Council urged to take last chance on Hotel Indigo

THE Greater Torquay Alliance (GT Alliance) is urging the Surf Coast Shire council to take their “last chance” to stop the proposed Hotel Indigo in Torquay from being built, but the council says the matter is out of their hands.
In May 2019, the council refused Barnes Capital’s application to build a five-storey, 128-room hotel at 2-4 Geelong Road and 48 Bell Street.
Barnes Capital then appealed in July 2019 to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to overturn the council’s decision. A hearing is scheduled to start on November 10.
As reported by this newspaper in January, the GT Alliance asked the council to formally request Planning Minister Richard Wynne call in the application.
At the time, the council said it could not do so, with the shire’s general manager of environment and development Ransce Salan saying the shire’s “role has now concluded based on Council’s decision in May 2019 to refuse the application”.
“We have written to the Planning Minister and recommended that given the scale and nature of this proposal, it is appropriate to consult with the Great Ocean Road Region Standing Advisory Committee (GORRSAC) regarding this application.”
Earlier this month, the GT Alliance committee received a letter from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning confirming the shire had not requested Mr Wynne to call in the application but had advised “it was a proposal that could benefit from an independent expert review” by GORRSAC.
The GT Alliance committee says this will not lead to a good outcome, as “the terms of reference for GORRSAC don’t include the requirement to consider the views of the community in their decision-making and that its purpose is to consider matters ‘that will impact on or facilitate the Great Ocean Road visitor economy’.”
“The Minister’s letter also states that the council has not yet asked the Minister to call in the matter. This is despite numerous requests by the community for them to do so. GT Alliance have been told prior to the preliminary VCAT hearings by a council officer that the council had in fact requested the minister to call it in.”
On August 27, the GT Alliance made a formal request to the Surf Coast Shire’s councillors to resolve at their meeting on Tuesday, September 15 to write to the Planning Minister and request he call in and refuse the application for Hotel Indigo.
“With the merits hearing at VCAT scheduled in November and the council going into caretaker mode on September 22, the next council meeting is the last chance for the council to agree to request the Minister to call it in.
“The GT Alliance ask that concerned community members write to the councillors urging them to request the Planning Minister to call in the proposal.”
In response to questions from this newspaper, Mr Salan said on Tuesday this week that only the Planning Minister could call in the VCAT appeal at this point in time, and the legislation that he would need to use “did not designate any role for the council in this process”.
According to the legislation, the Planning Minister has the power to call in VCAT appeals where the minister considers that “the proceeding raises a major issue of policy” and “the determination of the proceeding may have a substantial effect on the achievement or development of planning objectives”.