Pass the parcel: Unexpected land management issue arises at Point Grey

THE plan to redevelop Point Grey in Lorne has hit an unexpected roadbump, with the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (GORCAPA) discovering it does not control all the land in the precinct.

Most of the coastal land at Point Grey slated for the $10 million project falls under the responsibility of GORCAPA, but it has emerged that the Surf Coast Shire is the public land manager for two parcels of land comprising most of the car park area, and that the shire was also unaware of this.

The redevelopment is separately being challenged at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), which has paused its deliberations so GORCAPA can formally ask the shire to give consent so the project can continue to have planning approval.

Surf Coast Shire councillors considered the matter at their meeting on Tuesday this week.

The Great Ocean Road Committee (GORCC) – GORCAPA’s predecessor – made its original application to the shire for a planning permit in December 2018.

In June 2020, the council resolved unanimously to issue a notice of decision (NOD) granting a planning permit, which will see the existing buildings inhabited by Lorne Aquatic and Angling Club and Lorne Pier Seafood demolished and replaced by more modern and spacious structures, as well as the construction of a boardwalk and a lookout.

An objector filed an application about the NOD at VCAT, which held hearings from April 12-15.

According to the officers’ report prepared for councillors, VCAT made an order on April 16 seeking submissions about the implications arising from a change to some of the land parcels in the proposed redevelopment.

“In response, investigation was undertaken into the land management for the subject land parcels and through this it was confirmed that the council is the public land manager of two allotments within the area subject to the permit.

“These roads are in a Public Park and Recreation Zone under the Surf Coast Planning Scheme.”

The rules of this zone state that an application for a permit by a person other than the relevant public land manager must be accompanied by the written consent of the public land manager.

“Without this consent, the application is incomplete and a planning permit cannot be granted,” the report states.

The shire’s officers noted the request for consent was being made retrospectively, but VCAT could use its powers to correct this administrative oversight.

“At the time of lodging the planning permit application and when the NOD was issued, neither the council nor GORCC were aware that the council was the public land manager of these two allotments,” the report states.

“It is a requirement of the planning scheme that the public land manager provide consent to the planning permit application being made, and so VCAT has put its consideration on hold so that GORCAPA can request this consent from council.”

Officers have not identified a valid reason to deny public land manager consent, but are also unsure at what point the shire became the land manager for the two parcels, as the car park is not on the shire’s Register of Public Roads and the shire “has no records of undertaking any management or maintenance responsibility for the car park”.

“It is relevant to note that council was formally identified as the Crown Land Administrator by way of a rectification to the Crown Land folio on February 13 2017 which transferred this responsibility from DELWP. There is no record of council being advised of this change in responsibility,” the report states.