Planning and Environment Act 1987
Panel Report
Greater Geelong Planning Scheme
Amendment C299
77-79 Draper Street & 128-130 Asbury Street East, Ocean Grove
2 May 2014
Planning and Environment Act 1987
Panel Report pursuant to Section 25 of the Act
Greater Geelong Planning Scheme Amendment C299
77-79 Draper Street and 128-130 Asbury Street East, Ocean Grove
Catherine Hunichen, Chair
Greater Geelong Planning Scheme Amendment C299 | Panel Report | 2 May 2014
Contents
Page
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The Amendment 1
1.2 The Panel 1
1.3 Hearing and inspection 2
2. Background to the Amendment 3
2.1 The subject site and surrounds 3
2.2 Background to the proposal 4
2.2 Proposed zoning 5
2.3 Role of the Panel 5
3 Strategic Planning Context 7
3.1 Policy framework 7
4 Community Consultation 10
4.1 The issue 10
4.2 Evidence and submissions 10
4.3 Discussion 11
4.4 Conclusions 12
5 The proposed zone and overlay control and future use of the subject land 13
5.1 The issue 13
5.2 Evidence and submissions 13
5.3 Discussion 14
5.4 Conclusion 15
6 Conclusions and recommendations 16
Appendix A List of Submitters
Appendix B Council letter regarding submissions to the sale of land.
List of Tables
Page
Table 1 Amendment Summary iii
Table 2 Panel Process iii
Table 3 Parties to the Panel Hearing 2
List of Figures
Page
Figure 1 Subject site – Asbury Street East frontage...... 3
Figure 2 Subject site – Draper Street frontage...... 4
List of Abbreviations
DDO14 / Design and Development Overlay Schedule 14DTPLI / Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure
GRZ / General Residential Zone
LPPF / Local Planning Policy Framework
MSS / Municipal Strategic Statement
PPRZ / Public Park and Recreation Zone
R3Z / Residential 3 Zone
SPPF / State Planning Policy Framework
VPP / Victoria Planning Provisions
Amendment Summary
Table 1 Amendment Summary
The Amendment / Greater Geelong Planning Scheme Amendment C299Subject Site / 77-79 Draper Street and 128-130 Asbury Street East, Ocean Grove.
Purpose of Amendment / To rezone the land from Public Park and Recreation Zone to the General Residential Zone and apply the Design and Development Overlay - Schedule 14 to the land.
The Proponent / City of Greater Geelong
Planning Authority / City of Greater Geelong
Exhibition / 31 October 2013 to 2 December 2013
Panel Process
Table 2 Panel Process
The Panel / Ms Catherine Hunichen, ChairDirections Hearing / 14 March 2014.
Panel Hearing / 16 April 2014.
Site Inspections / 14 March 2014.
Appearances / · City of Greater Geelong, represented by Mr Ian McCartney, Strategic Planner and Mr Alan Grant Property Advisor.
· Ms B Peterson and Mr K McGough
· Ms Sophie Thomas
· Ocean Grove Tennis club, represented by Ms A Treble and Ms S Gourley
· Mr Evan Hardie
· Mr Justin Teague
Submissions / 19 – see Appendix A
Date of this Report / 2 May 2014.
Greater Geelong Planning Scheme Amendment C299 | Report of the Panel | 2 May 2014
1 Introduction
1.1 The Amendment
Greater Geelong Planning Scheme Amendment C299 (the Amendment) was prepared by the Greater Geelong City Council as Planning Authority.
The Amendment applies to land 77-79 Draper Street and 128-130 Asbury Street East, Ocean Grove.
As exhibited, the Amendment proposes to:
· Rezone the Council owned properties at 77-79 Draper Street and 128-130 Asbury Street East, Ocean Grove from the Public Park and Recreation Zone to the General Residential Zone, and
· Apply the Design and Development Overlay – Schedule 14 (DDO14) to the land. The DDO14 requires a planning permit for buildings and works in excess of 7.5 metres in height.
The Amendment was prepared at the request of the City of Greater Geelong (the proponent) and was authorised by the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (DTPLI) on 11 September 2013.
