City again defers Hams Road development

THE City of Greater Geelong council has again pushed back making a decision on whether a housing development in Waurn Ponds will go ahead.

Amendment C372 proposes to rezone the land north of the train line, west of Ghazeepore Road, east of Anglesea Road and south of Hams Road from farming to general residential, to create a development with 258 residential lots, 21 larger interface lots, two medium density sites and a creek reserve.

During the public exhibition process, the city received 164 submissions from the public, 159 of which were objections on issues such as traffic, housing density, environmental impacts, flooding and drainage.

As a result, the council referred the amendment to an independent planning panel in June 2019.

The report from the panel found that, on balance, the development was likely to add a relatively small amount of additional traffic to Ghazeepore Road and the surrounding network.

The panel also found the development “would not result in an unacceptable impact on the neighbourhood character”.

The council first considered the report in January, but deferred making a decision to allow more time to consider the issue.

The amendment came before the council again at their February 25 meeting, and councillors deferred it a second time to a later date for the same reason.

Kardinia Ward councillors Ron Nelson and Pat Murnane successfully moved that the motion be deferred, which was greeted with applause from the public gallery.

Cr Nelson said the delay was about “seeking better outcomes for our community” and the council would seek to make changes to the development, including a reduction in the lot size, an increase in open space on the perimeter as well as internally, and a commitment from the developer about traffic management measures on Ghazeepore Road.