Shire’s lane sale conditions queried

A GROUP of residents opposed to the sale of public land in Torquay to facilitate a proposed retirement village are wary of the conditions attached to the Surf Coast Shire council’s in-principle support of the deal.

The Save Cypress Lane group do not want the shire to sell Cypress Lane and another parcel of nearby land to allow the $50 million development to go ahead.

At their February 22 meeting, five of the nine councillors resolved to give in-principle support of the sale, subject to several conditions, including that the land could only be used “for the purpose of providing housing for seniors or people with a disability” and that the “planning permit is approved by Surf Coast Shire council and is not subject to a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) appeal”.

Save Cypress Lane spokesperson Mark Mathews said the group of nearly 250 members appreciated the council’s “spirited debate” on the issue, but the council could “take control of the situation simply by making a firm and final decision to not sell the land to the developer”.

“Our group believes that Cypress Lane is not the best site for a high density retirement village and this site is much better suited to low density residential living.”

Mr Mathews said Cr Liz Pattison’s suggestion that “an appeal to VCAT would veto the land sale” did not address the circumstances of Cypress Lane being sold and the developer appealing to VCAT afterwards.

“Council did not discuss how they would prevent that from happening.

“The resolution mentions a condition that ‘the land will be used for the purpose of providing housing for seniors or people with a disability’.

“While we acknowledge that the council has an obligation to plan for housing for all members of our community, we hope that the council understands that this development is aimed squarely at the high-end over-55s market.

“Save Cypress Lane understands that this vote is not a final commitment for the sale of the land to the developer, but we feel it sets the direction that the council will go down.”

He said it showed the council had the intent of “restarting” the planning application process but trying to control it this time by including conditions.

“We do not know how binding these conditions are and we have serious reservations as this is not an approach that anyone at the Surf Coast Shire has experience with.

“We know that lawyers are being consulted by the shire on this approach.

“We are concerned this will become a long and expensive (for ratepayers) process that will ultimately end up at VCAT anyway.”