The Council has chosen to apply the General Residential Zone, which is one of the suite of new residential zones that are required to be implemented by July 2014. This approach was endorsed by DTPLI. The Council advised that Amendment C300 to the Greater Geelong Planning Scheme proposes the application of the new residential zones to the whole of the municipality. This Amendment has been the subject of a Planning Panel hearing, completed on 14 April 2014.
Amendment C299 was placed on public exhibition between 31 October 2013 and 2 December 2013. A total of 19 submissions, including a late submission from the Ocean Grove Tennis Club were received, with 15 submissions opposing the Amendment and 3 submissions offering conditional support for the Amendment. A list of the submitters is included in Appendix 1.
At its meeting of 11 February 2014, Council resolved to refer all submissions to a Panel for review.
1.2 The Panel
A Panel to consider the Amendment was appointed under delegation from the Minister for Planning on 14 February 2014, comprising two members, Mr Trevor McCullough (Chair) and Ms Catherine Hunichen (Member).
As the number of requests to be heard at the Panel hearing was five, including the Council and the hearing would be competed in a half day, the Panel was re-constituted as a one person Panel, with Ms Hunichen as Chair.
1.3 Hearing and inspection
A Directions Hearing was held in relation to the Amendment on 14 March 2014. Following the Directions Hearing, the Panel undertook an unaccompanied inspection of the subject site and its surrounds.
The Panel then met in the offices of the City of Greater Geelong on 16 April 2014 to hear submissions in respect of the Amendment. Those in attendance at the Panel Hearing are listed in Table 3.
Table 3 Parties to the Panel Hearing
Submitter / Represented byCity of Greater Geelong / Mr Ian McCartney, Strategic Planner and Mr Alan Grant, Property Advisor
Ms B Peterson and Mr K McGough
Ocean Grove Tennis Club / Ms A Treble and Ms S Gourley
Ms Sophie Thomas
Mr Hardie and Mr Teague
At the Hearing the Council summarised the key issues relating the Amendment as follows:
· Retention of the land for recreational and/or community use; and
· Inadequate community consultation as part of the rezoning and sale of land processes.
Submissions to the Amendment raised a number of issues for resolution. This report deals with those issues under the following headings:
· Strategic Planning Context;
· Community consultation; and
· The proposed zone and overlay control and future use of the land.
The Panel considered all written submissions, as well as submissions presented to it during the Hearing. In addressing the issues raised in those submissions, the Panel has been assisted by the information provided to it as well as its observations from inspections of the subject land and surrounds.
2. Background to the Amendment
2.1 The subject site and surrounds
The land at 77-79 Draper Street and 128-130 Asbury Street East, Ocean Grove comprises four allotments, each with a separate title. Each lot has an area of approximately 807 square metres and a total area of 3228 square metres. The whole of the land has been utilized for 2 netball courts, including six external pole mounted lights and a small clubroom. The netball courts are no longer used for formal competition since the club has moved to the Shell Road site in November 2013, where four new courts have been constructed. The site is fenced on three sides but is fully accessible to the public with gate openings and a walkway through the site.
Opposite the site on the south side of Draper Street is the Memorial Reserve, which is used for football and cricket and includes a children’s playground. Approximately 100 metres to the east is the Arthur Powell Reserve which contains tennis courts, clubhouse, parkland and a children’s playground. Both these sites are zoned Public Park and Recreation Zone. The surrounding area is zoned Residential 3, comprising of predominately detached and multi unit dwellings. The purpose of the Residential 3 Zone (R3Z) is to encourage residential development to respect the neighbourhood character of the area. A Schedule to the zone requires the provision of a larger area of open space to ensure the garden character is retained. The DDO14 also applies to the land.
Figure 1 Subject land: Asbury Street East frontage.
Figure 2 Subject site: Draper Street frontage.
2.2 Background to the proposal
Mr McCartney, on behalf of the Council as the responsible authority, provided a detailed history of the ownership and zoning of the subject site. This information was supplemented by Mr Grant, Property Advisor, appearing for the Council as the land owner.
