Council says no to Lara flood overlays

The City of Greater Geelong council has abandoned a plan to implement new flood overlays to Lara properties after more than three years of planning, amid ongoing confusion at the plan’s scope and impacts.

Councillors scrapped a proposed planning amendment at Tuesday night’s meeting, saving about 5,000 properties from becoming subject to planning controls limiting construction that residents could carry out on their properties.

City planning officers had sought endorsement of new rules aimed at mitigating flood risk across Lara, which would have escalated the report to an independent planning panel for further scrutiny of evidence and objections.

The now-rejected overlays followed a council report resulting from the 2020 Lara Flood Study that were first tabled in mid-2020, prompting a groundswell of community opposition.

Several Lara residents spoke to councillors at this week’s meeting, with their concerns largely unchanged from earlier drafts.

The extensive scope of the planning controls, confusion at which properties would be affected and to what extent were among their primary concerns.

During debate, councillors also aired internal gripes with the plan, which included acknowledgement within hours of the vote from officers that there were errors in publicly available maps and documents

Windermere Ward councillor Anthony Aitken said the ongoing uncertainty about the plan meant it should not receive councillor support.

“We have a responsibility to make informed decisions. I’ve tried to see how we can work with what’s presented to us, but I can’t. The community is still confused and still angry. They believe they’re not properly and fully informed.”

Cr Eddy Kontelj agreed and said council officers had failed to properly consult the community.

“Those of us that have been [on council] for some time have had quite a few flood overlay reports. To the layperson, these are very confusing.

“There’s obviously some extremely intelligent people that have put time into trying to understand the report and the maps, and still can’t understand it.”

But councillors were split during debate, with supporters of the officer recommendation recognising the overlays’ intent to shield communities from future flood impacts.

“I think we have a responsibility to this area and residents. I acknowledge the uncertainty and nervousness… but the intention of this is to protect the area,” Cr Peter Murrihy said.

Cr Jim Mason agreed, and said the overlays were in the community’s best interests to mitigate against future flooding impacts that would likely be exacerbated by climate change impacts and continued residential development.

This week’s vote included approval of amendments relating to areas outside Lara, which will progress to hearings following a councillor vote before they can become law.

The flood zones report first came to the council in July 2020, reflecting recent studies into flood risk for the Barwon and Moorabool rivers, Lara and the Bellarine coast.

Subsequent public exhibition of the documents attracted more than 500 objections, overwhelmingly from Lara residents.

Councillors sent officers back to the drawing board in September last year to try to whittle down the volume or properties impacted by the proposed overlays.

This month’s report proposed removing a further 755 properties from the controls and to refer submissions to an independent planning panel for further scrutiny.