AMENDED plans to build three boat sheds instead of four at Westernport Marina in Hastings has been given the go-ahead after initially being knocked back by Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors. The decision comes after the original application faced significant community opposition with concerns about its bulk and coastal environmental impacts at 21 Skinner St, attracting more than 350 objections.
Councillors had refused to issue a planning permit last August, which resulted in the applicant appealing the matter at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). Following a compulsory conference, the applicant filed an amended VCAT application which was made in a VCAT order on 20 February.
Under the scaled-back plans, the height of all boat storage sheds would be reduced to two levels with a maximum height of 6.9 metres – reduced from three levels and 10.2 metres. The number of boat storage sheds would also be reduced from four to three while the number of boats capable of being stored has been reduced from 200 to 133.
The length of one of the boat sheds along the marina frontage would be reduced from 85 metres to 64 metres with the overall building footprint being 1272sq metres – down from the original 1439sq metres.
Landscaping would also be upgraded along a wall of a restaurant based at the marina.
The revised plans however do not change some original aspects of the plan including a 38.5 metre boat ramp and a forklift launching area to allow for secondary access to the marina’s wet-berthing area and Western Port Bay. According to the plans, it also provides for “negative lifting” below ground level to drop boats in and out of the water. Additional landscaping would also be kept within the foreshore parklands “to provide visual screening of the boat storage sheds”.
A shire report said the reduction in shed height would “ensure that views are reasonably preserved” and the plans overall “redesigned to protect the outlook from the adjoining commercial premises (restaurant/function centre) and minimise potential amenity impacts”. “This has been achieved by tapering the boat shed three to one level at the southern end [and] providing greater setbacks (between 10 and 20 metres) between the commercial premises and boat shed 1B,” it said.
The amended plans were considered by councillors at their 11 March meeting which was approved in an 8-2 vote. Mayor Cr Anthony Marsh and Cr David Gill voted against the proposal. Supporting it were councillors Michael Stephens, Cam Williams, Paul Pingiaro, Andrea Allen, Stephen Batty, Patrick Binyon, Max Patton and Kate Roper.
Gill said while the number of boats to be stored with the sheds had been dropped, it was “still very substantial”. “I see some values in the changes, and it is some progress on the original,” he said, but added, “It is still not acceptable, it still has the bulk and second storey that doesn’t take away from me the original feeling that this is out of place.” “My view of this is that we need to protect our foreshore areas. They’re not meant for those large storage areas sticking up into the air,” he said. “I don’t think there’d be a very high expectation of this in a lot of other places on the peninsula. “I think it’s really important when we think about an area that we need to lift and we need to make it acceptable, and we need to make a place where people want to live and work.”
But Roper disagreed, saying while she acknowledged the development “is tall,” it was “a working marina, they do already have a boat storage section”. “I’m happy to support this. It’s a successful business. It’s a really important business for Western Port,” she said, noting the plans had also been supported by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. “It’s apparently the second busiest in the state, the Westernport, and people have got to keep their boats somewhere. We don’t want them on their nature strips, we don’t want them on trailers in the street.”
Stephens was also supportive, saying the amended plans were a “vast improvement” and believed the marina “have the right to put this proposal up and use that land”. Eight objections had been lodged through the VCAT proceedings that cited visual impact and loss views, environmental impacts, pollution and noise, as well as impact to commercial premises.
First published in the Western Port News – 19 March 2025