A brief overview included:
Land ownership
· The land at 77 Draper Street, was gifted to the former Shire of Bellarine in 1939;
· 79 Draper Street was compulsorily acquired by the Shire in 1974; and
· 128-130 Asbury Street East was purchased in 1969.
It appears from the Council’s records that the use of the site for netball courts commenced around 1990.
Council also undertook title searches of all lots and found no restrictions or covenants on the titles which would impact on the Council’s ability to sell the land.
Zoning of the subject land
Between 1975 and 2000 the land was subject to the Geelong Region Interim Development Order, the Geelong Regional Planning Scheme and the Greater Geelong Planning Scheme respectively. Under these planning controls the land was zoned for ‘residential’ purposes.
In 1999, with the introduction of the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP) and the change to new format planning schemes, the land was also proposed to remain in a residential zone. However, at the Panel hearing for the introduction of the new format planning scheme, the Council requested that the Panel support a change to the zoning of the subject site to the Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ). This proposal was supported and in 2000, when the new format Scheme was approved the land was included in the PPRZ.
Sale of the subject land
At the meeting of 27 August 2013, the Council were advised that the netball facility at the Asbury Street East site was no longer required as new courts had been constructed at the Shell Road site. The Council supported the sale of the site upon the land being rezoned and that the monies from the sale be utilised for the further development of the Shell Road recreation and sporting complex.
Under the Local Government Best Practice Guidelines for the Sale and Exchange of Land, the Council is required to ensure that “prior to being offered for sale, the property should be appropriately zones. This will ensure that the ultimate use of the land is determined by that zone and the highest possible sale price is achieved.”
In accordance with Sections 189 and 223 of the Local Government Act 1989, the Council is required to give public notice of its intention to sell the land and consider any submissions it receives.
The Council undertook this process, by advertising in the Geelong Advertiser and the Geelong Independent newspapers on 13 and 14 September 2013. One objecting submission was received as a result of this process.
At the Directions Hearing, the Panel requested that the Council formally notify all submitters to the Amendment, advising them of the process for the sale of land, under the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989, to ensure all parties were aware that the rezoning of the land and the sale of land were two separate and independent processes. This correspondence was sent on 3 April 2014 and as a result a further submission has been received by the Council.
Mr McCartney advised the Panel that Council will convene a ‘Submissions Hearing Panel’, following the receipt and consideration of the recommendations of this Panel Report.
The Council has constructed a new netball facility at the Shell Road Recreation facility and considered that the netball courts at the Asbury Street East site were no longer required. The Shell Road facility includes netball facilities, tennis courts, an oval, and soccer fields.
2.2 Proposed zoning
The Council is proposing to rezone the subject land to the General Residential Zone (GRZ) with an accompanying Schedule to the zone. The purpose of the Schedule is to include local provisions or site specific requirements to an area or site. In this instance, the Schedule will require the inclusion of a canopy tree and a minimum of 60 square metres of open space per dwelling for all new development.
2.3 Role of the Panel
At the Directions Hearing, the Panel made clear its’ role in relation to this Amendment, as follows:
· The Panel is not considering the sale of the land, and
· The focus of the Panel is to consider the most appropriate zoning of the site if the sale is ultimately approved by Council in accordance with the proper statutory process.
In reaching its conclusions and recommendations, the Panel has read and considered the submissions and a range of other material referred to it. This includes written submissions, evidence and verbal presentations. The following chapters of this report discuss the issues raised in submission relating to the Amendment in further detail, with the Panel’s conclusions and recommendation provided in Chapter 6.
3 Strategic Planning Context
Council provided a response to the Strategic Assessment Guidelines as part of the Explanatory Report.
The Panel has reviewed the policy context of the Amendment and made a brief appraisal of the relevant zone and overlay controls and other relevant planning strategies.
3.1 Policy framework
3.2.1 State Planning Policy Framework
Council submitted that the Amendment is supported by the following clauses in the SPPF:
Clause 11.02-1 Supply of land. One of the strategies advocates that ‘Planning for urban growth should consider opportunities for consolidation, redevelopment and intensification of existing urban areas.’
Clause 16.01-2 Location of residential development, which includes the following strategies: