and were not supported by the city’s planning scheme.

In their decision, handed down last month, VCAT members Joel Templar and Stephen Axford note the objectors also questioned “the strategic validity of the proposal, saying that a proper reading of the strategic and policy framework would mean that the proposed development is too tall, too intense, has a poor relationship to its critical interfaces and is effectively an overdevelopment of the site”.

The objectors also criticised how the Qudos proposal would affect views from their property, and raised traffic and parking issues.

However, Mr Templar and Mr Axford’s decision found in favour of the development, especially on the key issues of built form and impact on views, and ordered a new planning permit be issued for the development subject to a long list of conditions on issues including utilities, waste management, outdoor lighting and acoustic treatments.

“It is apparent that Portarlington is set to change and indeed, our observations are that this is already occurring,” the VCAT members stated.

“The planning scheme envisages that Portarlington will change and that achievement of planning scheme policy and objectives will see this continue.

“We have found that the proposal, on balance, is an acceptable one having regard to the relevant planning scheme controls and policies.”