Objections heard about Torquay development

PUBLIC feedback on the $22 million plan to develop a 2.5 hectare site in Torquay is in and it is almost all negative.

The Surf Coast Shire council held a hearing of submissions meeting (via Zoom) on Tuesday this week about the planning permit for 85 Geelong Road.

The original permit, lodged in July 2019 by G2 Urban Planning on behalf of Baines Torquay, would see the site on the corner of the Surf Coast Highway and Grossmans Road into a six-theatre cinema with a total of 600 seats, a childcare facility for 130 children, a medical centre to accommodate up to 12 practitioners, a 7-Eleven service station, KFC and Zambrero restaurants, and a drive-through Bean Squeeze coffee shop.

The amended version submitted in May this year added, at the southern end, a three-storey hotel with 56 rooms “suitable for backpackers and tourists on a budget” with associated restaurant and bar, as well as a single-storey children’s play centre.

According to the report presented to councillors at the hearing of submissions meeting, the application received 57 submissions, with only two of those in support.

The most frequently-cited concern was loss of residential amenity from noise including from equipment, patrons, vehicles and pedestrians using Pimelea Way, with 41 of the submissions raising it.
Other highly-cited objections in the submissions included:

• The antisocial behaviour of hotel guests (31)
• The layout creates spaces without adequate public surveillance, which could lead to undesirable activities, so security cameras should be installed and these areas patrolled (24), and
• Traffic from the uses causes congestion and affects the safety of Geelong and Grossmans roads, including pedestrians and cyclists (12).

The objections also include 31 references to property devaluation, but this is extremely unlikely to sway the Surf Coast Shire council to refuse the application as property values are not a valid planning consideration for councils (a stance repeatedly upheld by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal).

The two submissions in support mention the project would demonstrate continued investment and development in Torquay and lead to increased rates revenue, employment opportunities and increased choice and convenience for professional services, cinema and retail.

Six people were listed on the agenda to speak to their submissions: Pam Ryan (representing Lions Village residents), Sue O’Shanassy (representing 3228 Residents Association), Lions Village Torquay manager Jenny Trezise, Caraline Cook, Tom Harding, and G2 Urban Planning’s Damien Loughnan (representing Baines Torquay).