Digital billboard now not going to VCAT

THE plot has thickened on the curious case of a digital billboard planned for the south-side of the 100s block on Sturt Street, with the City of Ballart now saying it won’t take the approved development permit to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

That’s despite a majority of councillors voting in favour of challenging the planning decision of municipal officers at council’s last regular meeting.

During a press conference last Friday one reporter asked mayor Cr Ben Taylor if the City had had as many positions on the electronic sign as “the Kama Sutra,” and asked if the municipality had been “flip-flopping” on the issue.

“It’s a difficult one,” Cr Taylor said. “The assumption of the permit was around that there would be objections to VCAT though that process.

“There was no objections that went though so therefore council couldn’t take itself to VCAT.”

When asked about how municipal officers could reverse a public decision made by council during a formal meeting, Cr Taylor sought to explain.

“Council can’t take itself to VCAT,” he said. “[The motion] was under the assumption there being a third party that would have actually done an objection to VCAT and then council could have then gone with them to then in a sense support a third party.”

As there are no formal objections lodged to VCAT on the planning permit, the proposed nine-metre wide, three-metre tall electronic billboard will now sit on top of 101 Sturt Street, and would replace the current a non-electronic advertising sign.

The billboard will change message once a minute, only operate during daylight hours and was described in council meeting documents as, “effectively a digital television screen.”