Lions Village supports changes to Torquay development

RESIDENTS of Torquay’s Lions Village say they are “satisfied” with the final version of the $29 million development to be built on a vacant block behind their homes.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) handed down its ruling on the planning permit application for 85 Geelong Road last month.

Residents from the Lions Village were among the 55 objections during the original application’s public exhibition period, with Lions Village Torquay Incorporated expressing fears in May last year that backpackers would be drinking, dancing and playing loud music only 18 metres from their units.

However, last week, Lions Village Torquay Incorporated chair John McDonald said his group was “satisfied with the outcome of the VCAT and Surf Coast Shire planning process”.

“The Lions Village Torquay acknowledges that 85 Geelong Road was always going to be developed into a commercial site,” Mr McDonald said.

“Many of the concerns of the Lions Village Torquay and the village residents were addressed through the VCAT process, including modification of the building placement, residential hotel design and landscaping plans.

“Sensible permit conditions will protect the amenity of village residents and others in the neighborhood of the development.”

The development will include a six-theatre cinema with 600 seats, a three-storey backpackers’ hotel with 56 rooms with associated restaurant and bar, a childcare facility for 130 children, a medical centre to accommodate up to 12 practitioners, a 7-Eleven service station, KFC and Zambrero restaurants, a drive-through Bean Squeeze coffee shop.

The shire refused to grant a permit for the original application but proponents Baines Torquay secured a hearing at VCAT due to the council’s failure to resolve the matter within the 60-day limit.

According to the VCAT ruling, Baines Torquay and the Surf Coast Shire eventually agreed to confine their dispute to the determination of the responsibility for, contribution to the cost of, and timing for the delivery of, external roadworks in Grossmans Road and Geelong Road.

VCAT’s draft planning permit for the site also imposes a long list of conditions, including at least 333 car parks; acoustic testing to be performed within a month of each of the cinema, hotel and service station starting operation; and no more than 200 patrons allowed outdoors in the bar and restaurant, tables and seating for at least 75 per cent of them, and no live music.

A spokesperson for G2 Urban Planning referred questions from this newspaper about VCAT’s decision to Baines Torquay, which had not responded by time of publication.

The Surf Coast Shire council had not responded to questions from this newspaper by time of publication.