THE Surf Coast Shire has refused to grant a planning permit for a three-storey retail\/housing development in Anglesea, arguing it did not respect the town\u2019s coastal village character.<\/p>\n
Plans for the building at 143C Great Ocean Road were submitted to the council on February 27.<\/p>\n
The ground floor would have had five shops of between 54sqm and 85sqm each, the first floor would have had five apartments, and the second floor would have had three apartments.<\/p>\n
At their meeting last week, councillors resolved to refuse the permit on four grounds:
\n\u2022 The height and scale of the proposed building is not respectful of the low-scale coastal village character of Anglesea
\n\u2022 The proposal is an overdevelopment of the site
\n\u2022 Not all accommodation units would be provided with an appropriate level of amenity, notably in relation to access to daylight, ventilation and privacy for some bedrooms, and
\n\u2022 The application does not provide for the appropriate storage, sorting and collection of waste.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the meeting, Cr Margot Smith said the council had to consider each planning application on its merits and could not reject an application without going through the process, but thanked the Anglesea community for their feedback, including the 31 objections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got an overdeveloped site, it\u2019s too high, there\u2019s no vegetation to speak of, no consideration of the overlooking of neighbours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re short-term rentals that have only got south-facing balconies and no other windows \u2013 imagine coming to Anglesea in the middle of summer and all you\u2019re looking out onto is a south-facing direction and no sunlight.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the shops \u201cwould probably remain empty, like a few that are there at the moment\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I speak for many people in Anglesea who would prefer to see an empty, old blue hardware store rather than overdevelopment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would rather wait for something that is low scale and coastal village in its character\u2026 this is not a property adjacent to a suburban train line.\u201d<\/p>\n