City urges VCAT to reject Grovedale subdivision

THE City of Greater Geelong’s planning committee has rejected a plan to build 13 units on a subdivision in Grovedale and is urging the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to uphold its decision.

Developers have put forward a plan to construct 13 single-storey units on a 3,859 sqm site at 212 Bailey Street, with a further two lots to be left vacant.

Lot sizes featuring the terrace housing would be between 127 and 175 square metres, with the two vacant lots both larger at just under 640 square metres.

All but one of the 13 units would have two bedrooms (with the 13th to have three), and all properties would be serviced by a single vehicle accessway onto Bailey Street.

A public notice about the plan attracted 36 written objections plus a petition. Community concerns included the development’s potential impact on neighbourhood character, its density and lack of environmental sustainability, and the likelihood of increased noise, traffic congestion and parking demand.

At the March 25 meeting, officers recommended the planning committee – chair Cr Kylie Grzybek, deputy mayor Trent Sullivan and councillors Belinda Moloney, Ron Nelson, Bruce Harwood and Jim Mason – ask VCAT to grant a planning permit, for reasons including that “the proposed dwellings and subdivision are considered to utilise established infrastructure and provide for a diversity of housing choice in the area”.

However, Cr Moloney and Cr Nelson successfully moved an alternate motion to refuse a planning permit on five grounds, including that the application was “considered to be out of character with the surrounding area in that the proposal does not reflect the density of the surrounding area and represents an overdevelopment of the land” and “will generate an unreasonable amount of vehicle movements in Bailey Street”, and recommended the same course of action at VCAT.

Cr Grzybek said the committee unanimously agreed that the objectors’ concerns were well founded.

“Having considered the application very carefully, it’s our opinion that the proposed development wouldn’t meet the character of the surrounding area,” she said.

“While the subdivision could make a contribution to the supply of affordable housing in the area, I’m particularly concerned about the narrow built form that’s been proposed, and about the impacts on traffic and parking in what is quite a narrow residential street.

“The matter is in the hands of VCAT now, but we feel it’s the right decision for us to support the nearby residents who have objected.”

VCAT will hold a compulsory conference on June 10 ahead of a case hearing on August 16.