Public hearings get underway for DAL

DAY one of the public hearing for the Bass Coast Distinctive Areas and Landscape commenced on Monday with a scheduled 27 days of hearings, which will conclude on April 27.

Accessible via video conference the public hearing was held in person at Wonthaggi Town Hall under the guidance of Chair, Kathy Mitchell AM.

Made up of advisory committee members Alison McFarlance (Deputy Chair), Mandy Elliott, Rebecca Finn, Ian Hamm, Natasha Reifschneider and Jessica Tulloch, the Standing Advisory Committee heard opening submissions from Bass Coast Shire Council, Glen Waverley Real Estate/Coastal Estates, Wallis Watson Cape Paterson, Springway Corporate Group (San Remo), Springway Corporate Group (Ventnor), Adrian Abrahams and Franlaw, Cape Paterson Residents Group and Ratepayers Association, Save Western Port Woodlands, and South Gippsland Conservation Society and Victorian 
National Parks Association.

In opening submissions for Springway Corporate Group (San Remo), their barrister highlighted the significant change to the status quo.

“The introduction of a protected settlement boundary is that it represents a significant change to the status quo in respect of planning for San Remo. Protected settlement boundaries are akin to Metropolitan Melbourne’s urban growth boundary in some ways. They’re a boundary that effectively vetos any urban rezoning outside of its extent, and a boundary that can only be changed by parliamentary ratification of the planning scheme… We say that it’s not essential that the policy include protected settlement boundaries for any particular location, regardless of the characterisation of the township or its place in the hierarchy.”

They went on to note that what the committee will hear over the course of the hearing is, “evidence that is quite specialised in nature from a range of disciplines but planning evidence has a special role to play because it involves the weighting of competing considerations, not only policy considerations, but also considerations that go to the various disciplines.”

The comments aligned with Springway Corporate Group’s (Ventnor) submission, which stated that the “SPP (Statement of Planning Policy) fails to provide a justification or data to support the downgrading of the township status of Ventnor from a district town to a hamlet, and it is clearly evident that the supporting background papers to the SPP failed to analyse or discuss in any detail this downgrading.”

By contrast, reducing the town boundary back to Seaward Drive is the driving factor behind submissions from Cape Paterson residents.

In summary, the proposed Distinctive Areas and Landscape goes both too far and not far enough according to residents and stakeholders.