Distinct position: Evidence builds up ahead of Surf Coast DAL’s public hearing

A PUBLIC hearing about the planning future of Torquay and surrounds starts next week, and evidence from all interested parties is beginning to pile up.

The Surf Coast Distinctive Area and Landscapes (DAL) program is now in the hands of the DAL’s Standing Advisory Committee, which is collecting submissions in response to the draft Surf Coast Statement of Planning Policy (SPP).

The public hearing, via Zoom, will start on Monday, March 15 and run until April 29, and the committee is progressively publishing all submissions, tabled documents and expert evidence online as it is received.

The Surf Coast DAL, declared by the state government in September 2019, extends as far as the nearby hinterland of Bellbrae and Freshwater Creek and also takes in the southern part of the growth area in Mount Duneed (part of the City of Greater Geelong), but it is the area immediately around Torquay, including the Spring Creek valley, that will likely spark the most discussion at the public hearing.

The draft SPP suggests two possible solutions for the Spring Creek valley – Option 1, which earmarks land 1km west of Duffields Road for “low density ecologically sustainable development”; and Option 2, which fixes the settlement boundary at Duffields Road and rules out any development in the valley at all.

In a witness statement submitted by the Surf Coast Energy Group, Stephen Prendergast of Prescience Research said close to 99 per cent of the 3,163 submissions to the draft SPP mentioned Spring Creek and the Protected Settlement Boundary options.

“This provides strong evidence that the vast majority of submissions were made by residents of Torquay Jan Juc.

“By extension it also suggests widespread interest in the Torquay Jan Juc in the DAL SPP, and in particular, in the Protected Settlement Boundary options.

“An overwhelming majority of 94.1 per cent of those who commented on Spring Creek and the Protected Settlement Boundary options were in favour of Option 2 or rejected Option 1.

“Therefore, in net terms 93 per cent of all submissions favoured Option 2.”

Duffields Road Pty Ltd and Zeally Investments Pty Ltd own almost exactly half of the 247.42 hectares of land in the Spring Creek Future Residential Area (FRA) west of Duffields Road, and asked Justin Ganly of Deep End Services to prepare a “economic expert witness statement” on their behalf for the hearing.

In his statement, Mr Ganly said adopting the draft SPP associated with the Surf Coast DAL “will have serious consequences for the future supply of residential land within Surf Coast”.

“Indeed, it will not be possible for Surf Coast to meet its 15-year residential land supply obligations under either Option 1 or Option 2 put forward for the Spring Creek FRA”.

He said “the only manner by which Surf Coast will go close to meeting its new housing obligations” would be to create Option 3, which would comprise 1,940 houses in Spring Creek plus another 850 houses on land near Messmate Road.

The Greater Torquay Alliance, which supports Option 2, is continuing its crowdfunding effort to find the funds to support hiring a barrister for the public hearing. As of Tuesday afternoon, its GoFundMe appeal had raised just under $20,000 of its $50,000 target.

For more information on the public hearing, which begins on Monday, March 15 at 10am, or to read all the documents, head to engage.vic.gov.au/dalsac.