City steps back from Pako proposal

GEELONG WEST community members, traders and customers will have input into a final Pakington Street development framework after the City of Greater Geelong council agreed to revisit its controversial plans.

The city will form a community panel of stakeholders to work alongside city staff and independent facilitator to agree on an Urban Design Framework (UDF) for the Pakington North Precinct.

The council had been due to vote whether to approve a UDF at this week’s council meeting. It will instead vote in 2023 following a series of workshops aimed at finding middle ground between community groups and planners.

Conjecture with existing plans included concern over building height limits of up to eight storeys that some residents would lead to overcrowding of roads and other services, and impact on neighborhood character.

Community lobby group Help Save Pako Street (HSPS) – which had formed to oppose existing plans for the Geelong West growth area – welcomed the city’s change of direction.

“The Help Save Pako Street group welcome council’s change of direction and look forward to being part of a genuinely collaborative and independently facilitated approach to creating a new solution for the Northern Precinct,” HSPS spokesperson Jane Mooney said.

“We look forward to seeing further detail about this new process, which is yet to be discuss and agreed to by the community.”

Geelong mayor Trent Sullivan said the move was an acknowledgement from the city that it needed a “fresh approach” to finalise its plans.

“Members of the community panel will bring their unique insights to the workshops, where all feedback provided in previous engagements will be considered.

“Officers look forward to working with the panel to shape the future of the precinct together.”

The city had returned to community engagement in August after deferring a decision on the UDF in December last year, when it approved development plans for Gordon Avenue and the southern part of Pakington Street.

The latest engagement round had little impact on community sentiment almost a year later, leading to the new approach.

The UDF process aims to provide a framework for future planning decisions such as introducing height limits that do not presently exist for the area.

Deputy mayor Anthony Aitken, who been critical of the city’s consultation on similar planning matters in recent weeks, applauded the move on the weekend.

“This is a significant cultural change for Geelong planners and council, we hope this model is successful and becomes a blueprint for how to engage with community planning,” he stated.