MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire will ask the new state Planning Minister Lizzie Blandthorn to appoint a panel to consider submissions on Amendment C270morn, which aims to protect the peninsula’s green wedge from inappropriate development.
The amendment would affect 10 sites and allow for the rezoning of land located outside of the urban growth boundary and correct anomalies in the shire’s planning Scheme.
The current zoning of the sites is considered “legacy” zoning that applied before green wedge zones were introduced more than 40 years ago and regulated in 2004.
The C270morn amendment was publicly exhibited for six weeks in February and 563 submissions were received, including 36 that mentioned they were in favour of development on the site.
Separately, a new application for the Ryman Healthcare development was also heard at last Monday’s (20 June) planning services committee meeting with councillors unanimously rejecting a slightly scaled-down application, after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal rejected the original development proposal almost 12 months ago. The new application received 476 submissions, with only one supportive of the development.
In a submission to the C270morn amendment, one of the supporters of the development proposal, Frank Hoogenraad, said there had been misinformation about the previous VCAT findings and that the tribunal had found the proposed use of the land to be “lawful”, but rejected it on the basis of “scaling”.
Hoogenraad said he was in favour of green wedge zones, but that the site at 60-70 Kunyung Road was “not terra nullius” and had been in private ownership for 130 years.
He labelled the C270morn amendment as an “ambush” to prevent Ryman “from doing something lawful” and said the tribunal had noted it was a “very good thing” that Ryman would save the mansion on the property.
Hoogenraad said peninsula residents “would be horrified if they really knew the true impact” the amendment would have on their community.
“It’s quite frightening that a council can rezone land retrospectively…” he said.
The planning services committee resolved to refuse the new application largely because of the design and scale being “inappropriate” and the development being “inconsistent” with the context of the site and character of the surrounding area. It also represented an “over development” of the site.
The committee also resolved to request the planning minister to call in the planning permit application and consider it concurrently with planning scheme amendment C270morn. The amendment includes rezoning the Kunyung Road site to green wedge, which would prohibit Ryman’s proposed land use.
An officer’s report to the meeting stated the proposed C270morn rezoning “better reflects the intended use of the land” that is outside the urban growth boundary.
The Ryman Healthcare matter will now go to VCAT to be decided and will most likely be heard in October.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 28 June 2022
