Council wants clarity on town centre’s building heights in land strategy

THE Surf Coast Shire council has pushed back adopting the final Torquay/Jan Juc Retail and Employment Land Strategy (RELS) until it can clarify references to height controls in the town centre, among other issues.

Released for public comment earlier this year, the draft RELS plans for the future of Torquay and Jan Juc’s commercial centres to ensure their responsiveness to the needs of residents and visitors for the next 15 years.

It aims to preserve the surf culture and visitor economy, respect the primacy of Torquay’s town centre, reposition the Baines Crescent area as an Enterprise Precinct to support the needs of the entrepreneurial and creative sectors, and protect the integrity of the West Coast Business Park as the area’s most important industrial estate.

Councillors considered a report about the draft RELS, which the shire’s officers recommended adopting with some changes, at their July 27 meeting.

“On balance, having regard to the strategy’s support, and the concerns raised and the ability to respond to these, the strategy is considered justified and generally well received,” the report states.

However, Cr Liz Pattison successfully moved an alternate motion for the council to endorse the recommendations and directions in the RELS but defer adopting the final strategy to a future council meeting so wording could be changed to clarify three issues:

References to height controls in the town centre

The proposed review of planning controls at 2-4 Geelong Road and the corner of Bell Street, and

References to the suitable location for a discount department store or large format retail should an application be received.

Many of the community’s comments in the hearing of submissions process “expressed concern in a number of different ways” about Torquay’s town centre building heights, which have been capped at three storeys for many years but have been proposed to go higher.

The officers’ report recommended updating the draft RELS to respond to the outcomes of the Surf Coast Distinctive Area and Landscape program, which is still ongoing, with one of the original changes being that “where directed by the Torquay Town Centre Urban Design Framework and DAL Statement of Planning Policy, review and revise height limits in the Torquay Town Centre”.

Cr Pattison said there were many great aspects to the RELS, including the “aspirational” intention to create 20-minute neighbourhoods, but areas that could be clarified were identified during the hearing of submissions meeting on May 11.

“Officers have made amendments to the report, and these move in the right direction, however, more could be achieved to further address the community’s concerns,” she said.

Cr Pattison’s alternate motion was carried unanimously.