Question time: CORA to respond to concerns at public hearing

THE proponents of Cape Otway Road Australia (CORA) have a long list of questions they must answer if their proposed $350 million project is to have any chance of getting approval from the state government.

Last week, submitters to the CORA Development Advisory Committee set up by the state government received a letter with details about the public hearing the committee will hold in Torquay from February 3 to February 14.

As well as an elite sports training facility, the proposed project near Modewarre would include a 128-room hotel, 61 eco lodges and a retail area.

There has been some community opposition to CORA, with concerns including the project’s size, scope, location, impact on the environment including nearby Lake Modewarre, and the impact of increased traffic on local roads.

The letter sets out the rules of the hearing and states CORA’s proponents must circulate by January 22 a submission with “a summary of the strategic context” of CORA to parties on the distribution list.

At the hearing itself, at the Surf Coast Shire’s council chambers, the proponents must also provide a second submission with responses to several specific issues including:

• Sequencing and staging of the whole development as well as staging within the various sub-precincts
• The site selection process and the benefits of siting the proposal at the selected location
• Clarification if the wetland is intended to maintain permanent flows or to continue to be subject to temporal influences
• The rationale behind the scale of the Accommodation Sub-Precinct, including justification for the number of proposed lodges and clarification regarding whether it is intended any of the lodges will be subdivided or sold, and
• A comparison of the proposed development as now envisaged by the September 2019 Comprehensive Development Plan with the proposed development in the Ernst & Young business case (which includes the now-deleted wave pool as well as a larger retail village).

CORA’s representatives are scheduled to speak on the first four days of the hearing.

Others listed on the timetable include the Surf Coast Shire, Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism, the Australia China Business Council, the Geelong Environment Council, Surf Coast Hinterland Group, and more than 20 individual speakers.

For more information, head to planning.vic.gov.au/panels-and-committees/browse-panels-and-committees.